Sustainability in Science Education & Personal Reflection

I started off my journey learning about Peace Education last summer in Costa Rica. Honestly, I decided to take the course because it gave me to opportunity to travel to a country I have never been and also gave me my first stamp in my passport. What I really got out of the trip, was insight on sustainability, specifically in the idea of incorporating the topic into the Biology content. We were able to visit the INBio Parque where we really were able to explore our nature’s real environment and how we live among so many different kinds of living organisms.

My journey to Peace Education continued this semester where I was able to learn about the Peace Education certificate. Since I did not know too much about the topic, I thought this class would be a great stepping-stone in a new adventure at the University of San Diego. The idea of incorporating and teaching peace in the classroom was one that I became interested in. I feel that these important lessons in life are starting to get lost in the midst of our student’s childhoods. We look at peace education to be something that is taught in the children’s homes, but what we are seeing today in our society that there is very little interaction between our students and their parents simply because of conflicting schedule and the need for dual working parents. Therefore, our children are being raised in an environment that is consistently exposed to war, violence, and conflict. These ideas are portrayed in the news, in video games, in books, in schools, etc. Like the book Ian Harris wrote, he states that we as humans do not inherit a violent nature, but are rather taught violence by our surroundings. I think as educators, we need to change this trend and go back to incorporating love and peace. Without this foundation, our students are not going to understand concepts being taught in the classroom, nor are they going to really want to learn because of the lack of connection to our environment and to one another.

I’m really excited to continue my journey in learning more about Peace Education and incorporating the ideas into my curriculum.

Teachers Without Borders Module 3

Module 3

The focus of Unit 3 is pedagogy and classroom practice. We start by looking at peace education as pedagogy, and examine important characteristics and skills of a peace educator. We then examine different approaches to peace education. Finally, we review the major subject areas taught in most classrooms around the world, and provide suggestions for ways you could implement peace education in these areas. While we provide many examples that can be directly applied, we hope that Unit 3 also provides inspiration for you to develop your own teaching approaches to peace education for your context.

Pedagogy of Peace Education

• "Pedagogy is the form that peace education takes, and it consists of the teaching approaches and methods used by peace educators"
• The content should be related to our students every day lives.
• According to Haavelsrud (1996), there is a dialectical relationship between the form and content, in which the “form determines the content and the content determines the form” (p. 39).
• How can I incorporate peace education pedagogy into my subject area??
• Incorporate human rights, multiculturalism
• Lecturing about peace is not the right way to incorporate peace education because it relies on the oppressive, banking-style criticized by Paulo Freire

Key Pedagogical Principles of Peace Education (Taken from Module 2, Unit 1 of Teachers Without Borders Self-Paced Course)

"Virginia Cawagas (2007) has identified four key pedagogical principles in peace education:

1. Holism: Demonstrating that all issues are interrelated, multidimensional, and dynamic. Holism stands in sharp contrast to the fragmented way in which school subjects are often taught. A holistic vision allows us to see the complex relationships of different issues. A holistic vision involves looking at the temporal (past, present, future, and how they interrelate) and spatial dimensions (from micro to macro, and across sectors of society) of an issue.

2. Values formation: Cawagas writes, “Realizing that all knowledge is never free of values, educating for a culture of peace needs to be explicit about its preferred values such as compassion, justice, equity, gender- fairness, caring for life, sharing, reconciliation, integrity, hope and non-violence” (p. 302). Peace education involves teaching for these values in all educational interventions.

3. Dialogue: According to Cawagas, “a dialogical approach cultivates a more horizontal teacher-learner relationship in which both dialogically educate and learn from each other” (p. 303). Dialogue is a key component of peace education pedagogy. In addition to class discussion, Cawagas suggests the following tools for dialogic pedagogy:

• Guest speakers: For example, invite street children to a class to talk about their lives; 
• Web charting: Make a web chart using a theme (in a circle in the center), and sub-themes connected to the center, and draw connections; 
• Role-play: Have students act out a cross-cultural conflict; 
• Simulation: Simulate a small-arms convention for a lesson on disarmament; have students play different roles, such as that of an arms dealer, arms buyer, protester, etc.; 
• Singing; 
• Painting; 
• Poetry; 
• Small group discussion.

