The illegal trade of small arms and light weapons around the world presents a challenging dilemma for international peace and security. It maintains tensions and fuels conflicts. The study of children and armed conflicts is a crucial component of small arms disarmament and the WebQuest will help students learn about the range of factors that have resulted in the recruitment of roughly 250,000 by governments and rebel factions. In addition, students are given the opportunity to examine how the illicit trade in natural resources is used by opposition groups to generate revenue for the purchase of small arms.

In recent years, the issue of small arms and light weapons has emerged as a major source of concern because most armed violence in the world is associated with hand-held weapons. The small arms curriculum is one in a series that will examine this issue. The first part that is now available online is about The Demand for Weapons, in other words, why do people desire guns. The next two curricula that will launched in the coming weeks will explore the traffic of small arms, existing weapons in the world and all of the various strategies associated with disarmament, weapons collection, and destruction of stockpiles. The target age for this curriculum is young adults, late middle school through early college.