Year
2003
Abstract
WMD threats to international and homeland security have created a need for K-12 education on WMD issues, but few programs for nonproliferation and disarmament education utilize authentic research to promote balanced investigation of these issues. The Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) has developed the Critical Issues Forum (CIF) to raise high school teachers’ and students’ awareness of and engagement in nonproliferation issues. Using curricula developed jointly by experienced teachers and CNS researchers, CIF provides secondary school students with a framework for analysis of WMD threats and policy responses as well as development of higher order thinking skills. The program is compatible with U.S. national education standards and has been successfully adapted to a wide variety of courses and learning environments. In 2002-2003, 357 students in 13 U.S. high schools, 1 school in England, and 6 schools in Russia’s closed nuclear cities investigated WMD issues in the Middle East and South Asia. In 2003-2004, when the topic will be nuclear issues in Northeast Asia, CIF hopes to involve secondary schools in Europe, Korea, and Japan in its research and exchange programs and, in future years, to engage schools in countries undergoing reconstruction after WMD-related conflicts, including Iraq and Afghanistan.