Teaching Peace in a Changing World: October/December 2002 Issue: Peace Watch: U.S. Institute of Peace

"My passion for teaching is to make the deeper connections by asking why history matters," says Esther Adams, of the Walworth Barbour American School in Israel, a 2002 Summer Institute participant.

The eleventh Summer Institute was the first one after the events of September 11, 2001 and echoes of related issues were felt during the 2002 seminar. Twenty-seven teachers from seventeen states, Israel, and Canada gathered for the Summer Institute for Secondary School Teachers on July 28–August 2 to learn about international conflict issues and integrating those issues into the classroom.

Julie Hansen, a founder of the Stevens School of Peacham (Vermont), said that her rural students had not understood how global events touch their lives before the terrorist attack. This has changed. "It has brought them closer to adulthood in a way. It is clear they are needed in the world. They are eager to learn and know it is important to understand. In my classroom I constantly try to remind myself and reinforce to the students that we can be constructive and not destructive."

The teachers spent the week engaging with educational and political experts from the Institute and Washington's policy community, sharing techniques and experiences, and learning about new information technologies and tools.

The intensive seminar included both teaching methods and content:

John Rossi of the School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth University, demonstrated "scored discussion"—a technique whereby students score the quality of their discussions—as one of a number of teaching techniques presented that would engage students in critical debate on current global issues.
International affairs experts on various regions and policymakers briefed the teachers on current events, conflicts, and global problems. One session focused specifically on terrorism. Among others were conflict and the environment, the ethics of military intervention, and peace and conflict in Africa.
Several participants appeared on Voice of America's Talk to America to discuss how global issues impact their various school settings, from public, urban schools to small, private schools.
Sessions on new library and information technologies demonstrated tools for connecting students to a broader world. Hansen commented, "I don't want kids to feel powerless; they're not. We can get information to question why things are and what seems wrong."
Institute executive vice president Harriet Hentges and Institute president Richard Solomon sought input from the teachers, as frontline educators, into the plans for the Institute's future new headquarters.

The Summer Institute is an annual opportunity to make global and local connections, to learn from the past, and to help teachers prepare their students for the changing world they will inherit.

The deadline for applications for the 2003 Summer Institute is February 2003. For more information please visit the Summer Institute online or call 202-429-3854.

Participants and organizers of the 2002 Summer Institute for Secondary School Teachers.