The Peace Labyrinth: An Interactive Exhibition on Conflict Resolution

ARTICLE 

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong>: <strong>An</strong> <strong>Interactive</strong> <strong>Exhibition</strong> on Conflict 

Resolution 

DANIEL FRIEDBERG AND DIANA ALDEROQUI-PINUS 

Abstract <strong>Interactive</strong> exhibitions are a new medium for peace education in Israel. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong>, 

based on a model developed by <strong>Peace</strong> Education Projects (PEP) for an exhibition in the Netherlands, 

is the first project of this type in Israel. <strong>The</strong> model was revised to suit the needs and the 

political and social situation in Israel, particularly in Jerusalem. <strong>The</strong> project is an initiative of the 

Jerusalem Foundation, in cooperation with the Olivestone Trust and the Bloomfield Science Museum 

Jerusalem. <strong>The</strong> article presents the theoretical, methodological, and practical considerations at play 

in adapting the original model for use in Israel and notes the insights gained for peace education and 

for the museum’s educational endeavors. 

I had a really good time at the [<strong>Peace</strong>] 

<strong>Labyrinth</strong>. It makes you discover 

things that are really important and 

see how the other people living in Israel 

operate. It is also nice to learn about 

different cultures, different languages, 

etc. It also allows you to test 

yourself—they ask you what you would 

have done in response to a certain 

incident. I learned whole lot from the 

[<strong>Peace</strong>] <strong>Labyrinth</strong>! It gives you a 

chance to look at things from a 

different viewpoint. 

—A fifth-grade girl from the Efrata 

(Jewish religious) School in Jerusalem 

INTRODUCTION 

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> is an interactive exhibition 

on conflicts and ways to resolve them. 1 

Using the museum medium and interactive dis- 

Volume 55 Number 3 July 2012 

play tools, the exhibition aims to engage children 

in mechanisms that deal with conflicts and 

violence in their everyday social environment. 

<strong>The</strong> Bernard M. Bloomfield Science Museum 

Jerusalem, the exhibition’s developer and host 

for two years, serves a city with a multicultural 

population and a heritage that is vital to the 

three major monotheistic religions. As an informal 

cultural and educational institution, the 

museum features interactive science and technology 

exhibitions and integrates them into a 

relevant wider context that includes a range of 

educational activities. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> 2 

was the second exhibition at the museum to 

deal with the social sciences. 3 

This article describes the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> 

in the context of peace education generally and 

in the more specific framework of activities in a 

museum setting. It begins by presenting the 

educational model developed by <strong>Peace</strong> Education 

Projects (PEP) in the Netherlands, which 

became the foundation for the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong>. 

Daniel Friedberg (dfridberg1@gmail.com) was the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> co-curator at the Bloomfield Science Museum 

Jerusalem and is an independent conflict resolution expert; 3 ⁄ 7 Hapalmach Street, Jerusalem 92542. Diana 

Alderoqui-Pinus (dianap@mada.org.il) is curator of visitors at the Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem; 

Hebrew University, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904. 

341

CURATOR THE MUSEUM JOURNAL 

It then describes the process of adapting the 

exhibition for use at the Bloomfield Science 

Museum Jerusalem, which involved analyzing 

the city’s unique set of conflicts and contemplating 

the use of theoretical conceptualization 

in peace education. Finally, the article examines 

the impact of the exhibition on its visitors and 

on the museum’s staff. 

THE DUTCH MODEL: THE PEACE 

FACTORY 

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Peace</strong> Factory is an interactive exhibition 

that uses the metaphor of a factory to teach 

peace education throughout the Netherlands 

and Europe. 4 It is the creation of PEP, a charitable 

organization founded in the Netherlands 

in 1993 to develop projects that promote peace, 

diversity, conflict resolution, international 

cooperation, and harmonious multicultural 

societies. 

<strong>The</strong> original goal of the <strong>Peace</strong> Factory creators 

was to teach the young generation lessons 

learned from World War II, emphasizing tolerance, 

human rights, and conflict resolution in 

peaceful ways. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Peace</strong> Factory illustrates how 

war and peace—past, present, and future— 

are interconnected. It then shifts the focus to 

the personal beliefs of the visitors (children 

aged 12 to 16), who are challenged to examine 

their own opinions, choices, and values. 

Rather than transmitting information, the 

exhibition helps visitors to create their own 

meaning (Homan and Van Praag 2006). By 

tapping into the youngsters’ own identities, 

the exhibition confronts them with the consequences 

of their choices in facing everyday 

moral dilemmas. Visitors enter the factory in 

pairs and are given a ‘‘roadmap to peace’’ 

indicating a list of exhibits to explore. <strong>The</strong> 

roadmap also poses questions, the answers to 

which can be found in the course of touring 

the exhibition. <strong>The</strong> Dutch model contains 64 

interactive stations that focus on categories of 

social phenomena such as prejudices, scapegoating, 

diversity, conflict, forgiveness, repentance, 

and refugees. 

PEP presented its project at the 2003 

European Foundation Conference in Athens. 

