In this activity, students collectively select the goals they would like to achieve and choose a way to address the environmental challenge selected.
Students design and determine strategies for reaching the goals in a realistic manner.
Teaching Tips
Positives
There are many exemplars given that can be reviewed with students.
This activity relies heavily on students learning how to make collective decisions democratically and it provides many resources for teaching students how to do this.
Additional Prerequisites
Review the resources linked to gain additional ideas for implementing this activity.
Differentiation
This is one step in a larger problem-solving process that can be applied to many subjects and classes.
If doing the full process, be sure to have students continue to gather
their work in a project portfolio for use in the final reflection in the
last step.
Guide younger students through the process and determine the best method for privately voting on the criteria.
It includes a Google Doc resource specifically about justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion that can be utilized in social studies classes.
Scientist Notes
The resource presents a logical method of identifying specific issues to change and make viable goals. This is a valid concept and this resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Civics
D2.Civ.7.6-8 Apply civic virtues and democratic principles in school and community settings.
D2.Civ.11.9-12 Evaluate multiple procedures for making governmental decisions at the local, state, national, and international levels in terms of the civic purposes achieved.
D2.Civ.7.9-12 Apply civic virtues and democratic principles when working with others.
Dimension 4: Taking Informed Action
D4.6.6-8 Draw on multiple disciplinary lenses to analyze how a specific problem can manifest itself at local, regional, and global levels over time, identifying its characteristics and causes, and the challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address the problem.
D4.7.6-8 Assess their individual and collective capacities to take action to address local, regional, and global problems, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes.
D4.8.6-8 Apply a range of deliberative and democratic procedures to make decisions and take action in their classrooms and schools, and in out-of-school civic contexts.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.2 Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
