LEGO SERIOUS PLAY and Learning by Doing: Experiential Psychological Training for Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation

This thesis examines how young adults conceptualize peace and war and how education, media, and ecological worldviews shape those concepts. Chapter 1 establishes the theoretical framework, drawing on Galtung’s notions of positive and negative peace and of direct, structural, and cultural violence, and on Freire’s idea of critical consciousness. It highlights the importance of media literacy in an era of cognitive warfare and links peacebuilding to environmental sustainability and conflict mediation. Chapter 2 develops a praxis-oriented pedagogy grounded in experiential learning. Using Kolb’s cycle and group-dynamics theory, it explores how creative methods such as LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® foster reflection, dialogue, and conflict transformation in educational and community settings. Chapter 3 presents a mixed-methods study of twenty students at Collegio Universitario Don Mazza (Padua), a Collegio di Merito. Findings from this qualitative study show that the perception of negative peace is common, but it can be expanded to positive peace through education.