Return to the Nobel Peace Center with Peace Builders

What does peace mean to your students? More importantly, how can they contribute to making it a reality?

As a follow-up to Active Citizen, our first lesson that takes place in the Nobel Peace Center, we’re excited to announce Peace Builders. This new immersive Minecraft map and learning experience is an opportunity for students to meet four more Nobel Peace Prize laureates and learn how these changemakers address conflict around the world.

The spirit of citizenship is clearly alive and well for today’s young people. More than 10K students across Europe participated in live, virtual class discussions using Active Citizen as a springboard. The world was featured onstage at several Nobel Peace Center events, ISTE, and the Games for Change Festival. Malala, one of the Nobel laureates included in the Active Citizen lesson, even got the chance to play through the experience while visiting the Nobel Peace Center! Classrooms explored what it means to be a changemaker, and the lesson provided teachers with a helpful tool for tackling tough topics around peace and conflict.

Now, just in time for back-to-school season, we’re following it up with this new experience, available for both Minecraft: Education Edition in the in-game lesson library and for Bedrock players in the Minecraft Marketplace.

Peace Builders inspires peacemakers

We’re excited to continue our partnership with the Nobel Peace Center and Games for Change. The Nobel Peace Center, located in Oslo, Norway, showcases the Nobel Peace Prize, promotes the ideals it represents, and shares the remarkable stories of its recipients. Games for Change offers opportunities for people to explore, learn, and create at the intersection of games and social impact.

In Active Citizen, students explored the stories of Alfred Nobel and four Nobel Peace laureates to learn about the skills and dedication it takes to enact local and global change. Peace Builders offers four new perspectives from four more laureates and focuses on avoiding and mitigating conflict. Learners will gain perspective on how to work together toward a more peaceful world as they explore the inspiring and unique stories of these peacemakers. Throughout the experience, we hope to provide insights and spark productive discussions about peace.

Meeting proponents of peace

Students start Peace Builders outside the Nobel Peace Center. When they head inside, Alfred Nobel is waiting for them in the lobby, surrounded by representations of his work. Next, learners move deeper into the building to discover a room with five alcoves, with a Nobel Peace Prize laureate standing in each.

The alcoves have props and decorations that showcase the accomplishments of each Nobel laureate. The player interacts with the Nobel Peace Prize laureates themselves and learns how they earned their awards. Then they’re whisked away via teleportation to an interactive scene where they can experience the laureates’ work.

The four laureates present four different facets of pursuing peace in our world, including working to avoid conflict, mitigating its impact, and effecting recovery when a conflict is resolved.

Their stories span almost a century and countries around the globe:

• Carl von Ossietzky was a German journalist during World War II. Leading up to the war, he used his own freedom of speech to reveal the Nazis’ breach of international agreements and alert the world that Germany was preparing for war. In Ossietzky’s world, students will gather evidence that Germany is re-arming for war by using the in-game camera to take photos. They’ll learn how they can use free speech in the fight against war.
• Archbishop Desmond Tutu used non-violent methods to end oppression and racial segregation in South Africa. He was a leading figure in the fight against apartheid, advocating for sanctions on South Africa until the oppressive system was removed. Tutu’s world takes students to a rally where they’ll experience a peaceful protest. They learn about his leadership qualities and the ways tolerance and non-violent protest can earn rights for everyone.
• The United Nations Refugee Agency, or UNHCR, has been helping refugees around the world for more than 70 years. Whether people are fleeing their homes due to natural or human-made disasters, war, or persecution, the UNHCR provides support through international cooperation and humanitarian work. In the UNHCR world, students will rescue people trapped in wreckage after an earthquake.
• Jody Williams is an American political activist from Vermont who led the International Campaign Against Landmines and worked hard to reach an agreement banning their use. In Williams’ world, students will travel to a minefield in Cambodia, where they’ll help her clear a path to a farm for the local villagers. From her example, they learn that you can make substantial change when you get involved, and that disarmament is an important path to peace.

Craft peace at home and in the classroom

To help you lead classroom learning, Peace Builders comes with lesson plans, a discussion guide, and a handy walkthrough video to help you get your bearings. Find everything you need to teach with Peace Builders here.

Minecraft: Education Edition is now available for mobile devices, including iPhones and Android phones and tablets. Learn more about how to setup Minecraft for your classroom here and download a free demo to start exploring the Peace Builder world if you don’t yet have a license.

If your students, friends, or family (or you!) play the Bedrock version of Minecraft at home, access the free Peace Builders world in the Minecraft Marketplace.

Let’s inspire a generation to pursue peace and cooperation around the globe!