The purpose of this study is to examine new programs to teach students about 9/11.Many Americans received a shock because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. However, now many students don’t completely understand what 9/11 is because they were only children in 2001. This new program is for middle and high school students. Before 2009, although some teachers tried to teach 9/11 to students, the comprehensive education plan related to the attacks was not implemented. In 2009, schools in New York City, California, New Jersey, Alabama, Indiana, Illinois and Kansas tested a new program focusing on the attacks. In the program students learned about 9/11 through lessons, interactive exercises, and videos. In addition, they researched global terrorist activities on the Internet and mapped them, using Google Earth Software and gained knowledge of 9/11 with various other activities.
This program was developed by September 11th Education Trust, a non profit group which include the survivors and families of the attacks. The group cooperated with Social Studies School Service, an educational materials distributor and The Taft Institute for Government at Queens College. With the educational material based on 240 hours of images and 80 interviews with witnesses, survivors, families and politicians, students will be able to think 9/11 critically. The Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani recommended the new program, saying, "This is one of the critical subjects on which young people should develop some ideas and thoughts. They are going to have to live with this for quite some time," "It gives young people a framework in which to think about Sept,11, all that it meant and all it means to the present."
The September 11th Education Program is divided into seven lessons.( Lesson1- Visualizing 9/11; Lesson2-The Historian’ s Craft: Timelines; Lesson3-The Post 9/11 Recovery Process;Lesson4- Designing a 9/11 Memorial,;Lesson5-Honoring Heroes, Lesson6-Advocacy and The Role of Government;Lesson7-U.S. National Security and 9/11) The curriculum was first tried out in 2008 in Oradell, New Jersey which is located about 32 kilometers north of Manhattan. Approximately 1,000 high school students took part in the program.
The new program helps students to remember 9/11clearly and encourages them to understand the background of the attacks. For example, in Lesson 7, students are required to examine timelines. At Lincoln High School in Vincennes, students compared two timelines; One timeline comes from the 9/11 Commission Report, and the other one started from the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan. After taking the lesson, one student said, "I really wanted to put it all into context and look at the possible reasons why 9/11 might have happened."
Through the analysis of this study, three features of The September 11th Education Program are made apparent. First, this new program was introduced into one city and six states in America in 2009. A non profit group by the families of the victims produced the concept of the new program. Second, the program includes videos, lessons and different practices such as writing timelines and mapping global terrorist activities. Third, according to the students’ impressions, they were satisfied with the contents of the program. It made the students understand the problem of the terrorism more clearly.
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