4. Critical empowerment: Cawagas writes that “in critical empowerment, learners engage in a personal struggle to develop a critical consciousness that actively seeks to transform the realities of a culture of war and violence into a culture of peace and non-violence” (p. 304). Thus, through critical empowerment, learners develop a deeper understanding of problems, and are also empowered to take action to solve these problems. Critical empowerment also requires an understanding of power; in a system of inequitable power relations, empowerment involves reconstructing this system to one of more equitable, horizontal relations." (www.teacherswithoutborders.org)

Attributes of a Peace Educator

1. The teacher is a responsible global citizen and has a vision for positive change in the future. S/he believes that education is for positive/constructive change. 
2. The teacher is motivated by a desire to serve and is actively involved in the community where s/he teaches. 
3. The teacher is a life-long learner. 
4. The teacher is “both a transmitter and transformer of cultures.” The teacher transmits his/her own culture but is also critical and reflective to be an agent of change and understanding of other cultures. 
5. The teacher's relationships with students and faculty must nurture peace via the creation of a community. 
6. The teacher must be aware of racism, sexism or any other form of discrimination that may occur in the classroom and both how s/he perpetuates it and how other students perpetuate it. 
7. The teacher uses constructive criticism to help his/her students grow. 
8. The teacher knows all of the learners as individuals and responds effectively to their differences with a caring attitude. 
9. The teacher creates an environment in which the students are free to inquire by creating questions that address issues. The teacher is the poser of questions rather than the answerer. 
10. The teacher is constantly reflective about his/her own teaching methodologies. 
11. The teacher knows and uses the skills for communication and conflict resolution to build a community. 
12. The teacher utilizes cooperative learning. 
13. The teacher is able to elicit discussion from the students.
14. The teacher motivates and inspires his/her students.
15. The teacher is joyful and positive; promoting hope.
16. The teacher is passionate and compassionate.
17. The teacher is gentle and fair.
18. The teacher is comfortable using personal stories to connect to the learning 

(Navarro-Castro & Nario-Galace, 2008).
Navarro-Castro, L., & Nario-Galace, J. (2008). Peace Education: A Pathway to a Culture of Peace. Quezon City, Philippines: Center for Peace Education, Miriam College. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/16686241/

Standards for Peace Education


The following is a list of standard skills that teachers of peace education should demonstrate (Carter, 2006):

1. Facilitate student construction of their concepts of peace and positive processes for increasing it, based on their collective experiences and new information. 
2. Integrate positive contact with, as well as information about, diverse cultures in the local region and afar to overcome ignorance, misinformation and stereotypes. 
3. Accommodate cultural norms of students including their diverse learning styles. 
4. Engage in cross-cultural communication with multicultural school participants, including families, thereby modeling acceptance, accommodation and celebration of diversity through pluralism. 
5. Demonstrate positive regard for all students, regardless of their misbehaviors, to convey unconditional care and respect for them as valuable people. 
6. Use compassionate and equitable communication in dialogic facilitation of classroom management. 
7. Train students through modeling of dispositions and skills that develop peace, including the practice of nonviolence before and during conflicts. 
8. Create a nurturing “school-home” environment which nourishes and provides a safe place for communication about concerns related to violence. 
9. Listen to families’ ideas of how peace can be developed in the classroom and school and then collaborate with them in the facilitation of their suggestions. 
10. Use strategies that support peaceful interaction with the self and all people, including restorative practices in post-conflict situations. 
11. Model action for peace development on and beyond the campus, thereby demonstrating a community norm of social justice. 
12. Cultivate and support the student’s responsibility for their own peaceful-problem solving while you stay aware of, and responsive to, their needs. 
13. Integrate across multiple subject areas information about past, present as well as future peace developments and strategies. 
14. Create and support venues for expressing current and future peace development. 
15. Show appreciation for all student achievements in, and aspirations for, peace. 
16. Attend to and teach ecological care of the physical environment, including sustainable use of its resources. 
17. Teach about socially and environmentally responsible consumerism and the conflicts which result from exploitation of producers and laborers. 
18. Teach about power relations in current events as well as history to help students recognize sources of structural violence. 
19. Facilitate student examination of militarism and its impact on the social order. 
20. Teach students to critically evaluate sources, perspectives and evidence provided in information they have access to while enabling them to recognize the types of information they do not have, but need, to develop clear understanding of spoken and written presentations. 
21. Enable students’ discussions of controversy and unresolved problems locally and globally, thereby cultivating their intellectual and communicative skills for comprehending and analyzing conflicts. 

