Teaching the next generation about peace

Students from the local junior high and senior high schools taught children about peace through interactive workshops and games Sunday at the second-annual Peace Day at the Iowa Children’s Museum.

Peace Iowa and the Iowa Children’s Museum asked students to develop creative ways to teach young children about non-violent strategies to problems such as bullying.
Deb Dunkhase, executive director of the Iowa Children’s Museum, said the event started last year after Peace Iowa came to her with an idea for a day dedicated to teaching kids about peace.

Jillian Baker checks the register while volunteering at the Iowa Children's Museum as part of Peace Day in Coralville, IA on Sunday, April 13, 2014. Benjamin Roberts / Iowa City Press-Citizen / Benjamin Roberts / Iowa City Press-Citizen

 “For us, it’s just a really wonderful event,” Dunkhase said. “The kids who are here today are actually kids that grew up playing at the Iowa Children’s Museum.”
The teens came up with ways to teach how to be peaceful in our everyday life, and how to distinguish violent actions from peaceful choices.

North Central Junior High student Spencer Erhman, 13 years, said that he taught cooperation and teamwork through a game where children move down a line to guide a ball down a track.
“To me, it teaches teamwork as well as cooperation because we have to know when to go and to line up and to stay steady because if you’re moving it on purpose, that’s not nice to do,” he said.

Wanda Pearson of North Liberty, whose granddaughter was a volunteer, said she thought the event was a good way to teach young children how to deal with life’s conflicts.
“What should you do in this situation, or that situation? Should you walk away or should, you know, invite yourself into that situation and say, ‘I’m going to do the negative instead of doing the positive,’ ” she said. “Or if you see someone being bullied, should I walk away, or should I say, ‘Hey, that’s not the thing to do. You shouldn’t bully him, or you shouldn’t bully her.’ ”

North Central Junior High students Jilian Baker, Diamond Scarbrough, and Shay Dixon, all 12, created a “Peacearia,” where kids made peace pizzas.

“What we do is we ask kids what they know about peace, and if they basically don’t know anything, we make ‘peaceas,’ Baker said. “What we do with that is we made each of the toppings represent something to do with peace, such as love, happiness and anything else, and they can make their ‘peacea.’ ”
Dixon said she enjoyed the interactive element.
“They get to actually have fun with it, instead of just sitting there having to learn about peace,” she said.

Volunteers Aaron Kemp, left, and Spencer Ehrman help 5-year-old Brady Venzon with a game Ehrman created Sunday at the Iowa Children's Museum as part of Peace Day in Coralville. / Benjamin Roberts / Iowa City Press-Citizen

Claire Von Bergen, 7, of Iowa City said her favorite activity was making a Frisbee, and she learned to “be kind always.”
Alisa Megitt, a global studies teacher at North Central Junior High, said it was eye opening as an instructor.

“We all need to trust that the kids have the capacity to teach peace once you just teach them a little bit about peace, and they can do it creatively and in a meaningful way,” she said. “I’ve grown through this experience. Not only as a citizen, but also as a teacher, it’s very valuable for me to see what kids are capable of doing when you give them a lot of autonomy.”