Central Florida school tackles teaching Israel-Hamas war

WINTER PARK, Fla. - Central Florida educators are helping students understand and process the conflict in Israel. The curriculum for AP Human Geography includes exploring the conflict, but the recent attacks in the Middle East have made the discussion more significant this school year. 

Winter Park High School students work in small groups inside Stewart Parker's classroom. They're trying to make sense of recent world headlines. 

"How can borders cause conflict? Discuss at your table," said Parker, walking between groups of desks. 

This month's surprise attack by Hamas killed more than 1,000 people – which led to Israel declaring it would go to war. 

Students say they're seeing post after post about the conflict on their social media feeds. 

"A lot of time on social media, they give us like a really short snippet," said student Riley Derrick. "So we don't get the full picture. That's why it's important for teachers to explain that kind of stuff." 

AP Human Geography focuses on the movement of people and borders. The lesson: read and analyze documents to get historical context about the conflict between Israel and Palestine. 

Parker says he's careful about what he shows because the images from the attacks are heavy and students may come from families on both sides. He says exploring the conflict from a historical perspective helps give students the tools to process what they're seeing and hearing on the news and online. 

"They've seen the videos. They just need help on how to process it. How to make sense of it. Put it in context to figure out what's going on and why is that happening," said Parker.