PhD candidate Elizabeth Buckner is running a project to collect stories from Palestinian and Israeli children and turn them into audio slideshows that can be distributed in the region's schools on mobile devices. The small contraptions also play video games aimed at boosting a user's critical thinking skills.

BY ADAM GORLICK

There's a school in the small Palestinian city of Qalqilya where students are sharing stories about soccer games, friendships and confrontations with Israeli soldiers.

One fourth-grader recalls the day he and two other boys were caught herding sheep too close to an Israeli settlement. The youngest of the three hid behind a rock. The oldest – a 17-year-old – told the fourth-grader to run away, but he stayed close. After a few questions from the soldier, the three boys regrouped with an understanding that what they assumed was a safe area was now clearly off-limits.

It's a child's view of the tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, and one that Elizabeth Buckner hopes will be shared in classrooms on both sides of the border to encourage peace through understanding...Read more