(2002). Creating World Peace, One Classroom at a Time. Young Children, v57 n6 p90-94 Nov. Recounts activities from a kindergarten classroom to illustrate how a multicultural approach cultivates a school environment embracing diversity and educating students about responsibilities associated with freedom. Stories include those related to students viewing each other in terms of individual characteristics rather than their ethnic group, creating a mind map for Earth Day, and cooperating with older students to write class letters against child labor. (KB)…
(2003). Shalom. Salaam. Peace Child Uses Theatre To Bring Israeli Arab and Jewish Teenagers Together. Teaching Theatre, v14 n2 p1-6 Win. Describes a drama written by students that helps them achieve an understanding and an empathy that eludes most of the inhabitants of Israel. Discusses how Arab and Jewish students collaborate to compose their drama. Concludes that at its best, the teenage participants in Peace Child Israel find that delicate balance point between using theatre to make statements and as a bridge to communication. (SG)…
(1989). The Educational Challenge of Gorbachev's "Perestroika": What Do We Know? What Can We Teach?. Educational Leadership, v46 n4 p72-74 Dec-Jan 1988-89. Mikhail Gorbachev's "glasnost" seeks to transform a large, multiethnic nation ruled for decades by an aging, entrenched, and stagnant bureaucracy. Educators will be challenged to provide students with accurate, objective information about the Soviet Union and to emphasize U.S.-U.S.S.R. similarities without minimizing differences. Includes a 20-item resource list. (MLH)…
(1992). Too Many Kids Are Getting Killed. Educational Leadership, v50 n1 p4-5 Sep. For too many children, our society is a fearful wasteland that mocks adult pieties and nurtures nihilism. The threat of violence cannot be dispelled with metal detectors, weapons checks, and secured hallways. Educators must adopt classroom practices that promote and strengthen peaceful relations among students and become more effective advocates for children and their families. (MLH)…
(1995). Celebrating the UN's 50th in Primary Grades. Green Teacher, n43 p15-17 Jun-Sep. Provides rationale and methods for introducing primary children to the United Nations. Suggests teaching methods for a unit on the United Nations that involves children in learning about other nations and using their own families as a base for discussing roles, routines, and advantages that compare to the "UN family." (LZ)…
(2006). The Dutch Dilemma & American Divide: The Challenge of Exclusivist Religions to Pluralistic States, and Contemporary Education. Forum on Public Policy Online, v2006 n1 Fall. Post-Reformation societies and states that thought they had put religious wars behind them have been caught unawares by the vehemence of religious dissent that has exploded in their midst, sometimes literally, since the 1970s. I maintain that key Enlightenment propositions that established the means for peaceful religious co-existence seriously misconstrue and underestimate the social potency of religious impulses. My paper begins by sketching two distinct current impasses. The Dutch face the dilemma of a largely secularized society willing to be highly tolerant of difference–but as the brazen 2004 murder of provocateur-filmmaker Theo van Gogh has revealed, such tolerance is hard-pressed to accommodate those whose religious culture is not permitted to tolerate perceived intolerance directed at them. The United States presents an equally puzzling conundrum: a much more religious culture predicated on religious liberty, now challenged by versions of monotheism whose symbolic worldview… [PDF]
(2006). Foolish Dreams in a Fabled Land: Living Co-Existence in an Israeli Arab School. Curriculum Inquiry, v36 n2 p189-208 Jun. This article presents the results of an ethnographic case study of an Israeli Arab middle school whose staff and students are Arab Israelis from the Moslem, Druze, and Christian population sectors. Against the Israeli backdrop of multiculturalism, political tensions, and terrorism, this school has created a multi-faceted curriculum for teaching students the values of non-violence and peaceful co-existence, as well as creating a school culture that supports this curriculum. In essence, the explicit curriculum and implicit elements of the school culture together form a highly effective program for teaching non-violence. The elements of this program are identified as the integration of values education across the curriculum; immediate application of non-violent problem solving in any situation of conflict between students; the expectation that staff and students will not engage in gossip or slander against one another; staff speaking openly with students about difficult issues such as… [Direct]
(2006). Democratic Social Cohesion (Assimilation)? Representations of Social Conflict in Canadian Public School Curriculum. Canadian Journal of Education, v29 n2 p359-386. This article examines the representation of conflict, diversity, peace, and justice issues in selected mandated curriculum guidelines, grades 1-10, for three Canadian provinces. These curricula, grounded in prevailing assumptions, reflect political will and influence resource availability for teaching. Prominent among them is a neutral discourse invoking Canadian ideals of multiculturalism that emphasizes harmony, marginalizes conflict and critical viewpoints, and presents injustices as past or virtually resolved. Because relatively little attention is given to actual instances of social conflict, violence, or marginalization, these curricula limit students' opportunities to practice with constructive democratic conflict and peacebuilding. (Contains 5 tables and 1 note.)… [PDF] [Direct]
