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GLOBAL CONFLICT
Curriculum Overview
Global Conflict is a research-based curriculum that focuses on conflict around the world and how these conflicts are portrayed in the media and in art. Students view video interview segments featuring four former world leaders who have experienced global conflict first hand. These interviews serve as a springboard for students' own research. A list of online resources is provided to support student research.
Viewing/Facilitation Strategies
- Introduce the Global Conflict topic and video segments. Ask students to share examples of their current knowledge, experiences, and questions related to topics such as the Middle East peace process, objectivity in news reporting and art that deals with the subject of war.
- View the video segments as a class, in small groups, or individually.
- Facilitate student selection of one of the research projects listed below which fits their interests and grade level.
Standards:
- Students understand how the world is organized politically into nation-states, how nation-states interact with one another, and issues surrounding U.S. foreign policy.
- Students understand the impact of significant political and nonpolitical developments on the United States and other nations.
- Students develop a working definition of the term "conflict."
- Students understand elements in fundamental to the conflict in the Middle East
- Students assess a historical conflict elsewhere in the world and compare it to the Middle East conflict.
- Students understand how racial identity plays a part in global conflicts.
- Students understand how artists have depicted various world conflicts.
- Students create original works of art depicting historical conflicts through which they have lived.
- Students gather and use information for research purposes.
Conflicts of Interest
In the video segments, Nobel Prize for Peace winner Lech Walesa explains why conflict has existed in his country: "...My home country is located between two powerful nations," he says, "between Russia and Germany, who are very sociable people, and they enjoy visiting one another, as they need to cross Poland on the way." What does the word "conflict" mean to you? Write the word "conflict" on a piece of paper, clustering other words around "conflict" that you feel relate to it. Based on your cluster, create a definition of "conflict" and compare it to a dictionary's definition. Then, using the Resource Links, investigate the background of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What are some of the main causes of this conflict? How do underlying cultural differences create tensions between these two groups? What past efforts have been made to try to bring peace to modern-day Israel? What international peace accords have been developed, and how have they been effective? How have tensions erupted in violence in the past year? How are other nations, such as the United States, affected by this conflict? What steps are being taken to resolve this conflict? Research another historical conflict in which the notion of "racial identity" has played a part, comparing it with the present state of affairs in Israel. Create an online magazine article that answers the question: Is possible for one historically oppressed or marginalized people to oppress another? Explain why or why not, using examples from your research.
The Art of War
Ever since humans began scratching images on cave walls, artists have been depicting wartime historical events. Using the Resource Links, explore famous works of art that portray war. Some works to consider are Picasso's "Guernica," Jacques-Luis David's "The Tennis Court Oath," Goya's "The Third of May, 1808," Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's "Washington Crossing the Delaware" and Leon Golub's "Mercenaries IV." Chose one painting and research the event that it depicts. How accurately does the painting represent the facts? Based on the painting, what seems to be the artist's opinion about the event? How does the artist use color, shading, setting, symbols, and other artistic techniques to communicate his or her feelings about the event? As a class, create an online installation, which includes the wartime paintings and students' descriptions of the events they depict, plus an explanation of how the artist's opinion about the event is expressed. Next, choose a recent historical event that you have lived through and create a work of visual art (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.) that depicts this event. Use color, shading, setting, symbols, and any other artistic techniques to convey your feelings. Add your work to an online gallery.
Standards:
- Students understand how the world is organized politically into nation-states, how nation-states interact with one another, and issues surrounding U.S. foreign policy.
- Students understand the impact of significant political and nonpolitical developments on the United States and other nations.
- Students understand elements in fundamental to the conflict in the Middle East
.
- Students understand how objectivity in news reporting can be compromised during wartime.
- Students gather and use information for research purposes.
Peace Process Board Game
In the video segments, former president Jimmy Carter describes the thirteen days he spent at Camp David with Mid-East leaders, trying to hammer out the Camp David Accord. "Every time they got in the same room, we went backwards instead of forward," he recalls. "So Begin and Sadat stayed separate. And I would go to one and then go to the other one, back and forth. And eventually we came out with the Camp David Accord, which people forget is called 'a framework for peace.'" The road to Israel-Palestinian peace has been a long and twisted one. Using the Resource Links, research the cultural history of the Palestinians and Israelis. Take note of the fundamental differences and similarities that exist between these two cultures. How do underlying cultural differences create tensions between these two groups? What past efforts have been made to try to bring peace to modern-day Israel? Have these efforts been effective? What world leaders have played a role in attempting to bring about peace in the Middle East, and in what ways have they been successful? What international peace accords have been developed, and how have they been effective? Design and build a "Peace Process" board game. The game should begin with the Oslo Peace Agreement and end with a final peace deal. The events along the way should include real events up to the present and imagined ones in the future. Events that help the peace process should have positive outcomes for players, whereas events that obstruct the peace process should have negative ones. The game can be of any sort, ranging from a trivia game to a "Chutes and Ladders" type game. Take the game home and play it with your family. Then, write a short paper describing the way your family reacted to the game and the conversation the game provoked.
The Object of Objectivity
How do you know that your news sources are reliable? Most journalists strive to be objective, but objectivity is not always easy to maintain, especially during wartime. Following the initial United States strike on Afghanistan, U.S. news sources varied drastically in tone and content from non-U.S. news sources. Using the Resource Links, find out how different English-language news sources in various nations covered the United State's retaliation in Afghanistan. Select sample reports from TV, radio or print news sources in America, Europe, the Middle East (both Arab and Israeli accounts), and Latin America. What can you tell about the articles from their headlines? Which articles contain photographs and what do they depict? What emotions do you think they are supposed to evoke? How are the articles similar and different in their accounts of the event? What information do some articles provide that others do not? How do you think journalists' perspectives can impede an objective perspective in times of war? At home, watch at least one international news report on television. Take notes about how these news reports cover the topics in the articles you read in class. Compare and contrast print and television news reporting. Do you feel it is important to consult more than one news source? Consult sources from more than one country or region? Write an evaluation of your findings. Finally, create an online news article about a current event that you have a strong opinion about, trying to be fair and objective in your reporting.
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