This past school year, K-12 English teachers across Moldova teamed up to launch Operation P.E.A.C.E: the Practical and Entertaining Adventure for Conflict Resolution and English Teaching Program.
The teachers founded the initiative based on a belief that, in an ideal education system, learning techniques to solve interpersonal conflicts and build cooperation could be incorporated into all classroom subjects.
The teachers decided to apply games as a means of integrating these topics into their classrooms. Educators can introduce complex topics, like resolving group conflicts in a non-threatening manner when games are leveraged as a learning tool whether these games take the form of a traditional board game, an online game, or a group activity.
Operation P.E.A.C.E. Hackathon
Building on the success of its conflict resolution games, Operation P.E.A.C.E. is expanding its training to new audiences. GirlsGoIT in Moldova, an entrepreneurial-themed summer camp for girls between the ages of 16 to 20, received training from game designers and conflict resolution specialists in developing their own educational games. Over the course of a weekend, 20 GirlsGoIT campers participated in the Operation P.E.A.C.E. hackathon, where they designed games to teach conflict resolution techniques in their home communities.
Operation P.E.A.C.E. Innovation Workshop
Operation P.E.A.C.E. also collaborated with Dreamups Innovation Campus in Moldova to host a five-day innovation camp for 30 English teachers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine. The workshop leaders taught the English teachers how to design and employ games in their classrooms to instill conflict resolution skills in their students.
The final games of both efforts were distributed across Moldova to schools, embassies, and community organizations and to English teachers in six countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine making Operation P.E.A.C.E. a truly international initiative.
About the Operation P.E.A.C.E. Program
The Operation P.E.A.C.E. Program was funded by a generous grant from the US Embassy in Moldova. Learn more about the Operation P.E.A.C.E. initiative and the work of American Councils Moldova by visiting their website.