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On April 21, we hosted our first-ever student-led peace dialogue. The topic was nuclear weapons abolition. In preparation for the event, the students had been encouraged by peace educators Betty Reardon and Zeena Zakharia to ask generative questions of themselves and others about nuclear abolition. In so doing, they deepened their thinking about the topic and increased their motivation to act. "No one is an expert," said Dr. Reardon. "We are here to learn together!" During the event, the students shared findings from their research and led small group discussions on...

The Ikeda Center’s February 2018 student seminar on the topic of nuclear weapons abolition didn’t proceed according to a schedule. Rather, it proceeded with what facilitators Betty Reardon, a pioneer in peace education and feminist studies, and Zeena Zakharia, Assistant Professor of International and Comparative Education at UMass Boston, identified as a “learning sequence.” That is to say, the daylong event was carefully structured in order to elicit from students their considered impressions of the major obstacles to nuclear weapons abolition, and then to help them visualize a clear...

On February 10, eleven Boston-area university students joined facilitators Betty Reardon and Zeena Zakharia for a daylong seminar on the topic of advancing the new movement toward nuclear weapons abolition. The interactive gathering was carefully structured in order to 1) elicit from students their considered impressions of what the major obstacles are that inhibit progress on nuclear weapons abolition; and 2) to help them visualize a clear sequence of action steps that ultimately will result in the entering into force of the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Check back...