Carter, C. (2006). Standards for Peace Education. A Florida Center for Public and International Policy Paper. Florida: University of North Florida. Retrieved from http://www.unf.edu/thefloridacenter/PeaceEdStdsForWebsite.pdf

Teachers Without Borders Module 2

Module Learning Objectives 

At the end of this module, the participants will:

• Understand the wide range of fields that peace education encompasses 
• Understand the knowledge, values and skills that each field seeks to promote 
• Understand concrete classroom applications for each field

Module Guiding Question
As you read this module, consider the following question:

How can I integrate these themes into the curriculum that I currently use? How can I find “spaces” for peace education?
Since I am not yet in a classroom, I feel that viewing the Teacher Standards (listed in the Module 3 post) is a great start into incorporating peace education into my classroom.  Many of these ideas stem along the Montessori philosophy, which I've had lots of experience with when I taught preschool for 2 years in San Diego.  Although my experience was with younger children, I think the foundation set upon these standards are universal amongst all children.  Two standards that I feel are very important in the Science classroom is Standard 16: Attend to and teach ecological care of the physical environment, including sustainable use of its resources and Standard 17: Teach about socially and environmentally responsible consumerism and the conflicts which result from exploitation of producers and laborers.  I feel that right now our students are learning about life on Earth and our environment, but if they don't know the importance of protecting our habitat, we will no longer have a sustainable future.

Global Citizen Education

"Global citizenship education incorporates elements such as environmental sustainability and social justice (Andrzejewski & Alessio, 1999), with skills such as nonviolent conflict resolution and critical awareness and respect, to shape students to be well-rounded and conscientious citizens of the world. This means that students will be able to understand the impacts of legislation and actions on populations around the world and want to work for change that promotes the greatest good for everyone, not simply for those of their nation" (Teachers Without Borders, Unit 2)

Key Theorists

John Dewey

• John Dewey designed a plan for Peace Education as a result of the deconstruction he experienced during World War I.
• Dewey wanted to teach people to be global citizens rather than citizens of their specific nation.

Tsunesaburo Makiguchi

• Makiguchi was a Japanese citizen who helped develop the philosophy of global citizenship alongside education
• Was a principal and teacher and later created his doctrine along with Jogai Toda
• Was a supporter of education that connected to the every day life of children and that teachers need to take the role of a guide rather than the one who lectures and knows all about a particular subject

What does Global Citizenship Encompass?

• Social Justice: EQUALITY!!!!
• Diversity: Our students forget to look at the similarities between other cultures across the world.
• Globalization and Interdependence: The main point of interdependence is looking at how we are connected to economics, culture, politics, technology, and linguistics
• Sustainable Development: What students are not learning in the classroom is how to preserve the environment to make sure that our future generations can prosper.  Students are learning about the basics of the environment and their surroundings, but are not really looking at what they can do to make a difference in their community and ultimately in the world.
• Peace and Conflict Studies: How do we incorporate past conflict and teach students how to resolve these conflicts in a peaceful manner.  For example, we often look at the issue of slavery as a horrible time that our people had to endure in the United States.  What our students are not learning is about the perseverance and the fight that many abolitionists risked their lives for to end slavery.  These people were not just those who were enslaved in the past or the Black community, but were people from all races and backgrounds that did not believe in human enslavement.

