John Hunter puts the world’s problems on a gameboard for 4th graders to tackle.
Hunter is an award-winning educator, TED Talk speaker, and founder and executive director of the World Peace Game Foundation. He brings the wisdom behind his World Peace Game to campus next week, helping the MBU community, as he puts it, “learn to live and work comfortably in the unknown.”
Hunter presents a public lecture, “Planting the Seeds for World Peace,” at 6:30 p.m. on January 24 in Francis Auditorium. A reception will follow the talk in Hunt Dining Hall.
Recognized by the United Nations and the Pentagon, Hunter’s game is a powerful tool to promote peace in an often violent world. He packages important concepts — that contradictory elements can and should coexist, how to hold multiple perspectives simultaneously without judgment, and understanding the value of non-measurable outcomes — into a gaming space to make them approachable, collaborative, and fun.
During his three-decade career as a public school teacher, Hunter strives to help children realize their full potential, while creatively developing unique teaching programs.
He teaches a masterclass on the World Peace Game, and educators from around the world have used it in their classrooms. The game is also the subject of the documentary film World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements and book of the same title.
Hunter’s visit to MBU is sponsored by the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department, the Spencer Center for Civic and Global Engagement, and the Department of Art and Art History.