Tue, Nov 30, 2004
Religious Conflicts Lesson Plan
This resource, entitled Religion and Culture: Religious Conflict is a lesson plan aimed at grades 9-12 that has students consider the theme of religion and culture as they learn about Hindu-Muslim conflict in the province of Gujarat, India. It was developed by Thandi Center and is hosted by PBS. Students are first introduced to Academic Controversy, and then explore the differences. There are a number of links to relevant resources and a complete outline of how to conduct the lesson. It includes long and compressed versions of the exercise.
Academic Controversy Primer
This PBS-sponsored site introduces teachers to the Academic Controversy process and provides various handouts and a video clip of a sample controversy being carried out by students.
PDF Forms provided include:
1. Checklist
2. Rules
3. Assessment Rubric
4. Assessment Report
5. Note-Taking Form
6. Presenting Positions Form
7. Resolution Form
A. Active Listening
B. “I” Messages
Sat, Nov 27, 2004
Tim Berners-Lee Keynote from 2004 Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT
The archived webcast of Tim Berners-Lee giving the opening keynote at MIT’s Emerging Technologies Conference is now available online. Berners-Lee is credited with “inventing” the world wide web.
The Bruderhof Peacemakers Guide
This online Peacemakers Guide was developed by the Bruderhof Communities. The Bruderhof is a network of faith-based communities that began in Europe in the aftermath of World War I and now has branches in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, England, Germany, and Australia. They seek to live in a way that (in the words of the early Quaker George Fox) “takes away the occasion for war”—and the social and economic divisions that bring about war. The Peacemakers Guide is described by the creators this way: “The Bruderhof Peacemakers Guide was created to inspire and empower you to work for peace, and to arm you with living proof of the power of nonviolence to effect change and resolve conflicts. Some of theÜpeacemakersÜfeatured on this website are famous, others obscure, but all have dedicated their lives to building a more peaceful and just world through nonviolent means. For each you will find a short biography, an original portrait, and links to further reading. We’ve also supplied you with ammunition to help you convince those who doubt the practicality of nonviolence. In this section you’ll findÜwritingsÜon nonviolence, reconciliation, conflict resolution, pacifism, and conscientious objection to military service, as well asÜfree e-booksÜon peace-related themes. Don’t miss our popular This Week in Peacemaking HistoryÜcalendar.”
The Price of Freedom: Americans at War
This online exhibit on Americans at War from the Smithsonian Museum of American History features a timeline of America’s wars, from the Revolution to Iraq. You can watch an interactive presentation on each war—slideshows and movies, text and photos, and dozens of artifacts (firearms, flags, uniforms). Read an overview of each conflict; learn about its causes, major events, and consequences.
Sat, Nov 20, 2004
MyAntiwar.org News Aggregator Service
The advent of RSS-based news feeds has provided news watchers with much greater control over the news they monitor and improved the timeliness with which news becomes available. The MyAntiwar.org website is an example of a news aggregator that brings together news from many sources, and then gives you choices about how you want to view it. You can also use code from the site to display your news choices on websites where you have “write access”. Below is an example of a feed from Democracy Now, a national daily independent news service. It is included using the javascript include provided by MyAntiwar.org and limited to the most recent 4 items to save space in this blog.
Fri, Nov 19, 2004
TeamUp - game for girls about working together
Girls Inc., dedicated to inspiring all girls to be strong, smart and bold, has developed a shockwave-based game called TeamUP. It is a game where you can solve puzzles by helping girls work together, and it is playable either online or as a downloadable.
Arbitration: An American Perspective - Streaming Lecture by Thomas Metzloff
Professor Thomas Metzloff from Duke University Law School has been posting some of his course lectures online. This Lecture on Arbitration is streamed using RealPlayer and provides both a video feed of the professor and slides providing key content. It is from his course Distinctive Aspects of American Law, a course designed to introduce international students to several of the distinctive aspects of U.S. law in the context of international business disputes litigated in U.S. courts.
Thu, Nov 18, 2004
MindManager Map of the Facilitation Process
John Windmueller built an interesting visual overview of the faciliation process using some software called MindManager. You can have a look at it yourself here. Click on terms for more information where it is available.
Review of Stakeholder Analysis Methods (with Pictures!)
Conflict Resolution projects often need to involve multiple parties in their interventions. Knowing who to include and how can be challenging. This Stakeholder Analysis paper by Jacques Chevalier from Carleton University provides a review of various methods of Stakeholder Analysis, with the focus in this case on Natural Resource Management. I liked it because it illustrates the various methods with screen shots and diagrams.
Indigenous Facilitation & Mediation Project Website
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) has launched a website in support of their Indigenous Faciliation & Mediation Project. 
The site contains a lot of good full-text content, especially if you are interested in culture and conflict resolution. In addition to information about the project, the site includes sections entitled “Stories and Talking Points”, “Decision Making and Dispute Management in Native Title”, “Practice Issues in Facilitation and Mediation”, “Events, Training and Academic Pathways”, “Research and Publications” and “Links”. Overall, the Project aims to:
- Identify best practice in Indigenous decision making and conflict management;
- Build on Indigenous ways of making decisions and managing conflict in the design and implementation of flexible, responsive, reliable and sustainable decision-making and dispute management systems;
- Identify and develop relevant training; and
- Raise awareness of the need for procedural expertise and skills and long term relationship building in dealing with Indigenous decision-making process and conflict management beyond a more common emphasis on substantive outcomes.
Definately worth a look.
Wed, Nov 17, 2004
Crool Zone?: A WebQuest Series on Creating Non-violent Schools
The “Crool Zone?” webquest series developed by Tom March provides a series of activities designed to help people explore issues related to school safety. Some engage you in learning new information, some help you understand what you feel about these issues, and others throw you into discussions and problem-solving. The one thing they all have in common is the goal of helping to keep our school zones from being Crool Zones.
Six Steps for Nonviolent Social Change
This Flash animated tutorial from the King Center explores six basic steps necessary to support social change through nonviolence. The Six Steps for Nonviolent Social Change are based on Dr. King’s nonviolent campaigns and teachings which emphasize love in action. Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolence works hand in hand with these steps for social and interpersonal change.
Who Wants to be a Parliamentarian?
Developed by the University of Illinois Extension service to support 4-H club members, this educational site and knowledge-testing game entitled Who Wants to be a Parliamentarian provides an overview of basic parliamentary procedure. Can you get onto the highscore board?
Video Lectures on Conflict, Violence and War from Rice University
The Scientia Program of lectures at Rice University is focusing on the theme of “Conflict, Violence and War” this year. Their lectures are webcast and are available from the webcast archive (found intermingled with other recent webcasts from Rice). You can monitor the webcasts available at Rice using their RSS feed made available for this purpose.
Here’s the Scientia program description for this year’s series.
The desire for peace and tranquility may run deep in the human spirit, but conflict, violence, and war have been nearly ubiquitous hallmarks of our past. This year’s Scientia series will examine the nature and origins of violent conflict, not only in modern-day warfare and throughout human history but in its evolutionary roots within other animal species. By examining a spectrum extending from the appearance of violence in images to the occurrence of competition versus cooperation in experimental gaming and bargaining experiments, we will examine the causes and possible purposes of violent behavior as well as what might be done to contain violence in the future. Speakers will be drawn from a range of academic disciplines, including among others Political Science, History, Religious Studies, Biology, and English.
Session topics in this series include:
—Conflict and Violence in Animals
—Violence in History
—Does Jihad mean Violence?
—Are Leo Durocher and Paul Wolfowitz right? Do “Nice States” Finish Last?