While attending the Peace Education Exploratorium this weekend, I had the opportunity to learn about many different pedagogies of peace at work in the world today. The role of sports and peace education specifically piqued my interest as one of the guest facilitators, Amanda Munroe, spoke about her involvement with  Move This World, formerly Dance 4 Peace. 

Here is a short video about Move This World’s work. Move This World Video! 

Move This World is a non-profit organization dedicated to using creative movement to transform conflict, violence and bullying in communities around the globe.  Move This World created an innovative curriculum focusing on fostering empathy, mediation skills, diversity appreciation, anger management and conflict transformation. With a need for peace intervention at all levels, Move This World operates with grade level specific curriculum. The curriculum theme for each age group can be viewed by clicking here! 

Founder, Sara Potler, began the program with youth in Bogota, Colombia. Promoting peace through dance, Potler began the formation of the idea that movement can be used to create peace. Today Move This World works internationally in Colombia, Germany and the Philippines and stateside in Baltimore, Newark, New York City and Washington, D.C. Move This World employs several different peace pedagogies. By working and learning students with whom we are learning with, community building is a play. By moving and working together, relationships between peers can strengthen and encourage a community of peace. The second pillar of peace pedagogy, engaging in multiple intelligence’s is played upon. Through movement via sports, dance or whatever gets students flowing you can engage in the body, music, naturalist and interpersonal multiple intelligence’s. By accessing these intelligence’s, students are able to experience alternative forms of education. These tools enable students to benefit by stretching their skills into multiple forms of intelligence’s. 

Ways to use this resource – Elementary & Middle School 

Incorporating movement in the classroom is the first step in introducing peace pedagogy into the classroom. By looking at the curriculum themes for each grade level, teachers can gear their lesson plans to whichever activities best fit their classroom.

Ways to use this resource – High School

While kindergarden through eight grade focuses on key themes to teach students, the high school curriculum focuses on facilitating students own leadership and peace building skills. The first semester hones in on understanding emotions, conflict and cultural diversity. With an entire semester of immersion into conflict resolution information, the second semester is geared towards fostering students own leadership capacity as they grow to be peace-makers in their own community. 

During high school I was involved in the PALS, Peer Assistance and Leadership, which fostered parallel goals as Move This World focuses on during primary education. This program was brought to my high school by the administration in hopes of reducing the increasing amount of violence. While other non-violent programs were simultaneously put in place, as the development of the PALS program increased the violence occurring within the school decreased.  To learn more about training opportunities through PALS, click here. 

Ways to use this resource – Become a Partner! 

If your school or organization desires to facilitate peaceful change through movement, please sign up to receive more information from Move This World by clicking here. Move This World works in Colombia, Germany and the Philippines and stateside in Baltimore, Newark, New York City and Washington, D.C. If your school or organization is outside these regions, Move This World provides many beneficial tools to use in your classroom, as well as great curriculum models to follow.