Decide: Step 2 - Issue Selection

Activity - Classroom

Grades6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12Civics

Scientist Reviewed

Provided by Earth Force

Open Resource

What it is

In this activity, students work collaboratively to choose an environmental problem in the community that they want to solve.
This is designed to be Step 2 in a larger community-action and problem-solving process that helps students determine what they would like to work on.

Teaching tips

Positives

This activity relies on student input, making them active participants in their learning.
This resource can be helpful to students when learning how to work collaboratively, think critically, and evaluate a number of options or choices.

Prerequisites

This activity asks students to refer back to a Strengths and Concerns list they will have to make before beginning the activity.
Review the decision-making options ahead of time and either choose one for your students to use or work with your students to pick one.
Teachers can find other resources for this step and others by visiting the Environmental Action Civics Alliance website and creating a free account.

Differentiation & Implementation

Younger students should be guided through the process, while older students can be grouped with assigned duties to carry out the process.
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 steps.

From the scientist review

This is about a democratic means of selecting issues and prioritizing the ones relevant to study. This appears scientific using an issue selection grid (issue:criteria) method as it can be replicated elsewhere. There is no misconception, resource is valid and recommended for teaching.

How we review resources

Ready to use it?

Hosted on docs.google.com

Open Resource

Want this to fit your class?

Add your location for local examples, questions, and action ideas.

At a glance

Grades: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Subjects: Civics
Other types: Worksheets
Format: Google Docs
Language: English
Location: Earth
Provider: Earth Force
Authors: Earth Force
Published: April 27, 2021
Last updated: July 16, 2026
: Reviewed by our climate scientists How we review

Standards alignment · D1.1.6-8 + 17 more

Core

Core Standards legacy

D1.1.6-8D1.1.6-8 Explain how a question represents key ideas in the field.
D1.5.6-8D1.5.6-8 Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of views represented in the sources.
D2.Civ.2.6-8D2.Civ.2.6-8 Explain specific roles played by citizens (such as voters, jurors, taxpayers, members of the armed forces, petitioners, protesters, and office-holders).
D2.Civ.13.6-8D2.Civ.13.6-8 Analyze the purposes, implementation, and consequences of public policies in multiple settings.
D3.1.6-8D3.1.6-8 Gather relevant information from multiple sources while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.
D3.2.6-8D3.2.6-8 Evaluate the credibility of a source by determining its relevance and intended use.
D4.3.6-8D4.3.6-8 Present adaptations of arguments and explanations on topics of interest to others to reach audiences and venues outside the classroom using print and oral technologies (e.g., posters, essays, letters, debates, speeches, reports, and maps) and digital technologies (e.g., Internet, social media, and digital documentary).
D4.6.6-8D4.6.6-8 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.
D4.8.6-8D4.8.6-8 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.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.2CCSS.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.W.6.7CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.7 Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate.
D1.4.9-12D1.4.9-12 Explain how supporting questions contribute to an inquiry and how, through engaging source work, new compelling and supporting questions emerge.
D1.5.9-12D1.5.9-12 Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of the sources.
D2.Civ.13.9-12D2.Civ.13.9-12 Evaluate public policies in terms of intended and unintended outcomes, and related consequences.
D2.Civ.9.9-12D2.Civ.9.9-12 Use appropriate deliberative processes in multiple settings.
D3.1.9-12D3.1.9-12 Gather relevant information from multiple sources representing a wide range of views while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.4CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
D3.1.9-12.D3.1.9-12. Gather relevant information from multiple sources representing a wide range of views while using the origin, authority, structure, context, and corroborative value of the sources to guide the selection.

Cookie Preferences

What it is

Teaching tips

From the scientist review

Ready to use it?

Want this to fit your class?

Related Teaching Resources