Violence Prevention
Violence prevention programs often include a conflict resolution education component, but are more likely to include increases in safety and security issues relevant to the prevention of serious violent behaviors that are, luckily, still quite rare in schools (Burstyn et al, 2001). Violence prevention efforts seek to decrease serious risk behavior, including violence toward self and others, risky sexual behavior, and substance abuse (Wilson, Gottfredson & Najaka, 2001). Conflict resolution education is focused more on the development of important life skills, and especially communication skills, that help students find nonviolent ways to handle their problems and, thereby, may decrease violent behavior.
Videos of Possible Interest
- Playing and Practicing Peace in Baltimore
- Help Increase the Peace (HIPP) program
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights animation
- Aik Saath – Supporting CR among Sikh, Hindu and Muslim youth in London
- Urban Gardens and Peace Education in LA – AFSC Intern Video
- Conflict Resolution at Lewes New School
- Nonviolence and Peace Education in School
- Teacher.tv Behaviour Challenge video module
- Learn & Live: Resolving Conflict at O’Farrell Middle School
- We Want Peace – Emmanuel Jal (with lyrics)
- Peaceful School Bus Program – Hazelden Foundation
- Conflict Resolution — Thinking It Through
See MORE VIDEOS...
Sample Catalog Resources
Below you'll find a randomized listing of up to 20 related items (we may have more...) drawn from our Resource Catalog.
| Resource Title | Description | Links |
|---|---|---|
| Cultivating Peace - Taking Action | This 66-page pdf is a curriculum packet developed for use in Canadian classrooms. "This resource encourages students to examine their own beliefs regarding the need for change in our world and their personal responsibility in taking action. The preconditions necessary for a culture of peace are explored through the examination of global issues in sustainable development, economic disparity, fair trade, human rights and consumerism. Students are given opportunities to explore the range of actions possible, the ways in which change occurs, the barriers to participation and the factors that support youth involvement. The resource includes a teacher's guide, a video, a poster series and a student guide to taking action. It is designed for use in grades 10-12." | |
| Preparing pre-service educators to break up fights -- before they happen | Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 4, Number 1, (Oct. 2003), which discusses a project by the North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention -- Center for the Prevention of School Violence (DJJDP Center), to prepare future teachers to effectively manage conflict. | |
| Tug of war - Peace Through Understanding Conflict | This 10-chapter 104-page book, available as a pdf, is for youth ages 8-16 interested in a peaceful world - and in understanding the forces that cause conflict, both in personal relationships and across the globe. Tug of War describes: 1) What the roots of war are. 2) How we create "The Enemy". 3) A new way to handle violence. Illustrated by award-winning artist, Rod Cameron. Part of the Education for Peace Series by Atrium Society Publications | |
| Conflict resolution education vs. violence prevention | Word document comparing and contrasting conflict resolution education and violence prevention. | |
| Programmes scolaires de prévention de la violence: Manuel de documentation | 199-page pdf manual in French which "provides practical research- and expert-based information on school-based programs to prevent interpersonal violence. We review 79 prevention programs (18 in the French version). Each has research evidence, addresses unique "at-risk" populations, such as children with disabilities, or uses innovative approaches to engaging youth." | |
| Bullying in out-of-school time programs: tips for youth-serving professionals and volunteers | Pdf document that examines bullying in extracurricular activities with tips for professionals and volunteers. | |
| Kids Working It Out Resource Appendix | A listing of books, publications and websites provided in the appendix to Tricia S. Jones and Randy O. Compton (Eds.) 2003 book Kids Working It Out: Stories and Strategies for Making Peace in Our Schools. | |
| Let's Resolve Conflicts Together: Elementary School Classroom Activities | A 30-page guide filled with suggested activities designed to be used during Conflict Management Week (May 1-7, 2000) in Ohio Elementary Schools. This activity booklet/guide first offers ideas for how schools can engage in school-wide activities. The guide then describes a process for improving the overall climate of the school through the use of the classroom meetings. Six steps to conflict resolution are offered in the guide, as well as activities for helping students become aware of underlying causes of conflict. According to the guide, in addition to learning steps of a conflict management process, teachers may also work with students to enhance the communication skills used in conflict management; these include understanding blocks to communication, being aware of nonverbal communication, using "I" statements, and using active listening skills. The guide is divided into four broad sections: School-Wide Activities; Learning about Conflict; Communication Activities; and Conflict Management across the Curriculum. | |
| Social and Emotional Learning and Bullying Prevention | 21-page briefing paper prepared for the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and the Social and Emotional Learning Research Group at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Schools using a social and emotional learning (SEL) framework can foster an overall climate of inclusion, warmth, and respect, and promote the development of core social and emotional skills among both students and staff. Because bullying prevention is entirely congruent with SEL, it can be embedded in a school's SEL framework. The aims of this brief are to (a) provide a basic description of a school-wide SEL framework, (b) illustrate the relationship between social and emotional factors and bullying, and (c) explain how an SEL framework can be extended to include bullying prevention." | |
| VOV activities: Learning nonviolent conflict resolution skills, grades 7-12 | 13-page PDF document which presents activities for 7-12 graders to improve conflict resolution skills. | |
