Wed, Feb 23, 2005
The War Relocation Centers of World War II: When Fear Was Stronger than Justice (Online Lesson Plan)
When Fear Was Stronger than Justice is a lesson plan designed to study the U.S. government’s confinement of people of Japanese ancestry to relocation centers during World War II. Resources include maps, readings, photographs and layouts of the Manzanar (California) and Rowher (Arkansas) camps, activities, and links to related Web sites. From the U.S. National Park Service program, Teaching with Historic Places.
Tue, Feb 22, 2005
Tools for Creative Problem Solving and Creativity
Check out this site on Creativity & Innovation in Science & Technology. It provides a list of more than 200 creativity enhancing and problem solving techniques, and each technique includes brief information on how it would be used.
Mon, Feb 21, 2005
Handbook for Assessment in and of Collaborative Learning
This Handbook for Assessment in and of Collaborative Learning, developed and edited by Evergreen University’s Washington Center’s Evaluation Committee, provides a set of assessment tools for college teachers and staff involved in collaborative learning and in learning communities. The authors describe approaches they have found effective in their own classrooms - approaches which reflect their concept of assessment as an integral part of the teaching and learning process.
The Handbook is divided into two sections. Articles in the first section address assessment in collaborative learning environments, while those in the second section discuss assessment of collaborative learning environments. The authors assume that readers are involved in collaborative learning settings either as beginners or as long-time practitioners, and may be looking for ways to improve their practice, account for it, or both. They see the need for assessment approaches that both “prove” and “improve” learning.
Broadcast from 2002 Latin American Student Symposium on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
This is a real media recording of a live broadcast from the 2002 Latin American Student Symposium on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution held at the Istituto Tecnologico in Monterrey, Mexico by the Institute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution (IIMCR)† (56:00)
Audio Advice on Conflict Resolution with Children or Adolescents
The Pennsylvania-based Foundations Behavioral Health project provides short audio “tapes” for parents and care-givers on a variety of topics. One such tape (available online as an mp3) is on Conflict Resolution. The audio file is accompanied by a pdf document providing the details in a written format.
This Week in History from PeaceButtons.info
PeaceButtons.info, a provider of peace buttons and stickers, now provides a newsletter and web page documenting historical events related to peace and social justice. You can view it online or sign up for an email newsletter version (see sidebar of webpage). They describe the project like this: “This Week in History is a collection designed to help us appreciate the fact that we part of rich history advocating peace and social justice. While the entries focus on large and dramatic events there are so many smaller things done everyday to promote peace and justice.” 
A Whole School Approach to Restorative Justice
Transforming Conflict, a consulting group in the UK, has developed materials exploring the development of a whole school approach to Restorative Justice. Lots of good ideas packed into a small web space, with invitations to use their services, of course.
Negotiation Skills Game: Move or Die from ZapDramatic
Move or Die is an interactive flash movie from Michael Gibson. It is the newest offering from ZapDramatic. It plays like an interactive animated adventure movie. The User assumes the role of a hitchhiker who gets picked up by two ethically challenged siblings in their twenties, Syd and Wilma. When bad things start to happen, the action will stop and a menu screen will appear asking the User for input. The User negotiates with Syd and Wilma and tries to persuade them to make better choices. If the User advises poorly or fails to persuade Syd and Wilma to choose a better course of action the movie will end in disaster and the action will stop. The only way for the User to see the whole movie is to learn from past mistakes and negotiate more effectively.
MOVE OR DIE
An interactive adventure movie by Michael Gibson
Starring: Jennifer Gould, D. Garnet Harding and Jackie Burroughs as Mrs. Grimm
Music by Juno nominated recording artist, Danny Michel
Winner of the Vortex Prize, Mcluhan International Festival of the Future. Toronto, 2004
Tue, Feb 15, 2005
Citizen Science Toolbox
The Citizen Science Toolbox provides over 60 different methods for promoting public involvement in decision-making. Each featured tool is described in detail with respect to resources and experience needed, appropriate uses, strengths and weaknesses, likely outcomes and more. Citizen science is founded on a set of guiding principles for effective and inclusive participation and partnerships to achieve sustainability. Quite a handy resource for conflict resolvers!
Mon, Feb 14, 2005
The Flint Sit-Down Strike Audio Gallery
The Flint Sit-Down Strike Audio Gallery connects us to the historic events of 1936-7 in Flint, Michigan. This strike was notable because of the use of a new tactic - the sit-down. Workers did more than picket outside the plant and risk replacement by scabs in these cases; they actually occupied the plant itself in order to prevent further production. This gave labor an edge in negotiations that they had not enjoyed before. Hear various parties talk about the Strike that occurred in Flint, or watch an animated slide show in this interesting window into Labor-Management disputes history.
