This lesson is a series of activities and multi-media presentations designed to enable students to understand the historic and geographic roots of some of the problems that Central American nations have faced. Geography, history, writing, and storytelling are used as ways of understanding a multicultural world. Creative thinking and participation in decision-making processes are interactive strategies used in the lessons. A regional approach is used to examine the circumstances that make each nation different from their neighbors. Part of the study is set in the mid-to late-1980s, a time of especially intense turmoil that was of great concern to the foreign policy makers in the United States. Students are encouraged to examine and compare this time to the present through current events and research. (EH)