The Montessori Model United Nations (MMUN) conference follows the work of Dr. Maria Montessori to engage students in building peace in the prepared environment of the United Nations. Dr. Montessori understood that children learn about moral development by working on real-life tasks. 

 

Annually, MMUN holds conferences in New York City, Chicago, Rome, and China. At the conferences, students take part in simulations of United Nations committees. Students discuss real UN agenda topics and convene to negotiate and vote on Resolutions proposed by students acting as UN delegates. 

 

MMUN enables students to step into the shoes of ambassadors from countries other than their own, debate international issues, negotiate with supporters and adversaries, resolve conflicts, navigate the UN’s Rules of Procedure, and prepare draft Resolutions-- all in the interest of mobilizing international cooperation to solve global problems. The students not only learn about the United Nations, its history, and the challenges facing global peace, they also participate in hands-on collaboration to pass resolutions that are then shared with the UN Secretary General. 

Students are empowered to use their energy, commitment, and growing intelligence to help shape a more peaceful and just world.

 

As ambassadors of various countries, students will RESEARCH their country in-depth so they know how an ambassador might best represent the interests of that country's citizens, they COLLABORATE with representatives of other countries on a resolution to a problem, they feed their CREATIVITY by creating art and informational displays that highlight their country's culture and history, and they sharpen their WRITING and SPEAKING skills by authoring their own draft resolutions, providing opening speeches at committee meetings, and presenting their final resolutions before an audience. Each student builds an organized binder of research materials, speech scripts, and resolution drafts related to the country and committee they represent.