Teaching with Audio Artifacts
The Teaching with Audio Artifacts website is a project of HistoricalVoices.org, a growing audio archived housed at Michigan State University. The project establishes a paradigm for incorporating historical audio artifacts in teaching. It consists of a model lesson to demonstrate the use of audio artifacts incorporated in a lesson, a step by step process for developing an audio integrated lesson, and a lesson building opportunity rich with audio links and resources to expand the teaching and learning experience. 
Sat, Feb 12, 2005
Turning Weapons Into Art: Peace Art Project Cambodia
Peace Art Project Cambodia (PAPC) was established in July 2003 by Small Arms Specialist Neil Wilford and Artist Sasha Constable. Between 1999 and 2004, the Royal Government of Cambodia and the European Union Assistance on Curbing Small Arms in Cambodia (EU-ASAC) publicly destroyed 125,000 weapons across 17 Cambodian provinces. PAPC secured thousands of these weapons to be used for a very different purpose. PAPC brings together twenty three students recruited from the Royal University of Fine Art Phnom Penh utilizing decommissioned weapons to create works of art. The completed work is exhibited and sold to promote contemporary Cambodian art, young Cambodian artisans and a weapon free society in Cambodia and globally.
“Peace Talks” Radio from KUNM in Albuquerque, NM
Peace Talks is a monthly radio show on public radio KUNM in Albuquerque New Mexico that focuses on how people can make peace and pursue nonviolent solutions to conflict within themselves, their families, and communities. The broadcasts are available as Real Player streams. The January and February shows focus on Martin Luther King Jr.‘s Path to Nonviolence with Dorthy Cotton and Yolanda King. Annually they produce an hour-long program, highlighting the best of the KUNM series.† It’s called †Peace Talks: Making Peace Day to Day. It is a 59 minute collection of some of the most compelling segments from the monthly series PEACE TALKS.
Hosts Suzanne Kryder and Paul Ingles talk with people whose life’s work is to resolve conflict peacefully in a variety of environments. Listeners will hear:
-tips on how to find a primary relationship that has less conflict and how to handle conflict when it arises,
-techniques for customer service reps to use to cool off angry customers,
-thoughts from two individuals who took their concern for peace to the heart of global conflicts - Iraq and North Korea,
-an analysis of how modern media might change to promote and reflect a more peaceful world,
-ideas for handling schoolyard bullies,
-a powerful story of forgiveness involving two fathers, one whose son killed the other’s son. They are working together to improve the conditions for youth in their community,
- a discussion about how to bring civility back to our political discourse.
Wed, Feb 09, 2005
Triptych Digital Initiative - Peace Buttons Collection and More
Readers might enjoy searching or browsing the peace buttons collection archived online by a cooperative project from 3 Quaker Colleges. Triptych, a digital initiative of the Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore College Libraries, builds on the cooperative model set by TRIPOD, the online catalog that merges the collections of three colleges founded on the Quaker traditions of social conscience and thoughtful citizenship. Triptych draws from four repositories ó Bryn Mawr College Library Special Collections; the Swarthmore College Peace Collection, which focuses on social reform and issues of peace; and the Haverford College Library Special Collections, which shares with the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College the stewardship of the records of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends. The four have joined in this project with materials that illustrate not only a tiny window into the richness and eclecticism of their collections, but also demonstrate, in various ways, how the textual and graphic images of the past help shape the ideas and ideals of coming generations. Be sure to check out the collection of more than 120 student peace posters produced in 1940 for examples of great creativity regarding the causes and consequences of war. 
Mon, Feb 07, 2005
Mock UN Security Council Debate
The CBC Radio One show “As It Happens” covered the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Part of this coverage included a mock Security Council debate that might have taken place just after Colin Powell insisted the U.S. needed to invade Iraq. It is available as a 3-part set of real media audio files. The debate is described in the show notes as follows:
February 6, 2003
Do you ever wonder what goes on behind the closed doors of the United Nations Security Council? So do we. We’ve assembled a who’s who of experts on foreign policy for a mock debate. One to represent every permanent member of the security council. We’ve asked them to debate the merits of the case against Iraq as outlined yesterday by Colin Powel - and whether military action is justified.
The People’s Republic of China is represented by Charles Burton. Dr. Burton is an expert on China at Brock University, and a former counsellor for political affairs at the Candian embassy in Beijing. British author and historian William Shawcross is the ambassador for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Dominique Moisi represents France. Dr. Moisi is deputy director of the Institute Francais des Relations Internationales in Paris. Our Russian ambassador is Sergei Plekanov, a professor of political science at York University and former deputy director of Moscow’s Institute for the Study of the USA and Canada. And Danielle Pletka, the vice-president of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, repreesents the United States. Mary Lou Finlay is chairing the meeting, in the role of the ambassador of Germany.
For the faster download, we’ve divided the audio into three parts.
Listen to part 1 (runs 21:19)
Listen to part 2 (runs 19:16)
Listen to part 3 (runs 13:52)