Harmony Island: Multimedia enhanced conflict resolution curriculum

As incidents of school bullying and violence remain high, conflict resolution is increasingly being integrated within school curriculums. As a result, researchers are striving to develop innovative and effective materials to address social problem solving and emotional awareness. This presentation describes an effort to create a research-based, multimedia-enhanced conflict resolution curriculum for middle schools. Funded in part by grant R44HD015322 from the National Institutes of Health and developed through an iterative, six-stage instructional design process, the effort takes a constructivist approach in addressing a blend of knowledge, skills building, and attitude change objectives through information provision, problem-based learning, scaffolding, and cooperative learning. The curriculum includes a CD with an extensive set of interactive activities situated in the context of a tropical island, “Harmony Island”; a DVD with real-world and animated conflict situations; and a teachers' handbook. Learners visit seven different island venues to complete five levels of activities with increasingly complex conflicts. Activities include arcade and quiz type programs, interactive conflict scenarios, conflict storyboarding, and “real-world” conflict analysis. Preliminary trials (n=4 classes) indicated the curriculum is useful and engaging and led to improvements in knowledge, attitudes, and skills.

Demonstration copies of the effort will be distributed. The genesis and foundations of the effort, and the design and development process, will be delineated. Aspects of the curriculum will be demonstrated. Design issues and lessons learned will be highlighted. Results of formative and preliminary summative evaluation will be discussed. Implications for other research efforts and suggestions for future work will be described.