<strong>The</strong> vice president of the Jerusalem Foundation, 

and one of the founders of the Bloomfield 

Science Museum, shared his enthusiasm with 

the museum staff. Given its interest in exhibitions 

related to the social sciences and its desire 

to promote community dialogue, the museum 

welcomed the opportunity to mount an interactive 

peace education exhibition of its own. Preliminary 

discussions addressed the need to 

adapt the content to the Israeli reality. As a city 

of mixed populations and cultures, Jerusalem is 

a nucleus for tensions in Israel between the Jewish 

and Palestinian sectors. Inter-religious, ethnic, 

cultural, and class tensions are part and 

parcel of the city and its social dynamic. As a 

result, only a few of its neighborhoods have 

mixed populations. It has two totally separate 

school systems, apart from a single bilingual 

school where Jewish and Arab children study 

together. Because of this separation, chance 

encounters between Jews and Arabs as equals 

(that is, apart from situations of service provision, 

employment, and so on) are rare, and the 

two sectors know very little about each other’s 

lives. <strong>The</strong> following section recounts the major 

considerations that accompanied the refocusing 

process. 

THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL 

CONSIDERATIONS 

Approaches to <strong>Peace</strong> Education 

Societies comprised of numerous ethnic, 

religious, and class-based groups are con- 

342 Article: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong>: <strong>An</strong> <strong>Interactive</strong> <strong>Exhibition</strong> on Conflict Resolution

stantly confronted with intergroup biases, such 

as stereotypes and prejudices about out-groups 

and preferences for the in-group. One effort 

by educators to address these sorts of biases, 

which can deteriorate into conflict and even 

violence, is the <strong>Peace</strong> Education movement 

initiated in the latter half of the last century. 

Galtung differentiates between two types of 

peace (1969). One is a positive peace of cooperation 

and harmony. Education for positive 

peace is more prevalent in regions with no 

active, violent conflict (the Netherlands, for 

example), and it tends to be theoretical in nature, 

with no reference to a particular dispute. 

<strong>The</strong> second type of peace, negative peace, is 

characterized by an absence of violence or 

hostility. Education for negative peace is more 

prevalent in conflict areas such as Israel and 

Northern Ireland. 

When setting goals for <strong>Peace</strong> Education 

activities in a conflict area, Salomon points to two 

types of change that peace education aims to generate 

(2004). One is individual change, focused 

on developing communication and conflict-resolution 

skills, and the other, at the societal level, 

targets opinions, stereotypes, and prejudices 

about the ‘‘other.’’ When we made the necessary 

adaptations to the Dutch original exhibit, we 

adopted the first—individual focus—for the skills 

development goals, and the second—the societal 

level—for the awareness related goals. 

In translating these principles into practice, a 

key approach to peace education that has taken 

root in Israel since the mid 1970s consists of facilitated 

encounters between individuals in conflict at 

specified times and locations. <strong>The</strong> frequent occurrence 

of these encounters over the past 30 years 5 

indicates that the underlying concept is still 

considered an effective means of bringing people 

together and promoting reconciliation, peace, and 

partnership among Israel’s social sectors, particularly 

between Jews and Palestinians. 

Several group encounter models are used in 

Israel, among them models of cooperation and 

information transfer, negotiation models, and 

conflict management models (Maoz 2000). 

Here we mention two frequently employed dialogue 

group models in the country that are also 

relevant to our purposes: the contact approach 

and the intergroup approach. 

<strong>The</strong> contact approach 

<strong>The</strong> contact hypothesis holds that parties 

in conflict nurture distorted perceptions and 

hostility because they are not in direct contact 

and their members not mutually acquainted. In 

a conflict situation, then, contact and acquaintance 

can generate bonds of friendship, lessen 

prejudice, and improve attitudes. Once the 

members of the two groups meet, they tend, 

sooner or later, to accept the situation and 

become accustomed to it (Allport 1958; Amir 

1976). 

<strong>The</strong> intergroup approach 


While the contact hypothesis views the 

group encounter as a means of lessening the participants’ 

hostility and intergroup biases, the intergroup 

approach developed in the 1990s 

highlights exploration of self-identity and 

methods of dealing with the reality of conflict 

between peoples (Sonnenschein and Halabi in 

Halabi 2004). 6 In this sense, the encounter with 

other identity groups serves the participants only 

as a catalyst for an intragroup identity re-examination 

and redefinition of the group identity. 

One of the focal points of the intergroup 

approach is that it empowers the participants by 

allowing them—on their own, without guidance—to 

examine how their identities enter 

into the conflicts in which they are engaged in 

their lives. This empowerment is crucial, and is 

Daniel Friedberg and Diana Alderoqui-Pinus 343


based on the assumption that only by discovering 

for ourselves the mechanisms at work in 

conflict situations can we successfully change 

them, consciously and willingly. 

Since exploration of one’s self-identity is 

the central feature of the intergroup approach, 

the unique type of facilitation it created is the 

one-sided (homogeneous) workshop. This technique 

may appear to contradict the notion of a 

joint meeting as a primary tool for encouraging 

dialogue between groups in conflict. However, 

the intergroup approach—with its emphasis on 

self-identity, the relatively safe space it offers, 

and the openness it encourages—often serves to 

spark dialogue among participants and lead 

them to examine their opinions. 

