Content:

The organization, Teachers Without Borders, specifically based in Nigeria, released a curated memorial peace education program, in honor of the late Dr. Joseph Hungwa. The lesson presented in this blog post, has been extrapolated from the program’s course highlighting the varying methods, in a four step process. The process allows for students, to reflect, create, and design their version of a peaceful world. To which, have been adapted and amended by fellow peace activists, such as Elise Boulding and Warren Ziegler, turning it into a six step process.

Context:

Educational Setting: This resource is best utilized, in the follow spaces, both of which can be formal and informal.

• Subject matter:
  • Literature, History, Arts, and Media and Design (Graphic Design).
    
• Age Level:
  • Grades
    • K-12

This particular lesson, has been curated, as a stimulating and creative activity, to which, allows for the flexibility of educators to design a lesson catered to their student’s age ranges and subject matters. Hence, different tools may or may not be used to facilitate this lesson. The activity may be amended to allow for minimal tools during facilitation, as well.

Implementation:

The educator, may incorporate this resource, when discussions of narratives, empathy, creativity, and design are present.

• Time: 45-60 minutes

Lesson Plan: Logistics

1. Begin with a warm-up: Childhood Memory
   • Ask the students to hold an image, in their imagination, then, take that image and engage with it. The engagement portion is brought on by, expanding the image itself. This can be done by, asking them to interact with the memory, through leading questions
     • What was happening?
     • Who all was there?
     • Activating the five senses: Touch, Smell, Taste, Hear, See
       • What can you touch? What did it feel like? Could you taste anything? What sounds were present in your memory? What else can you notice?
         
   • This should allow for the student, to in a warmed up phase, thus allowing for the imagination of planning the future to begin. Pause here, for a small break, if needed.
     
2. Wish List
   • the student may be asked to identify, what they most hope to see in their preferred vision of the future, through the guidance of imagination.
     
3. Stepping into the future
   • The facilitator will enter the guided visualization portion of this lesson. To which, they will help guide, the students to “see”, their future, through imagination. Allowing for independent work time to curate the ideal version of their futures.
     
4. Sharing images
   • The images can be shared, in both a large or small group setting, once they have been finished creating their futures.
     • The individuals, can do a walkthrough in large groups
       • assigning their future a “base”, within the particular space they are working in, so that other individuals may walk around the space freely and engage and “enter” with their peers’ futures.
     • Or, they can do a pass around, within small groups, through the computers/laptops or pieces of paper they were working on.
       
5. World Construction
   • Allowing for their futures to come together, through sharing between the peers. Either, large or small groups, can partake in a discussion, in which they attempt to link, all the ideal futures presented to them, and allow for one unified ideal/preferred future.
     
6. Action Planning
   • Have the peers outline the specific steps, they would need to curate towards the future provided.

Materials:

• This activity can be done vocally or with physical materials. Does not need to be accomplished within a formal classroom setting. Informal settings, are just as appropriate.

Physical materials, based on age group:

• Ages: 5-12
  • Pencil
  • Markers/Crayons
  • Paper

• Ages 12-18
  • Computer/laptops
  • Digital Software (Powerpoint, Canva, Adobe…etc)
  • Pencil
  • Paper
  • Pens/Markers
    
• Optional: Non-tangible materials
  • Narrative design process
    • guided discussion, through group verbal communication and independent work and reflection periods.

Goal:

The varying types of peace education, that is most supported by and used to strengthen this resource is,

• Social and Emotional pedagogy
  • Self-awareness, social awareness, and establish & maintain relationships
• Culturally Responsive pedagogy
  • Awareness, for diversity, as represented in the various forms of expression, such as, cultural, religious, socioeconomic status, race, gender, and more.
• Transformative pedagogy
  • Allowing for peers, to look beyond themselves, while also examining their interpersonal beliefs and truths. Hence, curating space for diversity.