(1994). Keeping the Peace in an Age of Conflict: Debating the U.S. Role. Choices for the 21st Century. This document presents a particularly challenging unit that thrusts students into the new foreign policy frontier that has developed since the end of the Cold War. The unit contains background reading and foreign policy options. The first part of the background reading introduces students to the institutions and conceptual framework of the international community. In the second and third parts, students are given four historical and five current case studies to examine. Consideration of the case studies requires the highest levels of thinking from students. Not only are students asked to analyze the case studies individually, but they also are expected to draw lessons from each in developing a context for evaluating the overall U.S. role in international intervention. The four distinct policy directions, or options, at the core of the unit are designed to help students further clarify their thoughts in order to articulate their own views. Each option is grounded in a clearly defined…
(1993). United Nations Day, 24 October. Manitoba Social Science Teacher, v20 n1 Sep. Serving as the journal of the Manitoba Social Science Teachers' Association, this issue commemorates United Nations Day with the editorial, "Teaching about the United Nations" (Ken Osborne). Another article devoted to the international organization is "The United Nations and International Peace and Security" (Ken Osborne). The article is intended to: (1) introduce students to selected approaches to world peace and security; (2) describe the United Nations in this wider context; and (3) help students think about the issues involved. The article is divided into nine sections devoted to different aspects of world peace and the United Nations. Most are followed by a list of questions and activities. An outline of topics and subtopics on a U.N. unit, a profile of the U.N. Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and an assessment of the United Nations taken from the 1988 annual report of then secretary general, Perez de Cuellar are included. Ten other articles… [PDF]
(1985). A Nuclear Tech Course = Nuclear Technology in War and Peace: A Study of Issues and Choices. A nuclear technology college course for engineering students is outlined and described. The course begins with an historical account of the scientific discoveries leading up to the uranium experiments of Hahn and Strassman in Germany and the subsequent explanation of nuclear fission by Meitner and Frisch. The technological achievements of the Manhattan Project are presented. Students learn about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by reading John Hersey's book \Hiroshima\ and viewing the film \Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Harvest of Nuclear War.\ The course then covers the \Atoms for Peace\ program that was initiated by President Eisenhower in 1953. Particular emphasis is placed on the technology of nuclear power plants such as pressurized water reactors and the liquid metal fast breeder reactor. Pros and cons of nuclear power are examined and nuclear weapons proliferation is discussed. The final part of the course is concerned with the technology of modern nuclear weapons…
(1971). System Imperiled! Revised Edition. SYSTEM IMPERILED, a game simulating the basic features of the \balance of power, focuses on the power relationships among states in an international system. Primary activities of the game are the exchange of power units, formation of alliances, and making war and peace. Role-playing is not specifically built into the game, although it may be introduced. Two basic structures of the international system are suggested, but this too may be altered to meet the need of the class. The game is easy to direct and play, and may be run during a single class period. This publication contains the necessary elements for playing the game; a director's (teacher's) guide, copies of participant rules, samples of the forms to be used by participants, and readings entitled \Balance of Power and\Changes in the International System Since 1945.\ (Author/GC)… [PDF]
(1986). The World We're Preparing Our Schoolchildren For. Social Education, v50 n6 p416-23 Oct. Reviews world conditions which support the development of a new, global \manifest destiny\ for the United States. Lists five major threats to international security, in addition to positive signs of cooperation. Concludes with seven \attitudinal learnings\ for American students, and are the hallmarks of future global leaders. (JDH)…
(1976). Liberal Education in a Radically Changing Society: A Catholic Perspective. Liberal Education, v62 n4, p501-506, Dec 76. In the light of the church's current social teaching, says the author, Catholic colleges and universities have a special responsibility and opportunity to develop future-responsive curricula permeated by a commitment to peace and justice. (Editor/LBH)…
(1983). Health Education, the Denial of Death, and Global Well-Being. Health Education (Washington D.C.), v14 n3 p3-6 May-Jun. If health educators refuse to face the issue of death caused by war, hunger, and other man-made catastrophies, they may be unable to act to improve the quality of life. Local programs which encourage social well-being and resources which deal with peace on the global level are discussed. (PP)…