<strong>The</strong>se two last principles of the inter-group 

approach led us to operate the exhibition for 

one group at a time, with separate sessions for 

Hebrew- and Arabic-speaking groups and with 

as little guidance as possible during the work 

with the interactive exhibits. 

Previous <strong>Peace</strong> Education activities at the 

Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem 

Since its inception, the Bloomfield Science 

Museum has hosted encounters based on the 

contact hypothesis. <strong>The</strong> museum welcomes all 

visitors, adults and children, and as part of its 

commitment to every sector of the population, it 

displays all exhibition labels and texts in three 

languages: Hebrew, Arabic, and English. <strong>Exhibition</strong>s 

and activities are adapted to classroom curriculums 

across the board, with special programs 

appropriate for Arab and ultra-Orthodox Jewish 

schoolchildren. Field trips are conducted in Arabic 

on a regular basis, and some of the museum’s 

guides are bilingual, native-Arabic speakers. 

Bilingual staff members provide important cultural 

links to the communities and are able to 

overcome communication gaps with ease. 

Bloomfield Science Museum also conducts 

joint programs for Jewish and Arab children. At 

its on-site summer camps, launched five years 

ago, 30 children, ages nine to 11 (15 per group), 

gather for 10 days of science workshops, art 

projects, and sports activities. <strong>The</strong> groups, each 

with its own facilitator, function both separately 

and jointly. Despite language barriers, the children 

manage to work and play together. <strong>The</strong> 

limitation of this approach is that the children 

do not necessarily get to know each other or to 

confront their own views regarding the other 

group. <strong>The</strong> topics discussed in these activities 

have had no direct connection to the Israel- 

Arab conflict; they related to science, and any 

connection with cooperation and coexistence 

was indirect. <strong>The</strong>y have not addressed issues 

such as inequality or power relations, and in 

theory and practice they therefore typify the 

contact approach. Given the nature of the activity, 

participation is limited to a relatively small 

number of children (between 20 and 40 each 

year). 

To widen the impact, the planners of the 

<strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> realized that they needed to 

expand the framework as well as the involvement 

of the museum by adopting elements from 

the intergroup approach, particularly homogeneous 

group work and direct engagement with 

conflict related issues. 

<strong>The</strong> interactive display as a new medium 

for peace education 

<strong>The</strong> previously described approaches to 

peace education rely mainly on the medium of 

the workshop. <strong>The</strong> primary tools, therefore, are 

discussion, reflexive thinking, and activity. <strong>The</strong> 

Dutch model that formed the basis for the 

Bloomfield Science Museum exhibition makes 

innovative use of museums for peace education. 

Most of the activities center on interactive 


displays that challenge visitors by posing questions 

appropriate to their ages, languages, cultural 

backgrounds, and daily lives. 

One advantage of the museum setting is 

the opportunity it offers for individual empowerment 

(of students, in this case) through independent 

activity at an exhibition. Visitors are 

free to give full and undisturbed expression to 

their thinking and analytical abilities. To allow 

for some possibility of joint learning, the students 

work their way through the exhibition in 

pairs, and each task they encounter offers an 

opportunity to deliberate and learn from each 

other. This is the model used for the Bloomfield 

Science Museum exhibition in Jerusalem, with 

several changes in content required for adaptation 

to the Israeli reality. 

THE PROCESS OF ADAPTING THE 

ORIGINAL EXHIBITION TO ISRAELI 

SOCIETY 

<strong>The</strong> Dutch model deals directly with content 

related to conflicts, culture, and tolerance. 

In planning the content for the exhibition in 

Israel, we organized an educational advisory 

committee consisting of Jewish and Arab elementary 

school principals and teachers in Jerusalem, 

other professional educators, and 

professionals in the field of social project management. 

Both Jewish and Arab educators considered 

some of the original topics (such as war 

refugees) so politically sensitive in the Israeli 

climate that they might alienate rather than 

attract the exhibition’s target populations. 

<strong>An</strong> important question arose in the process 

of deciding whether to create homogeneous 

versus heterogeneous (mixed Israeli-Palestinian) 

groups of visitors to the exhibition. Intuitively, 

one would argue that an inter-group 

incounter is necessary for our purpose of peace 

education. Yet, we opted for homogeneous 


groups in order to give visitors a chance to 

express their true views, without fear of criticism, 

and be open to other points of view within 

their own groups. <strong>An</strong>other advantage of homogeneous 

groups is that in any mixed forum of 

Jews and Arabs in Israel, participants gravitate 

toward the subject of the political and religious 

‘‘other.’’ <strong>An</strong>d totally different (non-political) 

realms of ‘‘otherness’’—such as male-female 

relationships, or the needs of special populations—are 

present in the minds of many children, 

particularly those at the ages of the 

exhibition visitors. 

<strong>The</strong> name of the exhibition was also one of 

the main concerns of the educational committee. 

