Profile
Danny Cohen

Danny M. Cohen

Lecturer, SESP Undergraduate Program

Annenberg Hall
2120 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208-0001
Biography
Danny M. Cohen is a learning scientist, focusing on Holocaust education and the interdependency of victimhoods.  His doctoral dissertation, "Historical Narratives in Tension: Holocaust Educators' Perceptions of Victimhood," addressed the complexities of including the non-Jewish victims of Nazism within the central Jewish Holocaust narrative.  Before the opening of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, Danny created and facilitated the pedagogical track of the museum's inaugural docent training program.  Currently, Danny is developing a new Holocaust studies curriculum alongside a program of design-based research to understand how young people perceive the relationships between different forms of prejudice.  He teaches at Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy, specializing in social program design, Holocaust education and commemoration, and qualitative methodologies for studying learning and organizational change.  Danny is also an appointed member of the Illinois Holocaust and Genocide Commission.

Research/Scholarship

Education
Year Degree Institution
2011 PhD, Learning Sciences Northwestern University
2005 MA, Learning Sciences Northwestern University


Dissertation
Year Title  
2011 Historical Narratives in Tension: Holocaust Educators' Perceptions of Victimhood


Selected Publications
Mann, Stacey & Cohen, Danny M. (2011). When a boxcar isn't a boxcar: Designing for human rights learning. Exhibitionist, 30(2) : 26-31.

Cohen, Danny M. (2011). Overlapping triangles: Teaching the interdependency of Holocaust victimhoods. The Holocaust in History and Memory, 4: 41-60.

Research Interests
How are different forms of prejudice connected?  How do collective acts of remembering and forgetting particular atrocities affect collective actions in the present?  And how can we design learning environments that support young people to engage with the lessons of violent histories?  My research combines the design of Holocaust education -- grounded in canonical texts of Holocaust Studies -- with pedagogical design -- framed by core ideas within the field of the Learning Sciences.  I focus on the pedagogical implications of educators' perceptions of Holocaust history, as well as how young people draw connections between Holocaust history and contemporary cases of oppression and atrocity.  Underpinning my research is my interest in how the marginalization of particular collective memories lead to enduring exclusions of particular social groups.


Teaching/Advising


Courses
SESP 303 Program Design & Implementation Characteristics of successful programs in a variety of areas,including human development, education, social welfare,and health promotion.
SESP 351 Topics: Holocaust Memory, Memorials, and Museums What is Holocaust memory? How has Holocaust memory changed over time, and how does the Holocaust continue to affect our understanding of trauma, atrocity, and human rights today? This new seminar will address individual memory, including survivor and witness testimony, memory and trauma, and the impact of the Holocaust on survivors' families and communities. We will also explore collective Holocaust memory and the development of mainstream Holocaust narratives. We will consider Jewish, non-Jewish, and national Holocaust memorialization, including rituals of commemoration and the establishment and development of Holocaust memorials, museums, and institutions in the United States and around the world. Course texts -- including film and fiction -- will support us to ask questions about the relationships between individual and collective memories, as well as between commemoration and education. Evaluation will consist of class and online participation, reflection papers, and a take-home midterm. The course will culminate in a student-led final presentation and project.
SESP 383 Practicum in Human Development - LOC Section LOC Section
SESP 385 Practicum Analysis Seminar - LOC Section In conjunction with the Practicum, students will integrate and apply what they learn from their onsite observations, writing field notes, readings, and discussions with classmates to ongoing analysis throughout the quarter.
SESP 387 Practicum: Learning & Organizational Change
TEACH_ED 351 Topics: The Holocaust and Education: The 21st Century In this class, we will learn about the development, current state, and future of Holocaust education in the 21st Century. We will consider and debate the complexities and challenges of Holocaust pedagogy, including responding to learners’ emotions and misconceptions, as well as consider various ways to frame Holocaust history. We will explore the goals of educating about the Holocaust, the merits and complexities of addressing all of the Nazis’ target groups, and Holocaust education’s relationship to genocide education. Final Projects will provide students with the opportunity to choose, compare, and analyze the qualities, problems, and opportunities of two educational artifacts (such as non-fiction, fiction, film, witness testimony, a school curriculum, a museum or online exhibition, a community program, a training resource for educators, and so on).


Service/Recognition


Professional Service
Year Organization Position Description
2011 Illinois Holocaust and Genocide Commission Commissioner www.hgc.illinois.gov





Last Updated: 2012-09-26 16:41:43