Fourth-graders in Virginia are tackling the world’s toughest problems, in a game developed by their teacher.

KYW’s Mike DeNardo reports if we want peace, maybe we should put the world’s conflicts in the hands of fourth graders.

Charlottesville, Virginia teacher John Hunter does just that — having students run imaginary countries on four-level Plexiglas boards — while they solve disputes over oil, endangered species, and religious tensions:

“Every time, I’m completely surprised. Because the game is no longer mine. When they start playing, it’s out of my hands. I call myself the teacher, but the students are really creating this curriculum as they go along.”

Hunter has been using his World Peace game for 32 years. Filmmaker Chris Farina has documented the students in action:

“These questions that they’re faced with, there’s not simple right-or-wrong answers. So they have to look within themselves.”

Hunter made a presentation on his game to an education conference this week at Penn.

You can see an excerpt of Farina’s film here:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_ihrNohVGs&feature=fvw