Development of skills and attitudes, while engaging with this source, includes:

• Critical thinking, self autonomy, world view appreciation, and ways of defining peace.
  • The journey and the outcome, may vary for all individuals, but the core concept remains, which highlights, the inherent need for believing better results are possible. There are no limitations onto the establishment of curating ones ideal future. Through, the critical thinking phase and recognizing that individuals have self autonomy within their respective worlds, they are able to assemble social and emotional awareness and appreciation for the world, as whole. Thus, leading them onto the journey of, how one defines peace and how that differs from the individual within their proximity.

Audience

1. Title 1, elementary and middle schools within the Fairfax County Public School district.
2. High School teachers, as well as, those specifically teaching graphic design courses, within the Fairfax County Public School district.

Resources:

https://teacherswithoutborders.org/peace

• TWB’s Peace Education Program: Dr. Joseph Hungwa
  • PDF: Unit 2, page 149 (document page 76)

1. Content:

This lesson plan is built around the idea of a school/extracurricular field trip to the Children’s Theater of Charlotte (CTOC), North Carolina for students in the Greater Charlotte area. Specifically, The Kindness Project is a program that is run by CTOC that seeks to commission plays for young audiences specifically for the purpose of spreading kindness. As of now, they have held the world premieres of six different plays in this program, with a seventh premiere on the way. The activity below runs the sort of program that could be proposed to get students exposure to this initiative and explore how kindness is a value that could be expanded in their own lives.

This is a link to the CTOC website with general information regarding field trips
For the specifics on the kindness project, click here.

2. Context:

While part of this lesson’s goal is to have students think about new mechanisms of how they can be kind to one another, another comes from the final dialogue about community and how they can begin to build their own beloved communities in their own unique contexts both in and outside of the classroom.1

5. Audience:

Charlotte Students: Charlotte has a wide variety of students from different socioeconomic areas that have their own unique and diverse experiences. There are also many schools in the area that integrate students from both wealthy and poorer neighborhoods where students might have very different cultural experiences. Kindness and community building work can both strengthen their own neighborhoods outside of school, but also connect these communities that are divided by economic or racial differences through getting kids to reflect on how they can take this information to others and cross lines of difference.

Teachers: Teachers might find capacity building for kindness to be a useful tool in providing a creative way for students to build community in the classroom which could limit disruption and violent conflict between students on top of the general expectations that educators set at the beginning of the school year. This activity could also expand to having a community vote on how they can do a participatory community project in their own school.

CTOC has shows for all ages, however, community building methodology might be best used by an age group that can understand and apply the language in the dialogues/activities. This activity recommends students be ages 10 and up for this reason. This is also because of the subject matter and background around the holocaust. This activity could also expand to other performances because of CTOC’s active initiatives to have performers both come to schools and also have students come to their location in uptown Charlotte.

3. Implementation:

Field Trip Logistics: While the idea of kindness could be used in a broader sense, implementation might depend on the show itself. For example, the show, Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba could be a means of educating kids both on the lasting impacts of discrimination and genocide, while also teaching them about how perspective taking is an important skill that allows for someone to realize that many people are going through very different conflicts and challenges that may not exist in your own life.
For history teachers, it is important to set the field trip up when you are teaching the specific era of history for students. If the play is fictional by contrast and doesn’t really have a historical basis, it may be good practice to have students go and see the performance towards the beginning of the year while they are still building relationships with their peers.

Complimentary Activities: Writing a one page reflection may not actually allow for students to participate and engage with the material that they saw. Especially when most students see field trips as a break from school. Instead, it is recommended that you provide opportunities for dialogue before and after the performance(s) to empower students to speak up about kindness in their lives. Below is an example of some dialogues/tactics using Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba as the example play.

Dialogue [30 minutes before bus ride to CTOC]: Have the teacher split the class into small groups of 5 or 6 and print out possible questions about the subject matter of the play.

Ex.

What ideas/tactics, in your personal experiences, have been useful to you when learning about the experiences of others? What about when those experiences are hard to hear?

What, in your eyes, makes someone a hero? What do they act like? What do you think they feel in tough situations?

