Grades: K - 9th
Contact: David Johnson
Professor of Educational Psychology
Cooperative Learning Center
College of Education and Human Development
University of Minnesota
60 Peik Hall
159 Pillsbury Drive SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455-0298
Phone: 612/624-7031
Fax: 612/626-1395
E-mail: johns010@umn.edu
Teaching Students to be Peacemakers is a theory-based, peer-mediated conflict
resolution training program. Between 1988 and 2000, seventeen studies (11 involved
control groups) were conducted on the effectiveness of conflict resolution
training in eight different schools in the U.S. and Canada. Students were from
kindergarten through ninth grades and depending on grade, received 9 to 23 hours of training. The studies were conducted in rural, suburban, and urban settings.
When presented with simulated conflicts to resolve several months after training,
treatment group participants used more negotiation steps than controls. Findings
indicate that students learn the conflict resolution procedures taught, retain
their knowledge throughout the school year, apply the conflict resolution
procedures to actual conflicts, transfer the procedures to nonclassroom and
nonschool settings, use the procedures similarly in family and school settings,
and when given the option, engage in problem-solving rather than win-lose
negotiations. The studies demonstrate that conflict resolution procedures can be
taught in a way that increases academic achievement. Teachers, principals, and
parents also indicated that the program reduced the incidence of destructively
managed conflicts and resulted in more positive classroom conflict.
Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Effective Program, 2003