Sample Lessons (Taken from the Teachers Without Borders, Module 2: Global Citizenship)

Oxfam (2006)

Education for Global Citizenship can be integrated into all areas of the curriculum. The following activities develop some of the skills and values that are central to Global Citizenship. They can be adapted for use in many different curriculum areas with a wide range of age groups and ability levels. Although they are used here to examine particular issues, they could be used to extend pupils’ thinking about many other issues associated with Global Citizenship.

Using photographs (Foundation stage/Early years)

Visual representations are integral in how we form our attitudes towards other cultures.  Therefore, activities that use photographs can be important for teaching diversity, respect, challenging stereotypes and supporting empathy.  The following is a list of activities that can be done with photographs.

1) Changing situations: This activity asks children to say what they think is happening in a photograph as well as before and after the picture.  Teachers should encourage students to use evidence from the picture to justify what they say. 

2) Putting yourself in the picture: As its name says, children need to put themselves into the scene of the picture.  This can be done orally or by creating a visual representation.  In taking part of this process students should notice similarities between themselves and those in the photograph.   

3) Beyond the frame: In this activity students are asked to extend the photograph.  The photo is placed in the middle of a large peace of paper.  Students are then asked to, working together, determine and draw what is happening around the photo. 

4) Links and commonalities: Show the children a picture of someone in another country. Ask them to think of all the commonalities and links between their lives and the life of the person in the picture.

Water for all: from local to global thinking (age 7+)

The purpose of this activity is to promote the skills of communication and critical thinking as well as to make global issues real for students.  First students will be asked to think about how they use water in their daily lives and to then imagine that they no longer have water.  Students should think about how this would impact them.  Ensure that students are thinking broadly and see the relationships between the various areas, such as how the lack of water can lead to diseases.  Students can then, in groups, work through various consequence chains, based on not having water.   

Investigating Conflict, Interrogating the Media (Ages 11+)

This activity teaches students about conflict and the media while promoting critical thinking skills. To start students need to watch or listen to a news programme that shows a conflict.  All students can be exposed to the same program or find their own programs.  Students should think about how the conflict, heroism and neutrality are portrayed. When thinking about the program students should also determine which statements are facts vs. opinions, what is the point of the news piece, what is the language used and what messages does it portray and who has a voice and who does not.

Useful websites for news sources:

http://allafrica.com

http://www.newslink.org

http://www.newsdirectory.com

http://www.worldpress.org

Letter/Email Exchange

A great way to promote global citizenship is to get to know students from around the world. One way to do this is through a letter or email exchange. If you live in the US or a country where Peace Corps Volunteers serve, you can become involved in the World Wise Schools Program (http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws), which links schools in the US to schools where Peace Corps operates. There are also many internet portals that allow students from schools across the world to interact with one another. You can also seek to develop a relationship with a sister school on your own, and build a relationship between your classes. 

Get Global! (Price, 2003)

The following activities are from Get Global!, a global citizenship education curriculum for secondary students. The entire resource is available at: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/resources/get_global/files/section_one_get_global_steps_english.pdf

Activity 1: Ideal futures - An activity for exploring perceptions of the world

Think about how you would like yourself/your school/local area/country/world to look in ten years’ time. Consider the characteristics of good citizens. What would there be in the world that there is not now? Present the ideas on posters or maps in writing or drawings.

Activity 2: Mapping our world - An activity for exploring perceptions of the world

Think of ways of representing school, and draw symbols to illustrate this, e.g., something that represents learning. Place the symbols on a space on the wall or floor. Each student draws a symbol to represent where they live and places it on the wall or floor in relation to the school. Draw symbols to represent places outside of the local area which students have connections with, e.g. places visited or other countries where friends or family live. Place these in relation to the school. When the map is complete explain each symbol and ask questions like:

• What did we talk about? What did we learn? What else can be added?
• How is the map useful? Who owns the map?