Many of us were uncomfortable with the 

original name, ‘‘<strong>The</strong> <strong>Peace</strong> Factory.’’ However, 

out of commitment to the Dutch exhibition, we 

looked for a name which would remind us of 

the original exhibition. Eli Shapiro, the exhibition 

designer, eventually raised the idea of ‘‘<strong>The</strong> 

<strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong>’’ as both a metaphor for the 

challenge of seeking and achieving peace and a 

practical model for the exhibition’s construction. 

Since the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> deals with 

peace in daily life rather than in relation to war, 

it was important for us to emphasize to visitors 

that peace defines the way we interact with our 

peers, teachers, and parents and from these 

interactions we can learn how to make peace 

with other peoples and nations. 

<strong>The</strong> project staff was guided by the following 

principles in developing the exhibition: 

Redefinition of the exhibition goals 

As an institution with a curatorial team, 

the museum’s interest was to enhance the structural, 

museological approach to the exhibition. 

<strong>The</strong> project staff decided to reduce the multitude 

of displays (64) and subjects in the Dutch 

model, preferring instead to address general 



ideas in clusters of exhibits. Given the needs of 

the country’s education system and the feedback 

provided by the educational advisory committee, 

the staff decided that the Jerusalem exhibition 

would focus on conflict resolution. Three 

main goals were set: 

• Strengthen children’s communication 

skills 

• Increase self-awareness in situations of 

conflict 

• Offer children skills to deal with conflict 

Focus on interpersonal and school-related 

dimensions of conflict 

As mentioned above, the original model 

addresses sensitive subjects such as war, refugees, 

and political prisoners. In Jerusalem, it 

was felt that inclusion of these subjects would 

deter many schools, both Jewish and Arab, from 

visiting the exhibition. In assessing what the 

project could contribute to the local education 

system, the planners identified an acute need 

for tools that can help diminish internal violence 

and interpersonal conflict. <strong>The</strong>y gave priority 

to this practical need, rather than to 

addressing broad political and social conflicts. 

<strong>The</strong>y also aimed to train visitors to deal with 

political and social issues as children grow up. 

<strong>The</strong> focus in Israel, therefore, became conflict 

in the children’s immediate surroundings—the 

interpersonal and school environments. 

Cultural sensitivity, representation and 

respect 

As an initial goal of the project, we proposed 

that equal numbers of Jewish and Arab 

children would visit the exhibition during its 

run in Jerusalem. <strong>The</strong> decision to employ an 

egalitarian, joint Jewish and Arab management 

model was based on the understanding that 

both groups needed to be represented at all levels 

of planning and implementation. In promoting 

acceptance of the culture and values of all 

groups that visit the museum, the exhibition 

delivers a clear message in support of universal 

humanistic principles such as equal rights. 

One inherent transmission of this message 

in the exhibition is the use of Hebrew and Arabic 

side by side and in equal measure. Additionally, 

an entire display is devoted to the connection 

between the two languages. 

Utilization of the Science Museum’s 

technological knowledge and experience 

In light of the museum’s extensive experience 

in developing high level interactive exhibits, 

it was clear during the planning stages that 

the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> would rely on the 

museum’s infrastructure and technological 

know how. Indeed, ideas inspired by the physical 

and graphic design of previous exhibits, and 

utilization of elements from other museum displays 

(among them the DNA exhibit, described 

below), improved the original model significantly. 

Many of these elements have been 

adopted in new versions of the exhibition by our 

Dutch colleagues in Europe. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE FINAL PRODUCT 

Exhibit design 

<strong>The</strong> exhibition is designed as a maze with 

40 numbered displays. Each class arrives 

divided into pairs, and each pair is assigned a 

place from which it begins to work its way 

through all the numbers consecutively, until it 

returns to its starting point. <strong>The</strong> visitors guide 

(<strong>Labyrinth</strong> Map) contains a task for each 


display. Interaction with the exhibition is varied 

and includes riddles to be solved, dilemmas to 

be discussed, and joint decisions to be made. 

<strong>The</strong> planned time frame for the children’s 

museological experience was roughly one hour. 

<strong>The</strong> actual visit time ranges between 45 minutes 

and an hour, according to the children’s 

ages and levels of comprehension. 

To organize the distribution of a school 

group (30 children on average), entry points 

were predetermined: three or four for each cluster, 

15 in all. For example, the conflict resolution 

cluster has three entry points: forgiveness; 

increasing scarce resources (enlarging the pie); 

and expressing dislike. Though the exhibition is 

linear in design—visitors interact with the 40 

exhibits starting at their entry point and ending 

with the first exhibit they encountered—we can 

better describe the visitors’ experience as several 

sequences that provide a comprehensive whole. 

<strong>The</strong> linearity of the visit is suited to the 

organizational needs of the group; it does not 

resemble exhibitions that have one entry and 

one exit and pose closed questions with only 

one answer. Most of the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> tasks 

do not have right or wrong answers, and interactivity 

is varied. Children are offered a choice 

of options, based on their beliefs and values. 

<strong>The</strong>y can state whether they agree or disagree 

with some statements, tell their stories or solve 

puzzles, and compare their answers with those 

of their friends. 

