Heritage

144 heritage for peace and reconciliation | manual for teacherContents• Short descriptionThe children participate in an interactive workshop organized by the Antwerp PeaceCentre. The centre developed an adventurous experience trail for school childrenaged 9–12. During the workshop, the children learn about various aspects of warand peace. They learn about, discover and discuss the critical situation in Antwerpduring the First World War, when thousands of people had to escape the city usingthe temporary bridge across the River Scheldt. Throughout the trail, children explorelinks with contemporary issues, such as refugees from Syria and Iraq, and focus onthe need for peace: both on a small scale (how to keep peace in the classroom and inyour family) and a large scale (European Union). During the workshop, each groupof children needs to complete several missions to obtain the material needed to builda bridge. At the end of the workshop, all five groups gather and build a peace bridge.The need to cooperate to build this bridge promotes a platform of peace. The bridgeneeds to be built above a large map of countries in conflict zones.Children participate in aninteractive workshop ©Vredescentrum Antwerpen• Teaching processThe teaching process contains the following elements.1. Preparation in the classroom. What do we know about the First World War? – 1hour2. Arrival at the workshop (local museum).3. Ice breaker and discussion circle: What do we know about peace, war and conflicts?What do we know about heritage? Are there traces left? – 30 min.4. Interactive workshop 1.5 hours (5 groups need to complete 5 different missions).5. Final exercise: building a wooden peace bridge between different countries on alarge map. – 30 min.6. Debriefing in the classroom on the basis of materials the children collected duringtheir visit. – 1 hour