What have you heard about the holocaust previously from other classes or people in your life? What about the country of Cuba?

Were there times where kindness looked different to you then it did to another person? If so, when?

Before Bus Ride [Last 5 Minutes of the Dialogue]: Have students jot down a sentence or two on a sticky note about a question they have going into the play. Make sure they keep it with them throughout the day. (For younger kids, collect them and put them into a folder to pass out again. Make sure they write their names for efficiency)

Field Trip [Approximately 3-4 hours]: Have the students go to CTOC and watch the performance/have lunch. Leave a little bit of time in case the actor(s) want to speak to the class about the content/their own processes in the performance.

After Bus Ride/Following Day in Classes [30 Minute Discussion]: Pass back out the sticky notes from before the production and see if their questions were answered. Split them back up into different small groups to explore alternative opinions on the subject matter. Below are sample questions. They should address some of the key themes from before while building on what they have now seen from the production.

Ex.

Did your beliefs/views on holocaust survivors and Cuba change after the play? Why or why not?

What sort of perspectives existed in the play? How did they change as the stories went on?

Have you ever had a time in your life where one person’s act of kindness impacted your opinion on them in a positive way?

What does a community look like that is built on kindness, generosity, and people who are able to take other people’s perspectives?

How can you display kindness towards others in your own community? How can you work towards that community that you envisioned earlier?


How might you bring this idea to others that you don’t already know within your neighborhood and family?





4. Goal:

Textual Resources:

Romano, Arthur. Racial Justice and Nonviolence Education: Building the Beloved Community, One Block at a
Time. Routledge, 2022. Introduction and ch. 2.

Developed by: Sara Tolba-Rezk

Resource

Living in and working in a pluralist society, such as the United States of America, diversity is not only the norm, but the ability to navigate the complexity of cultures every day is the expectation.

Visitors to the United States, through the many international education and exchange programs may find themselves outside of their element while immersed in a society that conflicts with the norms of their own.  

The resource introduced today is the book, “The Culture Map” by Erin Meyer (Meyer, Erin. The Culture Map: Breaking Through Invisible Boundaries of Global Business. Public Affairs (2014)). This book outlines the different aspects of cultural contexts, and helps readers understand their own styles. It surfaces the challenges that could arise when communicating with those from other cultures while also touching on the issue of generalizing, and the nuance that always comes when dealing with others. This understanding is important for those being immersed in a culture different than their own, as it would help curb communication breakdowns. By gaining that understanding, international students/visitors may have a smoother experience during their program.

Context

This 90-minute suggested workshop outline can be used by international program administrators and educators who would like to teach about intercultural conflict: international exchange programs, study abroad, pre-departure orientation programs for those expecting to travel to different cultures. The activities could also be reworked for use with any groups of diverse students: shared housing/dormitories, student life activities, intercultural conflict workshops.

The outline is designed for college-aged students, however, it can be adapted for travelers of any age. This activity can be integrated as part of the pre-departure or arrival orientation program. If they are 16+, it might be beneficial to assign them to read one of the recommended additional resources (see list below) prior to the activity. If they are younger, the main concepts can be introduced to them during the session.

The additional resources noted below can be helpful to support students beyond this workshop. When advising students, the introduction of these concepts could help students navigate conflict by reflect on other’s cultural conflict styles while also considering their own approach to situations.

Goals

• Increase awareness of cultural differences, cultural nuances and intercultural communication styles
• Reflect on own style and how it might promote/hinder communication
• Practice cross-cultural challenge scenarios and responses

Timeline (90 minutes):

• 00:00 – 00:05                 Ice Breaker/ Into to Topic
• 00:05 – 00:15                 Understanding Communication: Cross-Cultural Communication
• 00:15 – 00:45                 Cultural Spectrum
• 00:45 – 01:15                 Intercultural Challenge Scenarios
• 01:15 – 01:30                 Closing Reflections

Implementation

Preparation and Materials:

• Classroom space with large wall to wall gap to allow for students to line up on a spectrum. Classroom should also be flexible to allow for small groups.
• Printout of Scenarios, one scenario per group
• A/V to play video

Ice Breaker: How do you say hello? (5 minutes)

When you have a group of international and U.S. students representing different cultures and backgrounds, you will likely have a variety of ways to say hello in the classroom. This activity may help introduce cultural differences, and how even through saying hello small conflicts may arise.

