Authors
Vaclav Sixta1; Lani Harikainen2; 1 The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regime, Czech Republic; 2 The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Czech Republic Discussion
Teaching the era of state socialism more than thirty years after its fall is not only about presenting a credible and balanced historical narrative. When preparing teaching materials and conducting lessons, educators have to consider both the broader contexts and their educational objectives. This paper focuses on historical education using different media: feature films, photographs, documents, and the like. These media are not only sources for historical inquiry, but they also circulate in the archives of cultural memory. On the one hand, this makes them a source of motivation for students and an opportunity to add media literacy training as an additional layer to historical education; on the other, however, they also present a challenge for educators. How can educators incorporate a wide variety of media into history lessons? What opportunities does the theme of state socialism in particular present? Which approaches develop pupils’ media literacy and historical thinking effectively? The paper aims to answer these questions by evaluating the learning platforms Socialismrealised.eu and HistoryLab.cz and comparing their content with educators’ experiences of using them in schools. 
