Target Mindset

  1. •appreciating that conflict arises when people perceive the same situation differently and that integrative thinking is required to resolve apparently irreconcilable positions

Target Skills

  1. •communicate to forge consensus and unity among people with diverging or competing interests

  2. •initiate and contribute to processes that aid group effectiveness

Sample Activity

Conflict Resolution Simulation

In different groups, students are given a hypothetical conflict situation and asked to represent various characters in the group to try to come up with a solution to the conflict that all the characters could agree upon.

Various conflict situations are used, all with teenagers as the primary characters in conflict and written as realistically as possible.

In the debriefing, students are asked to consider how skills in integrative thinking and consultation shaped their view of the conflict.

Photo courtesy of Julian Wolkenstein

Sample reflection postcards from students