• Activity (4 minutes): Ask each student to model how they say hello in their culture when greeting an acquaintance, a family member, and someone from the opposite gender. You can expect that this may be varied: for instance, Northern African (example Egypt) cultures may kiss on each cheek but not touch the opposite gender (some cultures may be ok with a handshake); Latin American (example Brazil) cultures may hug and kiss everyone, including new acquaintances. If you have a large group, instead of having everyone participate, you can ask for volunteers representing different cultures. When each person goes, you can ask: Are greetings different in your culture? Who wants to share a different example next?
• Model how people say hello in the host community (the United States for instance).
• It is important to acknowledge that “different is not wrong”, and that it is important to be mindful of how each greeting may be perceived in a different context. Ask the group to reflect on what it would be like for a Brazilian to greet Egyptians while visiting Egypt, and what it would be like for an Egyptian to greet Brazilians while visiting Brazil. Ask: What may be something that they should be aware of? How might not understanding the cultural nuances lead to conflict?
• Debrief (1-2 minutes): This is an opportunity to recognize the beautiful ways by which people around the world greet each other. You can also use this opportunity to introduce some potential boundaries that the students/visitors may want to be mindful of with new U.S. acquaintances (for instance, kissing, touching, personal space, etc).

Concept Intro: Understanding Communication: Cross-Cultural Communication (10 minutes)

Share the following video with the group (5 minutes):

Quick Debrief: Ask (5 minutes):

• Give an example of how people give negative feedback in your culture. Would it be direct or indirect?
• When speaking with someone older than you, how formal/informal can the conversation be? Are there any ways by which you are expected to show respect? What would happen if you do not follow that expectation?  

Cultural Spectrum (30 minutes)

This activity is built on The Culture Map, eliciting reflections from the group on their own cultures when it comes to the different cultural aspects: communication, feedback, power dynamics, etc.

Explain (5 minutes) to the class that they will stand along the spectrum, in the spot that they feel represents their own preferences. They can choose to stand at either end, or anywhere in between. Explain that you will read out each characteristic (listed below) and provide examples. Students/visitors can ask clarifying questions as they choose their spot.

Reflection on each characteristic (5 minutes each – 4-5 characteristics). After every characteristic is posed, and the students have chosen their spots, ask: Why did you choose that spot? How does this style show up in your community?  Where would your grandparent/ older relative stand, if they were here, and would that change where you are standing now?

 Cultural characteristics – choose 4-5 characteristics, as many as the time will allow:

