Analyzing Conflicts Image A first step toward peace is to recognize and understand (analyze) the conflicts and violence in people’s lives: What is causing the un-peace? What might help or fix the problem? Conflicts are intrinsically interesting (as can be illustrated by any news media), and may stimulate critical and creative thinking. The young people participating in our research, in multiple schools in each of three countries, made clear that they were already well aware, concerned, and often worried about social conflicts near and far, directly violent and indirect (systemic), and personal through global in scale. Their request and recommendation to teachers was to allocate classroom time to guide in-depth study of some conflictual social issues, their causes and consequences, and the proposals and efforts people had made to solve or transform such problems. Different Points of View A conflict looks and feels different to each person or group affected by it, for instance to somebody who is getting their way compared to somebody who is being harmed. Each stakeholder or party has a point of view based on their interests: their needs, desires, advantages/disadvantages and concerns, the reasons for their feelings, statements, and (in-)actions. In a conflict, at least one party believes that their interests are impeded by another party’s interests and (in-)actions. Parties in conflict often do not realize that they also have some compatible interests (for example, to remain safe, to reduce the resources expended on conflict escalation, to protect dignity and reputation, or access to a resource). Conflict analysis inquiry and dialogue can unveil: Actors (parties, stakeholders) involved in a conflict, and how they are related to one another Interests of each party (the concerns, desires and needs that underlie their points of view) Consequences of the conflict, as it has been handled so far, experienced by each affected party Missing voices: other parties affected by this conflict who are not (yet) represented in what social actors know and do about it Root causes of the conflict escalation and harm: cultural and social-structural injustices, needs and constraints Resources, institutions, and tools for handling this conflict, fulfilling each party’s interests, and transforming relationships. Using Examples Some participating teachers in each country facilitated student inquiry, analysis, and discussion about various examples of conflict and aggression situations. Several teachers drew conflict examples from students’ personal experience, including verbal disagreements, and injustice bias issues such as racism, sexism and homophobia. Some teachers also guided students to analyze unfamiliar and larger-scale historical or contemporary social conflict and violence issues or episodes, including war. Teachers could build upon these examples by using the conflict tree to facilitate learners’ analysis of parties, interests, action options, and consequences, considering multiple points of view. Some examples from teachers participating in the research include: In each country, activities on remembrance days, and sometimes curriculum units, addressed war, military service, and military escalation. One Mexican teacher guided a unit on World War I, using maps, images, and graphic organizers to analyze that conflict’s actors, the causes of conflict escalation, the negative consequences of violence, and potential de-escalation or non-violent solutions. As a culminating activity, she then guided students to use similar strategies to analyze local violent conflicts among neighborhood gangs. A few teachers in multiple schools and countries kept examples of student peer conflict episodes that had occurred in the school or schoolyard (playground), then selected one conflict episode at a time to discuss with the class, to guide understandings of conflict and elicit peacemaking principles. In Canada, a special day each year addressed peer pressure and aggression around gender expression (masculinity and femininity). Also, some teachers showed a documentary film about relational aggression (bullying), then conducted a class discussion about the problem and action choices that could prevent, de-escalate or heal the conflicts motivating such aggression. At another Canadian school, a teacher led a semester-long interdisciplinary curriculum unit about understanding conflicts: “What is conflict, how can we solve conflicts in our community … how does it feel … what’s worth fighting for… what can be done, and what is doable at school.” Colleagues in that school used articles from a newspaper for children, to discuss the then-current emergency situation of Syrian refugees. The students used reading strategies to learn about where refugees came from in Syria, to analyze their reasons for fleeing the country (war). For geography, they also mapped different paths that Syrians had taken away from Syria, including sometimes migrating to Canada.