For example, in the Rights exhibit the children 

are invited to read the statements on a side 

panel and indicate by turning a sign if they agree 

or disagree: All human beings are equal. Both 

tall and short children can play on the school 

basketball team. All human beings are different. 

Both boys and girls can play soccer. You must 

treat all people equally. 

In the Violence in School display the children 

are invited to rate areas in their school— 

entrance, stairs, classrooms, bathrooms, or 

playground according to the amount of violence 

in them. 

As in the Dutch model, most displays allow 

for more than one answer in order to help visitors 

find their own answers. Only a few displays 

offer definitions (for example, what stereotypes 

are). 

Exhibit content 


In accordance with Gavriel Salomon’s two 

approaches to peace education in conflict 

areas 7 —interpersonal communication and conflict 

resolution skills, and recognition and 

acceptance of the ‘‘other’’ (2004)—the planning 

process for the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> mapped the 

exhibition content in four clusters 8 : 

<strong>The</strong> equal and the different: Conflict erupts 

or develops when we discover differences 

between ourselves and others. In this section, 

visitors process a ‘‘difference’’ and examine how 

it is possible to both accept it and simultaneously 

preserve the value of equality. For 

example, the DNA display was based on material 

featured in a museum exhibit on biology 

and genetics. Variations on the display have 

appeared at other science museums, and all are 

designed to illustrate for visitors the traits that 

all human beings share and the traits that are 

unique to each individual. Visitors answer 10 

questions about their physical characteristics by 

choosing one of two options (dark or light hair, 

for example). Once they complete their ‘‘identity 

profile,’’ they receive feedback sheets showing 

the number of exhibition visitors who share 

each of the traits marked, and the number of 

visitors who share all the traits marked. <strong>The</strong> larger 

the total number of visitors, the greater the 

number of visitors sharing each one of the traits 

(given the fact that only two choices were 

listed), while the number of visitors sharing all 



the traits remains consistently quite low. <strong>The</strong> 

feedback visitors get is striking evidence of the 

uniqueness of each individual. Once the visitors 

are shown what makes them unique (with no 

value judgment made about their characteristics), 

they are ready to discuss, at a later stage, 

the issue of different but equal as it applies to 

people. 

Observation and interpretation: Knowing 

that all people are unique, we discover that 

when different people witness certain events 

they understand and interpret them in different 

ways. Prejudice is an example of social interpretation 

that creates and perpetuates conflict. <strong>The</strong> 

<strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong>’s Rashomon display, based on 

a museum exhibition on perception, records the 

responses of two or three visitors who are 

exposed to information that they are led to 

interpret in different ways (as in the Akira 

Kurosawa film of the same name). <strong>The</strong> display 

features a short film showing a boy who enters a 

bakery, buys a birthday cake, and walks to the 

park with it. <strong>The</strong> whole time, we see a group of 

children following him and getting increasingly 

closer. <strong>The</strong> film stops abruptly, and the visitors 

are asked what they think will happen next. 

Will the children surprise him with a party, or 

will they attack him from behind and ruin his 

birthday? What the pair or threesome of visitors 

do not know is that as they were watching, each 

heard a different musical soundtrack—one 

pleasant and lighthearted, and the other discordant 

and scary. <strong>The</strong>y discover that their predictions 

for the next scene are different, and they 

are puzzled as to why. (This was, indeed, what 

happened in each case.) <strong>The</strong> visitors are then 

shown two alternative endings, with no clue as 

to which one is ‘‘real.’’ In other words, any interpretation 

is seen as legitimate, given that it is 

based on partial or different information. 

Conflict resolution: In this section, the visitors 

learn about different types of violence, con- 

sult with each other about how to reduce 

violence at school, and acquire skills for resolving 

differences. <strong>The</strong> display examines the visitors’ 

decision-making processes in conflict 

situations and shows them the benefit of taking 

into account relevant considerations and consequences. 

<strong>The</strong>y are confronted with the following 

situation: Kids in class are bullying one of 

your friends, and you want them to stop. You 

have four possible courses of action, each of 

which produces four-way consequences: for 

you, for your friend, for your relationship, and 

for the future course of events. All possible outcomes 

are presented to visitors in the form of a 

table (see table 1 here). 

<strong>The</strong> visitors realize that they must pay a 

price no matter which action they choose—one 

that affects themselves, their friend’s safety, or 

their relationship with the friend. Once visitors 

are aware of the cost and benefit of each option, 

they can make educated decisions and take 

responsibility for the consequences. <strong>The</strong>n a follow-up 

question is posed: In choosing how to 

act, what was your most important consideration—what 

will happen to you, what will happen 

to your friend, how the choice will affect 

your relationship, or what the end result will 

be? <strong>The</strong> display is based on a similar one in the 

Dutch model. While the Netherlands exhibition 

showed visitors a desirable solution, however, 

we chose to display all possible solutions 

along with their consequences in order to highlight 

the complexity of this sort of decision in 

real life. 

Communication and rights: Visitors to the 

exhibition learn about the similarity between 

the Hebrew and Arabic languages and the 

importance of communication between people. 