• Communication: High Context (nuance, not direct, must also read what isn’t being said and body language) or Low Context (direct, people mean what they say)
  • For example: a group of friends are at a party. One wants to leave. In a high cultural context, the person might say “oh look at the time, it is getting a bit late” and may stand off in the corner not engaging in much conversation. In a low context culture, the person might state “I want to leave now.”
• Evaluating, when giving negative feedback: Indirect (provided softly, cushioned with positivity, and subtly) or direct (to the point, honest, frank)
  • For example: Giving a student feedback, indirectly that might sound like “I like how you mentioned xyz, and your approach was great. You could think about including abc. Doing that will certainly enhance the paper”. Those who prefer a direct approach might say “the paper needed more work on xyz.”
• Leading: Hierarchical (high regard for boss, high respect for elders and age – even if within peer group, multilayered) or Egalitarian (boss works directly with staff/team, flat structure)
  • For example: In a hierarchical society, at school, students may be expected to stand up when their teacher comes into the classroom. In an egalitarian society, teachers/professors may make small talk and joke with the students – and may ask them to call them by their first name.
• Deciding: Top-down (decisions are usually made from the boss down to the team/individual) or Collaborative/Consensual (decisions are made in groups with mutual agreement)
  • For example: In a top-down community, students may wait for instruction from the professor/teacher/supervisor – and they may not question it. In a collaborative community, students may be expected to share their opinion. The professor/teacher may designing an activity/assignment in collaboration with the students.
• Trusting: Relational (to gain trust time and effort must be put in to develop and maintain relationships and trust) or Task-based (you are trusted because of the work you deliver)
  • For example: In a relational society, it may be expected to build a relationship and gain trust of the other person before starting to work with them. This requires getting to know them through intentional outreach. In a task-based society, you can simply start working with a new peer without much introduction.
• Disagreements: Avoid Confrontation (passive approach, may beat around the bush, fear of negatively impacting the relationship) or Confrontational (disagreements are directly stated, differing views are acceptable)
  • For example: In a non-confrontational way, disagreements might look like subtle cues of withdrawal or slight change in tone. Instead of saying “no” or “I disagree with…”, they might say “I will consider this”. In a confrontational culture, they may say “I don’t think that will work”, “I disagree with this approach”, etc.
• Scheduling: Flexible time (it is ok to shift dates/times around, time seen as a suggestion and not a commitment) or Linear time (deadlines are rigid, scheduled meetings are expected to be upheld)
  • For example: Those coming from societies that are used to flexible times may show up to a 7:00pm party at around 7:30/45pm. The hosts may provide an earlier time in the invitation, knowing that people will arrive later. Those who schedule with linear time will say 7:00pm, and expect people to arrive between 6:55pm-7:00pm.

Adaptation: These characteristics are based on the Culture Map by Erin Meyer. However, an adaptation could also be made to adjust this activity and use Geert Hofstede’s Six Dimensions of Organizational Culture, which looks at culture through the lens of: individualism/collectivist, power distance, femininity/masculinity, tolerant/avoidance to uncertainty, long-term orientation, indulgence.  

Intercultural Challenge Scenarios (30 minutes)

This activity has students work on different cultural clash scenarios, and work together on ways that they could respond to the conflict.

Group work (10 minutes): Break the class into groups of 4-5, and provide each group with a different scenario. Explain that they will have 10 minutes to come up with a response to the scenario. The response should include: the timing of when they will approach the individual/group, how they will approach the conversation and what will they say?

Ask participants to ensure full participation from the group. Each individual should voice their opinion, and the group should collaborate together on their shared response. They should choose one person who will present their response to the larger class.

Scenarios:

Scenario 1: Your professor assigned you with a group of 4 students to work on a class project. The team all grew up in the United States and you are the only international student. In the few meetings that you’ve had so far, they have worked quickly to build up the different components of the project. You are not used to this collaborative approach, and have not been speaking up in the meetings. You’re not used to voicing your opinion to people you don’t know well, and not sure how to let them know that you do not agree with the pathway they are headed on. You have been silent in hopes that they will recognize your disagreement. You also were excited to be assigned to this group, as they seem to be really kind, and you were hoping to build new long-term friendships.

Craft a response that includes: the timing of when you will approach the individual/group, how you will approach the conversation, and what you will say.  

Scenario 2: You are living in shared campus housing with three other students. They all have different personalities and cultures. You’re very excited to make new friends and you’ve all been getting along well. The semester started out great, until one incident that changed everything for you. One day, you had a few friends over (including a few older alumni) hanging out in the living room. Two of the roommates approached the group and said, “you are being very loud, we’re trying to study. We don’t appreciate your loudness”. They asked you and your friends to keep it down or go hang out somewhere else. You were shocked at their directness, and their insensitivity towards your guests. It was very embarrassing, especially in front of your older guest. How will you respond?

Craft a response that includes: the timing of when you will approach the individual/group, how you will approach the conversation, and what you will say.  

