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Education World offers ten lessons designed to teach students to respect diversity and resolve ideological differences peacefully. Included: Ten activities for teaching kids about empathy, anger management, and effective conflict resolution.

In response to reports of harassment of Muslim and Arab American students following the terrorist attacks of September 11, educators were called on to help prevent such harassment by encouraging students to discuss diversity constructively and express idealogical differences respectfully. We hope the activities below, primarily designed for students in grades 2 through 8, will be used to help create a safer learning environment for everyone.

Be sure to see Education World's special Bullying Archive for more resources and lesson planning ideas.

Coloring a Peaceful World
Students discuss conflict resolution techniques and color posters about those techniques.

The Average Kid
Students determine the traits they have in common with other students in the class and create a visual profile of the "average" boy and girl in the class.

Planet X
Students work together to create a Bill of Rights for a colony they are founding on a distant planet.

Reacting to Conflict
students learn about the different ways people respond to conflict and then explore some sample scenarios to learn about their own conflict styles.

The Anger Suit
Children explore the nature of angry feelings.

Simon Says "Who Are You?"
Students play a variation of Simon Says that highlights their similarities and differences.

Understanding Needs and Feelings
Students learn about needs and feelings, then write an ending to a story showing how a child deals with his or her needs and feelings.

The Talking Stick
Students use a "talking stick" to practice listening and communicating.

Bullying Reality Quiz
Students take an online quiz about school violence and create their own quiz on bullying.

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Originally published 09/21/2001
Links last updated 03/28/2008