<strong>The</strong>y also learn about the basic rights that each 

person (and each child) has, and the need to 

respect and defend those rights. <strong>The</strong> dictionary 

display in the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> is designed to 


Table 1: 

Text for the conflict resolution display 

What will be the 

result? 

<strong>The</strong> bullying will 

continue. 

<strong>The</strong> bullying might 

end. 

I feel sorry for 

him, but the 

bullying will 

continue. 

<strong>The</strong> bullying might 

end. 

What will happen 

to our 

relationship? 

Our relationship 

will suffer. 


will grow a lot 

stronger. 


will stay the 

same and maybe 

improve. 


will grow stronger. 

make Arabic accessible to Hebrew speakers, 

and vice versa. In the Jerusalem reality, the 

majority of the city’s children do not speak the 

other’s language, despite the geographical proximity 

of the populations and the fact that their 

languages are quite similar. <strong>The</strong> dictionary display 

presents two sets of 10 words, in Arabic 

and Hebrew, and visitors are asked to match 

them in random fashion, as they would in a 

memory game. <strong>The</strong> similarity between the languages 

makes this a simple task and leaves visitors 

with the sense that the other language is 

more accessible and easier to understand than 

they had thought. 

EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT 

<strong>The</strong> project staff evaluated the project over 

the course of two years (with particular emphasis 

on the second year) to improve the exhibition 

while it was still being featured in 


to my friend? 

He’ll continue to 

suffer. 

Maybe he’ll 

continue to 

suffer and maybe 

he won’t. 

He’ll continue to 

suffer. 

Maybe he’ll 

continue to 

suffer and maybe 

he won’t. 


to me? 

Jerusalem, and to draw useful conclusions for 

mounting it at other sites in Israel. In this section, 

we present and discuss evaluation feedback 

on the following two measures: 

• <strong>The</strong> success of the visit in the eyes of 

classroom teachers 

• <strong>The</strong> degree of engagement with the 

interactive displays. 

<strong>The</strong> museum visit 

What do I do? 

I won’t be hurt. I don’t do any 

thing. That way, 

they won’t bully 

me either. 

I’m putting myself 

in danger. 

I’m not putting 

myself in any 

danger, and I feel 

better. 

I’m not putting 

myself in any 

danger, but the 

other kids in 

class might call 

me tattletale. 


I try to protect 

him against the 

bullies. 

I tell him I’m on 

his side. 

I go to the teacher 

and tell him 

what’s going on. 

In total, over 16,000 visitors interacted 

with the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> exhibition; 6,729 

were students from 253 fifth- and sixth-grade 

classes: 

• Jewish students: 3,293 from 134 classes 

in 51 schools. Of these, 104 classes came 

from the secular school system and 30 

from the religious school system. 9 


Photo 1. <strong>The</strong> School Violence display in the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong>, Jerusalem. Photo courtesy of the Bloomfield Science 

Museum Jerusalem. 

• Arab students: 3,426 from 119 classes. 

• General public: Approximately 10,000 

visitors. 10 

<strong>An</strong> analysis of the feedback data shows that 

overall, on a 1 to 5 scale, visiting teachers were 

very satisfied with their visit to the exhibition 

(N = 133, Mean = 4.65, Std = .60). Similarly, 

they felt that the exhibition was highly relevant 

to their pupils’ daily lives (N = 133, Mean = 

4.46, Std = .80). A comparison of Jewish and 

Arab visitors shows significantly higher satisfaction 

scores (t (131) = 5.10, p < .01) for the 

Jewish sector (N = 68, Mean = 4.91, Std = .29) 

than the Arab sector (N = 65, Mean = 4.48, 

Std = .64). It is not clear if this difference can be 

attributed to cultural factors, pedagogical issues, 

or any other factor. <strong>The</strong> scores given by the general 

public fell between the Jewish and Arab 

sector averages. 

One figure pointing to the exhibition’s success 

in attracting teachers’ interest and providing 

them with practical tools is the high percentage 

who said they intended to conduct follow-up 

activities in their classrooms (100 percent in the 

Jewish sector, 98.1 percent in the Arab sector). 

<strong>The</strong>se figures are significantly higher—for Jewish 

teachers t(67) = 13.36, p < .01 and for Arab teachers 

t(64) = 10.00—than the percentage of 

teachers who reported conducting preparatory 

activities for their classes (89.7 percent in the Jewish 

sector and 48.4 percent in the Arab sector). 


<strong>The</strong> exhibition displays: Informal class surveys, 

together with observations by the museum 

staff, indicated that the children best liked the 

displays that employed higher levels of technology. 

Many of these high-tech exhibits were 

based on other interactive displays at the 

Bloomfield Science Museum. <strong>The</strong> DNA display 

received special mention. It was evident 

from observations that the students explored 

the subjects at different levels of depth; some 

did no more than follow the instructions, while 

others (fewer in number) apparently tried to 

understand the purpose of each task. To characterize 

the students’ interaction with the DNA, 

Rashomon, bullying, and dictionary displays 

described earlier, we present the following 

observations by the museum staff. 