Activity 3: Influencing people - An activity for exploring and analyzing influence

Discuss what influence means, i.e. affecting the way someone thinks and behaves. Draw a spider diagram of the people who influence you, e.g. individuals such as parents or friends, and groups such as pop groups, organizations. Write their name in the middle of a piece of paper and draw lines linking their name to other people’s names. The length of the line represents how much the person influences them. A short line represents a lot of influence because it is nearer to them, and a long line represents less influence because it is further away from them. Write how each person influences you along each line, e.g. My mum influences me by telling me to eat properly. Draw a second spider diagram of people who you influence, with those you influence most nearest to the center, and those you influence least further away from the center. Compare the two spider diagrams considering the similarities and differences, e.g. whether the people who influence you are the same people you influence. Compare each other’s spider diagrams, e.g. whether everyone has the same amount of influence. Consider how the people on your spider diagrams may influence each other, and draw labeled lines showing how. It will begin to look like a spider’s web. It is also possible to act out this activity.

Activity 4: Local to global power - An activity for exploring and analyzing influence and power at local and global levels

Discuss the difference between influence and power. Think of people who influence you and people who have power over you at local, national and global levels. Present conclusions by drawing a Chappati (Venn) diagram or by sticking post-it notes on large circles on the wall or floor. Calculate the proportion of people who have influence, and the number who have power over you at local, national and global levels. Discuss the findings and whether or not it is what you expected. Are there any names in the overlapping circles? What does this mean? Repeat the activity focusing on people you have influence over and people you have power over. Add this to the Chappati diagram using a different color pen. Make a key.

Teacher Without Borders Module 1

In Module 1, I looked at the foundation and background history of peace education including the history, definitions, major philosophers, and concepts central to the field.

What does peace mean to me?

"Peace education can be defined simply as “the process of teaching people about the threats of violence and strategies for peace,” and may take place inside or outside a classroom" (Harris, 2008, p. 15).  I look at peace as a means for all living creatures to be on the same playing field.


What is the connection between peace and education?
We can look at peace and education to mean that all students shouldn't struggle to receive an equal education.  Two quotes from the unit that struck me when connecting peace and education were...

"The ultimate goal of peace education is the formation of responsible, committed, and caring citizens who have integrated the values into everyday life and acquired the skills to advocate for them". - Betty Reardon  

"Unless we teach children peace, someone else will teach them violence". - Coleman McCarthy 

Peace education can be linked to so many different aspects of education and for the struggle for educational equity that we have faced long before our time dating down to the struggle of education during slavery.

History of Peace Education 

• Maria Montessori
• Influential mid-20th century theorist who found new connections between peace and education
• Linked teaching methodology to peace-building
• Peace studies
• Became a more serious academic subject after World War II
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)-- Created in 1989 and seen as a fundamental right that all children should have
• John Dewey

"Education is a social process.  Education is growth.  Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself"

• Founder of the Progressive Movement
• Humanity had limitless potential in a less positive direction: the limitless potentioal to demoralize and promote violence
• Paulo Freire

"Any situation in which some individuals prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry os one of violence.  The means used are not important; to alienate human beings from their own decision-making is to change them into objects."

• Brazilian education know for his work in the field of critical pedagogy
• Author of the Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1972),describing the opressed, the oppressors, and their relationship to maintain unequal power relations

Assignment #1 Peace Autobiography

Why do I see peace education as something important in the classroom?

I see peace education to be something that is not confined to teaching people the threats of violence and how to achieve peace, but more of a issue that can be related to equality and sustainability.  As a future Science educator, I feel that Peace Education is more than non-violence, but a way to build a bond not only with others, but a way to build a bond with our community and surroundings.  Peace education, specifically in the Science field can help us really maintain the harmony we create with our environments and with others.