The learning units of Peace Diaries Volume II (PD2): Cultivating Peace are designed to promote students’ awareness of themselves, their families and their communities and to help them discover the interconnectivity of human and ecological systems. The learning units will also help students develop life skills that strengthen their capacities to participate, contribute, communicate and negotiate within their family, communities and the world.
Teachers and students who participate in Peace Diaries Volume II: Cultivating Peace will gather research, write essays, produce artwork, share best practices and gather scientific information that will be collected and stored in a database for access by the international community. Essays and artwork will be published in the Peace Diaries book.
Three thematic topics comprise the learning units of Peace Diaries Volume II: Cultivating Peace. The topics are "Recipes for Life," "Healing Planet," and "Quality of Life." Each of the topics has two Activity Layers that take students into deeper inquiry and learning. Teachers decide how many levels they would like to complete. Below is a brief synopsis of each of the topics.
* Recipes for Life
Layer 1: Narrative - Students write about and illustrate a favorite food dish that reflects their family history. Students may include why the recipe is special to them; stories, folk tales, or memories associated with the food dish; preparation style; economic or societal necessities that have led to the varied food traditions; or how food traditions have changed because of economic development, war, and environmental changes.
Layer 2: Toolkit - Students will input data into a grid that will be entered into the Peace Diaries digital library. Data includes a vegetable, fruit, seed, or spice of choice from the recipes; its plant family name; country, continent origins; where the students or family members purchased the item (super market, street vendor, organic market, farmer's market, or home garden); and in what type of area the students live (urban, sub-urban, peri rural, or rural).
* Healing Planet
Layer 1: Narrative - Students evaluate the history, mythology, and healing powers of family and cultural herbs and food. How is ecology significant to our individual health? Students are asked to tell about a time when they were sick or injured, how they got sick or injured, and what remedies their family, friends, or community, prepared for them that made them feel better.
Layer 2: Toolkit – Data entry will include the herb or food common name, scientific species name, and associated plant family name, country or continent origins, climate or conditions which the herb or food is grown; what ailment the herb healed.
* Quality of Life
Layer 1: Narrative - Students evaluate the quality of their lives, the quality of their habitats, and the quality of the earth. Students will be asked what they would want to change to insure a positive future and how they would make it possible.
Layer 2: Toolkit - As an exercise to evaluate the quality of life, students will participate in a water quality and monitoring test. Tests will be done in the home and in a water source near each student's home.
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