At the DNA display, the students who followed 

the instructions received data on the 

numbers of visitors who shared each and all of 

the physical traits they recorded. Students were 

struck by the low number of people who shared 

all their traits. Some recorded the number in 

their workbooks and moved on to the next display. 

While it is clear they had followed instructions, 

we are less certain about the insights they 

gained from the display. Other students spoke 

with their partners about why this number was 

so low and what it implied. For example, one of 

the Jewish students said, ‘‘Jews are not just different 

from Arabs; they’re also different from 

each other.’’ 

At the Rashomon display, visitors were 

asked to predict how the film would end and to 

note what their partner had to say. Some students 

answered the question and moved on. 

Others investigated the question of who was 

right and who was wrong. <strong>The</strong> two different 

endings were shown, and the students saw that 

both were valid. <strong>The</strong>y concluded, therefore, 

that neither of them was wrong. One student 

noted, ‘‘That’s how it is in life, too. Sometimes 

neither person is wrong, but we try to prove that 

one of them is.’’ 

<strong>The</strong> dictionary display, with its focus on 

understanding the message, achieved the most 

homogeneous effect. Observations revealed 

that many visiting students were struck by how 

similar the two languages are, and by the fact 

that communicating with the ‘‘other’’ could be 

much easier than they had imagined. 

Based on the feedback data, the project 

achieved its educational goals, mainly relating 

to strengthening children’s communication 

skills and offering children skills to deal with 

conflict. <strong>The</strong> exhibit received good reviews 

from the visiting teachers, was relevant to the 

school’s everyday life, and inspired teachers to 

use the materials developed by the museum in 

post-visit activities. All feedback data were 

addressed as the project continued beyond the 

Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem. 

CONCLUSION 


When summarizing the project, two main 

points arise, the first related to the content of 

the activity. While most of the museum’s activities 

are science-related, the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> 

engages directly with familiar conflicts. Our 

observations revealed that direct engagement 

with conflicts and their causes provides students 

with tools for understanding and dealing with 

mechanisms that perpetuate, and even escalate, 

conflicts. <strong>The</strong> exhibition’s connection with 

everyday life arouses the visitors’ interest and 

keeps them attentive throughout their stay. 

A second point relates to the degree of 

structure and the visitors’ active experience, that 

is, the challenge of maintaining the visitor’s 

interest as an unguided active explorer in a 

structured exhibition. Hosting an exhibition on 

peace education is a challenge new to science 

museums. <strong>The</strong> basic interactive approach of the 


Photo 2. <strong>The</strong> Stereotype display in the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong>, Jerusalem. Photo courtesy of the Bloomfield Science 

Museum Jerusalem 

original <strong>Peace</strong> Factory, together with the technological 

features of previous Bloomfield Science 

Museum exhibits, enabled us to offer an 

enriching experience. Children and young people 

were given a forum to incorporate their own 

experiences and social context, and an opportunity 

to reconsider their opinions, encounter 

other ideas, and gauge their actions and reactions 

in relation to those of others through 

interaction and dialogue with friends. We were 

encouraged by the conversations that developed 

among the children in pairs and small groups, 

and by their willingness to interact with the 

auto-guided displays within the labyrinth. 

<strong>The</strong> imprint of the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> has 

extended beyond children, teachers, and family 

visitors. It has enabled the Bloomfield Science 

Museum to develop new programs and new 

conceptions of our public. Based on our experience 

running the summer camps and our adap- 

tation and operation of the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong>, we 

launched a new project: a year-long encounter 

workshop. Its goals are more ambitious, perhaps—to 

get to know the ‘‘other’’ and realize 

that despite our similarities as human beings, 

each of us is special and unique. As part of the 

new project, children meet once a week over the 

course of six months to learn about science 

topics and delve into their social aspects. For 

example, the Look Again!, Illusions, and Communication 

exhibitions form the basis for joint 

projects. <strong>The</strong> group facilitators are supervised 

by an expert in peace education, particularly to 

help overcome the difficulties that arise when 

working with mixed groups that do not speak 

the same language. 

One indirect offspring of the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> 

has been a series of new activities tailored 

to specific audiences. In the past, the Bloomfield 

Science Museum printed one brochure 


listing all exhibitions and activities. We have 

now added special brochures for the ultra- 

Orthodox Jewish sector and the Arab sector. 

This change is one indication that the <strong>Peace</strong> 

<strong>Labyrinth</strong> has encouraged the museum staff to 

recognize the different backgrounds and needs 

of visitors and to be more open to making adaptations 

to suit a variety of target audiences. 

<strong>An</strong>other contribution of the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> 

has been to extend the Bloomfield Science 

Museum’s reach into new thematic areas. While 

the social sciences are not new to science museums, 

peace education exhibitions are not a common 

sight there. Indeed, some members of the 

museum staff were concerned about the ‘‘politicization’’ 

of the neutral field of science. <strong>The</strong> 

success of the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> allows us to consider 

taking on similar challenges in the future. 