| Youth and Conflict: Best Practices and Lessons Learned | Mercy Corps, as an international NGO focused on "saving and improving lives in the world's toughest places" believes youth are a force for positive change -- the generation that can help transition their countries into productive and secure nations. However, youth are the primary participants in conflict today. The reasons they participate in conflict are multi-dimensional - they lack economic opportunities, political voice and a sense of belonging or connection to their communities. Often the only way young people can imagine changing their predicament is through violence. In Mercy Corps programs the focus is on catalyzing youth's desire for change into positive outlets. This 11-page pdf publication is a sample of Youth and Conflict Best Practices and Lessons Learned drawn from Mercy Corps' programs, other agencies, donors, think tanks and researchers. It is divided into six sections: * General Program Design and Implementation. This section includes advice on training, as it is a central part of many of our youth programs. * Economic Engagement * Political Participation * Youth-to-Community Connections * Youth-to-Youth Connections * Addendum: Lessons from Our Colleagues | |
| Bullying prevention: CRETE training day 3 | Powerpoint presentation for educators on bullying and ways to prevent bullying behavior. | |
| Educating for Peace and from the University: Memorial Anthology of a Decade | 488-page pdf in Spanish. The UNESCO Chair in Education for Peace was created in November 1996 from a cooperation agreement between the University of Puerto Rico and the Organization of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This Anthology provides an overview of the essays and documents developed in the first decade of activity seeking to promote reflection and attention to the problems of violence and hope and to encourage and provide direction for non-violent action towards peaceful coexistence. The Anthology was released on a commemorative CD and as this downloadable pdf. | |
| Let's Resolve Conflicts Together: Middle School Classroom Activities | A 30-page guide filled with suggested activities designed to be used during Conflict Management Week (May 1-7, 2000) in Ohio Middle Schools. In the middle school classroom, making use of themes of conflict can invigorate subject areas across the curriculum. This activity booklet/guide offers ideas for improving the overall climate of the school and for learning how to resolve conflicts in the classroom. The guide first presents ideas for drawing attention to issues of conflict and peace. It then provides activities for helping students become aware of underlying causes of conflict. The guide cites the six steps to conflict resolution and states that, in addition to learning steps of a conflict management process, teachers may also work with students to enhance communication skills used in conflict management. According to the guide, these skills include understanding blocks to communication, using "I" statements, and improving listening skills--resources to teach these skills are included in the guide. The guide is divided into four broad sections: School-Wide Activities; Learning about Conflict; Communication Activities; and Conflict Management across the Curriculum. | |
| CRE vs. violence prevention | This document compares Conflict Resolution Education with related violence prevention work. | |
| Peace and Nonviolence Curriculum Grades 1-6 | This curriculum focused on nonviolence in daily life provides profiles of 12 peacemakers and provides suggested activities and a bibliography with suggested readings. The peacemaker profiles include Franz Jagerstatter, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Mohandas K. Gandhi, Anwar Sadat, Eleanor Roosevelt, Dag Hammarskjold, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, Albert Einstein, Albert Schweitzer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Will Rogers. | |
| Peace and Non-Violence Curriculum - Grade 12 Social Studies | This 218-page curriculum guide is designed for use with grade 12 Social Studies classes, but can be adapted for grades 7-11. It provides a 12-week structured curriculum exploring topics related to Peace and Nonviolence. Weekly themes include Poverty as a Form of Violence; Violence and Conditioning; Non-violent Change; Working Together; Oriental Philosophies; Western Philosophies; The United Nations; The Ethics of War and Peace; The Science of Matter and Energy; The Problems of Disarmament; Economic Conversion; and One World Beyond War. | |
| School-based violence prevention programs: A resource manual | 199-page pdf manual which "provides practical research- and expert-based information on school-based programs to prevent interpersonal violence. We review 79 prevention programs. Each has research evidence, addresses unique "at-risk" populations, such as children with disabilities, or uses innovative approaches to engaging youth." | |
| Real-World Scenarios for Campus Leaders from Divided Community Project | Created as part of the Divided Community Project’s Virtual Toolkit, these short hypothetical fact patterns propose several divisive incidents on college and university campuses to be used in training and discussion. The examples discuss a range of important issues. For example, how should university administrators respond to student protests against racial injustice? What role, if any, should campus police play when there is student unrest? What policies should schools consider to ensure student safety/well-being and to protect free speech on campus? These are only some of the questions that are worth discussing. The Divided Community Project encourages campus leaders to carefully think through each example, talk through the steps that one would take, consider relevant questions, and develop actionable plans. | |
| Changing Children's Trajectories of Development | This research brief describes one of the largest and longest running school-based violence prevention programs in the country--the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP)--and discusses the results of a rigorous evaluation of its effectiveness conducted by the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. The brief is designed to inform federal, state, and local policymakers and opinion leaders, as well as program developers and managers at the local level, of an effective strategy for directly addressing the problem of violence among children and youth. The evaluation assessed the impact of the RCCP program on children's developmental trajectories toward violence, providing concrete evidence that early school-based violence prevention initiatives such as the RCCP can work and should be included in communities' efforts to prevent violence among children and youth. |