Instructional materials

The Zwischentöne (Nuances) website addresses the opportunities and challenges of an increasingly pluralistic society. The teaching modules for secondary schools, on the subjects of politics, history, geography and ethics/religion, deal with questions that are either not covered by textbooks, or not in great detail. The primary aim is not to provide supplementary information on ‘new’ topics, but rather to provide teaching modules that offer ‘new’ perspectives on themes that are ubiquitous in a modern German society shaped by migration but which are not comprehensively covered by textbooks.

Israel and Germany share a special relationship. The past and present of the two states are intertwined through migration. The teaching units collected on this website address the theme of emigration and immigration from both countries’ perspective, as well as in the German-Jewish-Israeli context.

Between 2016 and 2019, digital, interactive modules, designed to be taught in both countries, were created within the framework of the German-Israeli Textbook Commission, and coordinated by the GEI at the Center for Educational Technology in Tel Aviv. Seven teaching modules were developed in German and Hebrew, under the principal theme of ‘Migration from a bilateral perspective’. The modules address the migration of German-speaking Jews to Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s and Israel as a country shaped by migration. A training programme for multipliers/educators from both countries accompanied the preparation of joint teaching materials.

The ‘Europe – Our History’ project has created a joint German-Polish history textbook and consequently continued a dialogue that experts for history, geography and history didactics in both countries have been participating in for decades – particularly within the framework of the German-Polish Textbook Commission. The production of a joint textbook on European history, which can be implemented in both German and Polish schools, produces completely new perspectives and didactic approaches for history teaching.

Excerpts from the four volumes of the German-Polish textbook and related material can be found on the project website. 

The subject of uranium from the German-Czech border region known as the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) is one that has seldom been addressed in history teaching in German or Czech schools. This can easily be changed, as the subject fits well into the curricula for history and geography in years 9 and 10.

The German-Czech Textbook Commission has prepared a number of individual topics for use in lessons. Teachers will find an introductory text for each of these topics that comprises a factual analysis with all necessary basic information. The source material and the accompanying exercises are suitable for pupils of around 16 years old. Brief supplementary information is also included for teachers. Additional literature and links can be used to provide more in-depth information.

Existing individual topics:

• Mining in the Ore mountains – a common heritage (partly suitable for younger pupils as well!)
• In the Soviet interest – uranium production in the Soviet occupation zone/GDR and Czechoslovak Republic
• Heritage trail ‘The hell of Jáchymov’
• The cultural history of radium

The subject of this material is a region in north-eastern Europe that is shaped by diverse cultural and multi-ethnic traditions, as well as by competing national demands. In Germany it is known as East Prussia (Ostpreußen), in Poland as Warmia and Masuria (Warmia i Mazury), in Lithuania as the Klaipėda Region (Klaipėdos kraštas) or Lithiania Minor (Mažoji Lietuva), and in Russia as Kaliningrad Oblast (Kaliningradskaya oblast). But do all these names always refer to the same place?

The didactically prepared collection of digital source material is designed for pupils between the ages of 14 and 18 years, who are particularly interested in history and who would like to use the website to help prepare presentations, project work, competition entries, excursions and class trips.

DEUFRAMAT stands for ‘German-French materials for history and geography teaching’. The aim of the project was to collect information about France and Germany and make it available online in a modern format. The material is particularly suitable for grammar school pupils who are learning about the respective foreign country in subject-specific lessons or modules, or in bilingual tracks for which the material is especially suited. The text and documentation are, however, directed at all who are interested in Germany’s relationship with France, and in the history, social structure, economics and mutual perceptions of the two neighbouring countries.