FINAL NOTE 

One last word on an unexpected impact of 

the exhibition: One crowded afternoon at the 

museum, some children from an ultra-Orthodox 

Jewish school threw two eggs (remaining on a 

demonstration table) at a group of visiting Arab 

children. Fortunately, this sort of incident is 

rare, but it nonetheless occurs at the museum 

from time to time. <strong>The</strong> intergroup clash nearly 

led to the abrupt cessation of both guided tours. 

(<strong>The</strong> ultra-Orthodox group was upset by the 

museum’s intervention, and the Arab group was 

angered by the offense). In the past, the museum 

staff would have negotiated between the parties, 

convincing the offending group to send a letter 

of apology to the offended group. In this case, 

we gathered the Arab and Jewish teachers in a 

room to talk to each other about the incident, to 

explain and apologize. We, the museum staff, 

felt it was our duty to create a neutral meeting 

place to allow the teachers to speak to each other 

about their feelings. <strong>The</strong> exhibition provided 

the means to engage with the topic in a way that 

had not been possible before. 

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> exhibition is the first 

attempt by a museum in Israel to address peace 

education and a shared society in an active and 

interactive manner. After three-and-a-half years 

of planning, constructing, and guiding visitors 

through the exhibition, we have gained a great 

deal of knowledge about the potential of interactive 

exhibitions to address social science topics 

in general and education for social values in 

particular. 

Today, the <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> is in its second 

year of operation at the Ein Dor Museum of 

Archaeology in the north of Israel, following a 

phase of further adjustments to its current cultural 

setting. It is due to travel to other parts of 

Israel in the coming years. We hope that the 

knowledge and experience gained in these locations 

will serve education professionals, and 

that the level of public exposure to this and similar 

exhibitions will be significant enough to 

facilitate positive change, both within the educational 

system, and on a broader social level, in 

Israel and abroad. END 

NOTES 


1. <strong>The</strong> project’s team included the writers who 

were in charge of the psychological and conflict 

resolution aspects of the exhibition, and 

of the educational and interactive museological 

methods in the exhibition’s planning and 

guidance. In addition to the writers, Rula 

Khoury (co-curator), Eli Shapiro (exhibit 

designer) and Vadik Bekman (graphic 

designer) took part in the building of the 

<strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong>. 

2. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Peace</strong> <strong>Labyrinth</strong> was based on a model 

developed by the <strong>Peace</strong> Education Projects 

organization in the Netherlands (http:// 

www.vredeseducatie.nl/) and exhibited, in 



various forms, throughout Europe. <strong>The</strong> 

exhibition ran in Israel in 2008 and 2009 at 

the Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem, in 

cooperation with the Jerusalem Foundation 

and the Olivestone Trust. A short film 

describing the exhibition is available at http:// 

www.youtube.com/watch?v = f4G6IteZa8I. 

3. <strong>The</strong> first was MeGames, a traveling exhibition 

on communication, strategy, creation and 

innovation, teamwork, and crisis management 

that originated at la Cité des Sciences et de 

l’Industrie in Paris. 

4. Based on materials published by <strong>Peace</strong> Education 

Projects in the Netherlands. 

5. In March 2010, 143 organizations were listed 

on the website of the Jewish-Arab Coexistence 

Network in Israel. Most of them conduct 

some sort of framework for encounters 

between groups of Jews and Palestinians. See 

http://www.coexnet.org.il/site/common/index/ 

php, accessed March 10, 2010. 

6. Most activities taking place in Jerusalem in 

this field include intergroup encounters. 

7. Special educational materials were written by 

the project’s team, which were handed to the 

teachers visiting with their pupils. <strong>The</strong>se 

materials included workshops, art projects, and 

ideas for public campaign—all related to the 

exhibition’s topics—and were presented in class 

before and following the visit at the museum. 

<strong>The</strong>se materials are available only in Hebrew 

and Arabic. 

8. Jan Durk Tuinier and Geu Visser, directors of 

<strong>Peace</strong> Education Projects, also participated. 

9. It is noteworthy that two religious Jewish 

schools chose not to bring students to the 

exhibition, after their principals visited in 

advance and expressed dissatisfaction over the 

fact that the three monotheistic religions in 

Jerusalem were presented side-by-side. This 

phenomenon, while regrettable, demonstrates 

the challenge of responding to the wide spectrum 

of ideologies and values that characterize 

Jerusalem. It stands in contrast with the 

museum’s efforts to support humanistic values 

that promote equal rights and respect for 

diversity. 

10. After operating the exhibition for schoolchildren 

for several months and gaining valuable experience 

and feedback, the museum opened it to the 

general public. Beginning in May 2008, it operated 

during school vacations and on holidays and 

weekends, facilitating groups of 30 to 50 visitors. 

<strong>The</strong> guides received special training from the 

project coordinators. 

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York: Doubleday <strong>An</strong>chor. 

Amir, Y. 1976. <strong>The</strong> role of intergroup contact in 

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Halabi, R. 2004. Israeli and Palestinian Identities in 

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Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 

Homan, H., and T. Van Praag. 2006. <strong>The</strong> evaluation 

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The Peace Labyrinth: An Interactive Exhibition on Conflict Resolution

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