Scenario 3: You were tasked with training another student worker who joined the team. You have been working there for over a year, and are very confident with the daily tasks. You were excited to be given the responsibility of training the new student worker. You’ve noticed that the new trainee has been extremely kind, bringing food to share, inviting you to coffee, and has been overall courteous. When you explained the tasks to them, they confirmed “yes, yes” that they understood what was asked of them. However, you’ve noticed lately that they rarely show up on time, and this has impacted your ability to clock out as scheduled. You also noticed that they still don’t seem to be fully understanding their assigned role, and despite reminders tasks go undone. They haven’t asked any questions or even let you know that they are struggling. You want to address this issue, but you are also aware that there seems to be some kind of cultural disconnect. How will you respond?

Craft a response that includes: the timing of when you will approach the individual, how you will approach the conversation, and what you will say.  

Presentations of Responses (10 minutes): Each group reads out their scenario and explains their response. Allow time for the other groups to provide feedback, ask questions or suggest further approaches to the scenario.

Debrief (10 minutes):

• Have you found yourself in a similar situation?
• What role do you think culture is playing in the scenarios?
• If this scenario happens to you, how would you relate to the person as it relates to your culture?
• What are the assumptions being made about the behavior of the different characters in each scenario?
• What are the potential cultural contexts of these people (high context (indirect), low context (direct)? How did the different cultural contexts create the clash?
• What questions could be asked to spark a conversation about cultural expectations/behaviors?
• What else might they consider when creating their response? Would gender play a role? What about age?

These scenarios were developed for college-student age, but can be adapted for different age groups and contexts.

Closing and Reflections (15 minutes)

Ask the group to reflect on the activities.

• What is something new they learned about themselves, or someone else?
• As they reflect on the culture map, is there anything they agree with/disagree with?
• What does it mean to be mindful? How can one be mindful of the differences in cultural contexts?
• Reflecting on the scenarios, if they found themselves in these situations, who might they go to to bounce off ideas on how to respond?
• What is one cultural aspect they would like to take home with them?

Additional Resources:

• Geert Hofstede’s Dimensions Maps: https://geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture/
• Geert Hofstede’s Six Dimensions of Organizational Culture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKKruTRQ_2A
• Business Speaker Erin Meyer: How Cultural Differences Affect Business https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQvqDv4vbEg 
• Business Speaker Erin Meyer: The Language of Negative Feedback https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwBPfbEeynw
• https://globisinsights.com/career-skills/communication/high-low-context-communication-survival/
• McIvor, Melissa. High- Vs. Low-Context Communication Survival Guide. Globis Insights (2022)https://globisinsights.com/career-skills/communication/high-low-context-communication-survival/
• https://www.globis.ac.jp/stories/8-scales-to-chart-a-culture-map-for-better-management/

Audience: This resource will be shared with international education program administrators.

How do we implement peace education into public K-12 Schools?

This is the underlying question behind the peace pledge activity that is part of the 10th lesson from an interdisciplinary curriculum plan designed by K-12 educators working across New York and Massachusetts. This curriculum was shared as part of the Spring 2026 Peace Week event hosted by the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. The moderator of the event was Dr. Rose Cardarelli, CEO and founder of Education for All Coalition, which provides education for children in vulnerable populations internationally.

The peace pledge promotes the cultivation of peace within ourselves, as an active process of action, and through exploring one’s identity. In addition, for high school students in particular, it can also aid in promoting the awareness of historical, local, and global contexts of peacebuilding.

Foundations: The frameworks behind this 10-week lesson plan are based on the following theoretical foundations

• Social-Emotional Learning (SEL): empathy, self-awareness, relationship-building

• Critical Pedagogy: Developed by Paulo Freire, analyzing power structures, social inequalities, and developing “critical consciousness” against the global systems of oppression. 1

• Culturally Responsive Framework: Multiple expressions of diversity (race, gender orientation, socioeconomic class, nationality, and religious backgrounds) are recognized and incorporated into the learning environment

Benefits: low tech, fosters civil engagement, contributes towards a sustainable peace environment

Activity Overview:

Peace messages, initially designed for the elementary school level, are ways for students to express how peace can be practiced and to understand what peace means. Students will engage in a series of workshops designed to aid in their understanding of peace over the course of 9-10 weeks, before the creation of the peace pledges. See lesson plans below.

