Conflict Resolution: Teaching Guides: For The Classroom: Education: U.S. Institute of Peace

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Download the Teaching Guide on Conflict Resolution
The guide includes all lessons plans, student handouts and instructions.

The United States Institute of Peace has developed this guide on conflict resolution as a resource for students and educators to help students develop the skills necessary to negotiate the world and to be effective, responsible individuals. The idea for the guide came from two Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs), one having served in Kyrgyzstan and the other in Slovakia, who participated in a training program on multi-track diplomacy. At this training the RPCVs realized that many of the skills they were learning would have been very useful to them during their Peace Corps service. The resulting guide is intended to introduce concepts of conflict resolution into the classroom or workplace. It is important to note that the framework for this guide comes from a manual for Israeli and Palestinian high school students developed by Edy Kaufman and Manuel Hassassian.

The guide is divided into five sections: trust building, defining conflict, prejudice awareness and reduction, communication, and conflict management. Each section focuses on one segment of conflict resolution. The concepts in the sections build on one another and work well when used in order. However, the guide is designed to be flexible, allowing educators to use activities as they see fit.

Objectives

To explore issues of peace and conflict from the perspective of students’ lives.

To increase students’ understanding of the strategies they can use to resolve conflicts based on differences.

To develop students’ conflict resolution and problem-solving skills.

To develop students’ communication skills through the use of conflict resolution activities.

To provide educators with teaching tools necessary for bringing conflict resolution skills into the classroom.