These PowerPoint slides raise questions about what we mean by peace and how young people can be involved in working for peace in their school or community. They aim to engage young people in a series of interactive activities which enable them to ask questions and explore issues. These activities are suitable for PSE, religious education or the Welsh Baccalaureate.
The slides are mostly self-explanatory, but some accompanying notes are provided below.
Slide 1:
Ask learners to look at the different peace symbols. What is their significance and where do they come from?
Who are the people portrayed here? Did peace mean the same thing to them? You may like to discuss the fact that Churchill’s peace sign meant achieving peace by defeating the Germans at war; whilst John Lennon’s peace symbol was more about a universal peace, perhaps including inner peace. What does this tell us about the concept peace? (That peace means different things to different people, and that people believe peace can be achieved in different ways.) What do learners think about this?
Slide 2:
Explain that these slides will deal with two questions:
- What is peace? and
- How can young people promote peace?
Slide 3:
2015 – 2016 marks the anniversary of a number of world events where we commemorate large numbers of people who were affected by war and conflict. Are we right to commemorate such events? Why / why not? How should these events be marked? Are there any other events which learners would add to this list?
Slide 4:
A number of interactive activities are suggested during the slides. Human Bingo is a good activity to do near the beginning of a session, particularly if learners don’t know one another very well. The main aim of this activity is to help learners get to know one another better, but it also raises questions about things we have in common and the skills we need to be effective peacemakers. To do this activity you will need to download the Human Bingo sheet.
Slide 5:
This activity enables learners to think how they would define peace, then to share their thoughts with a partner – then with the whole group. A supply of post-its are needed for this activity.
- Think: Learners write down their own definition on a post-it. It may be useful to ask them to do this reflectively and quietly.
- Pair: Learners now find a partner and share their thoughts, taking turn to listen to one another. It may be good to ask learners to work with someone they don’t know so well.
- Share: Pairs now report back to the whole group. If possible, learners can report back on what their partner said, which encourages careful listening skills.
Slide 6:
This slide introduces the concept of negative peace and defines it as: ‘Life without fear of violence or harm’.
Slide 7:
In smaller groups learners write down examples of activities that aren’t peaceful. These could include national / international phenomena such as war, crime rates, unequal distribution of wealth and unfair trading arrangements, but learners may also mention factors such as bullying, harassment and different forms of abuse.
Slides 8 & 9: Where is peace?
Learners are invited to consider which countries are the most / least peaceful countries in the world. Before placing their red/ yellow / green stickers on particular countries, encourage them to have a discussion in their groups. Why do they think this country is particularly violent or peaceful?
Once the ‘answers’ are revealed (according to the Global Peace Index), invite discussion. Are students surprised by any of these results? Why?
A supply of red, yellow and green stickers / dots are needed for this activity.
Slide 10: Not Peace:
The definition of a not so peaceful country, according to the Global Peace Index.
Discuss: do learners agree with these categories? Would they have included anything else?
Slides 11 & 12: Positive Peace:
What are the attitudes, actions and institutions that make a society more peaceful in the longer term? Invite quick answers and ‘brainstorm’ ideas on a flipchart / whiteboard.
Learners’ answers could then be compared with Slide 12. Is there anything on slide 12 that learners would disagree with, or anything they would like to add?
Slide 13:
This slide summarises learning so far.
Slide 14: Human knot:
This is a good activity for getting people up and active after they have been thinking and discussing for a while. It is also a fun activity, which encourages cooperation.
Slide 15: Wales for Peace?
So how does Wales fare in the peace scales? What do learners think?
Positive aspects might include democratic devolved government, whilst less positive ones may include social inequality.
You may like to mention local people in your area who have worked for peace, also a some aspects of Welsh society historically which took a strong stand for peace – e.g. the nonconformist chapels and the Independent Labour Party. Who stands for peace today?
If you would like to do more work on the peace heritage of your particular area, contact the Wales for Peace team at
Slide 16:
In groups ask learners to identify 5 – 10 activities which young people can take to promote peace in their school / community. Ask each group to feed back to the whole group.
As a whole group, discuss and decide what actions you can take forward to help make your school / community a more peaceful place.
Would your school like to become a Wales Peace School? If so, contact the Learning Coordinator at the Wales for Peace project () to discuss what this may entail.
Slide 17: Peace Quotes:
For this activity you will need the handout showing some famous peace quotes.
First of all show learners Malala’s peace quote. Discuss in the whole group: Do you like this quote? Why/ why not?
In small groups, look at the different peace quotes. Which ones do people like and why?
Individually or in pairs, ask learners to write their own peace quotes, either entirely in their own words, or by completing the sentence: ‘If you want a peaceful world…..’ These could be displayed around the classroom.
A follow-up activity might be to write a story, poem or essay on this topic.