Note: This activity is intentionally designed differently depending on students’ age and grade level. Please plan accordingly.

Materials/Preparation:

• Postcards

• A Writing Utensil (pencil, pen, markers, colored pencils)

Step 1: Writing Peace Messages

Objective: After the lessons that allow students to understand how peace can show up in everyday life, the qualities of peace within ourselves, and the global and historical examples of peaceful actions and movements, students within lesson plans 6-7 will start to analyze the language and tone that underlie peaceful messages in the creation of their own.

Instructions: Students will have 20 minutes to complete their peace messages on a postcard. They will be instructed to write 5-10 sentences on how peace is felt to themselves (elementary school), towards their character and identity (middle school), or towards an example of how peace will be put in action (high school). There will be a series of prompts given to students to help guide their responses. However, this is a student-led assignment, so the student will have the autonomy to write down their own answers.

Elementary School Prompts:

How is peace felt through your five senses?

How can what we feel with our senses change how we feel emotionally?

Based on previous lessons, what would peace look like?

Middle School Prompts:

How does our identity impact actions towards peace?

How does our outlook on the effectiveness of peace change how we talk about it?

How is peace related to equity and equality?

How does peace build resilience?

How does peace build our character?

High School Prompts:

How can peace be implemented through personal actions?

How can peace be implemented in our local communities?

Why is peace as an active process so important?

How do historical and global examples and perspectives of peace inform your understanding of peace?

Step 2: Peace Pledges

Objective: Following the peace message activity, students will write 2-3 sentences outlining how they will take action towards peace.

Instructions: Students will have 15 minutes to complete their peace messages on a separate postcard. They will be instructed to write 3-5 sentences on how they will use peace to understand how they and others feel (elementary school), affect change towards themselves (middle school), or how peace actions will be done in local places of communities and support networks (High School). There will be a series of prompts given to students to help guide their responses. However, this is a student-led assignment, so the student will have the autonomy to write down their own answers.

Elementary School Prompts:

I pledge to treat myself…

I pledge to try to…

I pledge to respect..

I pledge to use my words..

I pledge to help others by..

Middle School/High School Prompts:

I pledge to treat others and myself by..

I pledge to build/contribute to peace efforts by..

I pledge to make peace effective by..

I pledge to use peace in my everyday actions by..

I pledge to use peace as an active process by..

Closing Reflection: After the peace pledges are created, invite students to share what they wrote and share further reflection upon writing the peace messages, and how this 10-week course has changed their outlook on what it means to build peace in themselves, their communities, and within the world. Students can either speak individually or can be paired into pairs or groups to share amongst themselves.

Resources:

Persons of Interest:

Isabella Cuevas: She is a graduate student at the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. She works with disadvantaged youth through her program, the Storyvism Project. She is also the outreach coordinator for the Better Evidence Project.

Louis D. Brown Peace Institute: This is an organization that shares a similar educational curriculum centered around peacebuilding principles that thematically shape their activities. Learn more on their website ²

Lesson Plans

1. Paulo Freire- Pedagogy of the Oppressed ↩︎
2. Louis D. Brown Peace Institute ↩︎

Using Futures Literacy as a Peace Education Tool

By Griffin Henry

Futures Literacy, as defined by Miller (2018), is “the capability of imagining diverse and multiple futures, and using futures as lenses through which we look at the present anew.” The future itself only exists in our imagination. As the world continues to rapidly restructure, particularly around multipolarity, declining multilateralism, and rapid technological leaps, the future, in mine and many others’ minds, feels radically uncertain.  

 “When we use the future, we anticipate, and how we anticipate matters, since it changes the present.”

