Shadows, Volume 1: Converging on Power

Leading up to this year's conflict project, the students were shown a variety of images, and asked to generate "non-Google-able" questions about the pictures. For example, for the picture of the space shuttle, a boring, Google-able question would be, "How much fuel does it take to get to the moon?" A much better, high-level question would be "What makes humans want to explore space?"

The students worked in small groups, and thought of several questions for each picture. Some questions very specifically pertained to their intended picture, like these ones about this picture of Clark Kent becoming his Superman persona:

Are heroes made of leadership or super powers?
What would happen if Superman wasn't good?

But other questions were so universal that it didn't really matter which picture they were originally intended for. Below are some of my favorites, along with the pictures. I'll bet you can't tell which questions match each picture.

---

Without mathematicians, how advanced would technology be?
If a single spark can give hope, why is there so little of it?
How come the wars are what we remember, and not the peace?
Why do we spend so much money only to destroy relationships?

Why do people love?
Why does he have to hide?
Why fight freedom?
How would it feel to be feared?

At school, why do they teach us to make friends while America is making enemies?
Why does it take such a massive effort to create simple changes to society?
Why don't some people agree with using non-violence to get their point across?
If one thing simply stopped existing, how would that affect other things around it?

How much can friendships change life?
Has war become easier as it gets colder?
What are you going to fight or destroy?
What drives our thirst for knowledge?

How can two very different people create a bond?
How did they think they could justify their actions?
What drives humans to create such destructive things?
Where would we be if this never happened?

The next step was just as powerful. The students were asked to create a title for each picture based on the questions. Just like the questions themselves, the title for each picture could be applied to almost any of the pictures:

Vendetta
Courage
Hero?
What If...
Defiance

The Importance of a System
The Importance of Love
Knowledge and Accomplishment
Communicative Courage
Conflict Resolution Through Friendship

Real Heroes
The Hate Instigator
Love for Hate
Opposite of Love
A Spark of Hope

Big Effort = Big Impact
Why Fight Freedom?
Strength of Courage
Knowledge is Power
To Unknown Darkness

The ultimate goal was a single title or idea for all of the images together, which was "power." This is the launching point for understanding the nature of conflict for the project.

---

---