ABSTRACT
The context of this in-depth case study is the curriculum created for and used in a summer academic enrichment camp for adolescents with advanced intellectual abilities. This camp has engaged students with high ability from the United States and around the world in classes designed to stimulate their imaginations and expand their abilities for over 40 years. The specific course for this study, Acting Up and Acting Out: Constructing Cultures of Peace, facilitated adolescents’ exploration of transformative peace education through devised theatre. Originally designed for on-campus delivery in 2021, it moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The course advanced several of the primary goals of peace education, including the critical examination of social justice through the lens of human rights and a future-oriented vision and hope for a non-violent world. Researchers collected quantitative and qualitative data throughout the course, including pre-/post-surveys, daily observations, field notes of the teacher-researchers, classroom discussions, student products, motivational data collected through course evaluations, and follow-up, semi-structured interviews. The results provide evidence that peace education delivered through devised theatre promotes empathy and intercultural understanding and has the potential to advance students’ efficacy in peace-centred social justice and social change.