(Damhof, 2022)

Imagining and anticipating the future can give individuals a sense of agency in the present. 

The FLL is best suited for formal higher-education settings and beyond, but could be highly adaptable for advanced high school students. I would undoubtedly have benefited from this work in my high school experience. It could also be adaptable for informal community or workplace settings.

The lab is explicitly designed to work regardless of context. UNESCO has run over 115 of these labs globally with youth, policymakers, professionals, and community members. A notable peace-relevant example was a 2019 lab in Libreville, Gabon, where youth imagined “a peaceful and sustainable city by 2050,” generating over 30 new ideas that were shared with municipal policymakers.

The FLL is structured around four phases, each building on the last. I added a pre-phase to give participants more context on futures learning and prime them for moving into the activity sections. Below is a suggested adaptation for an advanced high school/college-level course over two to three class sessions (90–120 minutes each).

■ Pre-activity:

Watching the introduction video.

The video, Futures Literacy: shaping your present by reimagining futures | Loes Damhof | TEDxYouth@Groningen, will give participants an overview of Futures Literacy and provide context and norming for the activities following. 

■ Reveal:

Students surface their existing assumptions about the future through short writing prompts and pair discussions. Prompt: “What do you think the world will look like in 20 years?” The goal is not to answer correctly, but to make students’ implicit assumptions visible.

■ Reframing task:

Groups are given an unfamiliar, neither probable nor desirable future scenario (e.g., “a world where nation-states no longer exist”) and asked to make sense of it. This disrupts default thinking and opens space for new possibilities.

■ Rethink:

Students return to the original question with new perspectives. What assumptions shifted? What do they now see in the present that they didn’t before? This is where peace-relevant insights typically emerge.

■ Reflection/Debrief:

 A facilitated whole-class debrief connects the experience to the broader course concept, if applicable. Students could write a short reflection connecting their futures to a real-world issue.

Time: 2–3 sessions of 90 minutes each  

Materials: Playbook (free PDF), large paper or digital whiteboard (Miro), writing prompts, scenario cards  

Group size: Works best with 10–30 participants in small groups of 4–6.

Pedagogical approaches that strengthen this resource

■ Experiential learning:

The lab is explicitly designed to be a “learning by doing/action-research workshop.” 

■ Dialogue-based learning:

Small group discussions expose students to radically different assumptions, modeling the kind of perspective-taking central to conflict resolution.

■ Critical reflection:

Structured debriefs push students beyond the exercise itself to examine what their assumptions reveal about present-day systems and structures.

The Futures Literacy Lab supports several overlapping types of peace education. By asking “whose future is this?” the lab pushes students to reflect on who gets to imagine the future, which visions are prioritized, and which aren’t.  This activity, at its core, is a reflection on peace, power, justice, and individual agency in the presence.

In my view, these activities align most with:

• Global awareness
• Social justice
• Dialogue
• Conflict prevention

Participants will gain knowledge of how anticipation and reflection shape present-day decisions, including political, economic, and social ones. Also, they gain skills in perspective-taking, systems thinking, and sense-making in a community of learning. Students may also develop attitudes of openness, individual/collective agency, and that their imagination is a tool for change. 

As part of this assignment, I was tasked with sharing this blog post with two stakeholders and inviting them to read and comment.

■ My mentor and friend, Jewels.

In our many sessions focused on cognitive transformation, you have reiterated the need to “build a future worth creating.” This activity is using our moral imagination to reflect on that very task. Hopefully, this source provides additional language and structure to supplement the amazing work you already do. 

■ The best teacher I’ve had, my Father

Hey Dad, so much of your class (he is a middle school social studies teacher) focuses on global issues and contemporary world affairs.  I know how important it is to you to give students a sense of global awareness and agency. Hopefully, this resource could provide you with context, language, and structure to bring into your legendary classroom. While the resource language and the activity itself may be slightly too advanced, an iterated version in simpler language could be suitable for your classroom. 

Here is a full list of resources: