By Cate Malek, University of Colorado
The Peacebuilding Simulation begins with a set of conflicts between class and ethnic groups in a small, moderately prosperous democratic country named Perades. Part of Perades, a region called Maren, is not nearly as prosperous as the rest, and is suffering conflicts between its four ethnic groups, who are all competing for scarce resources, jobs, identity, and respect. After a short introduction, you will be asked to assume one of five roles. You will then be asked to read what happens and tell us what you would do. You can do this "just for fun," or this can be used by teachers as an educational tool. (Teachers: please see the "Using the Peacebuilding Simulation in the Classroom" section below for important information.)
Click here to begin the simulation.
Using the Peacebuilding Simulation in the Classroom
The Conflict Research Consortium grants other teachers and trainers permission to use this simulation in their classes on a one-time basis if the following conditions are met:
- Please write to tell us who you are, how and when you will be using the simulation, and with how many students.
- Please do not post this simulation on any other website; rather, link to our site and have your students work with it here.
- If you print out the simulation, please be sure to keep the copyright notice at the bottom.
- If your students hand in electronic copies of their answers, please forward those to us. We will not post anything that you send us, but will use your students' answers for ideas about additional scenarios and/or response options. We hope to collect about 100 responses, and then revise the story with more plot lines based on ideas that students have actually come up with on their own.
- Send us your comments and suggestions!
Click here to begin the simulation.
