Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

30 minutes	Part B: Developing A Solution
15 minutes	Part C: Global Problem Solvers Find A Solution
5 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Differentiation:

Where students have completed the previous lesson (The Problem):

Remind students of the Global Problem Solvers team and how they identified a problem in Malawi. Invite students to explain this problem (students can refer to the summary paragraphs they wrote in the previous lesson).

Where students haven't completed the previous lesson (The Problem):

Explain to students that in this lesson they will be exploring a problem that is based in a part of Malawi. This problem will be identified and discussed by the characters of an animated series called Global Problem Solvers: “Meet the Global Problem Solvers: Adrien, Beela, Cristina, Kelile, Putri, and Satoshi. They are teenagers who each possess a unique skill to solve social problems. Putri, the team leader, summons the teens to an airship and identifies their first challenge: to provide access to clean drinking water in Malawi. With guidance and help from the Malawi people, the team devises a solution.”

You could share Episode 1.2 The Problem with students to give them a deeper understanding of the issue being addressed by the GPS team:

(Source: https://vimeo.com/259753668)

Further information about Malawi and the GPS team can be found here (Background Information - Season 1).

Step 2.

Now invite students to refresh their understanding of the problem in Malawi and work as a class to respond to the following questions:

What is the problem?
Suggested answers: The problem is that the well in the village is broken and people don’t have access to drinking water in their village.
Who is affected by this problem and how are they affected?
Suggested answer: Because there is no drinking water in the village, people have to travel long distances by foot to another well. This travelling takes a lot of time, and the girls and young women whose job it is to collect water are missing school.
What needs to happen immediately to address this problem?
Suggested answer: The main thing that needs to happen is the well needs to be fixed. It would also be good to have a way to keep it working in the future so that this situation doesn’t occur again.

The aim here is for students to understand that the well is broken and that this is causing a range of problems for the people who rely on the well. Explain to students that in the next part of the lesson they will focus on ways to repair the well and ensure it remains working in the future.

Part B: Developing a Solution

Step 1.

Explain to students that the GPS team have developed a solution for the problem in Malawi. However, before students explore that solution they will work to come up with some solutions of their own. They will do this by working collaboratively to come up with as many solutions as possible in a set amount of time (fifty ideas in five minutes, say). The ideas can be as abstract and off-the-wall as students like, but they should also add some practical and realistic ideas too. The aim is to have as many as possible, with a view to being able to develop a solution for the broken well problem in Malawi.

This brainstorm could be done in the following way:

Break the class into mixed ability groups of four or five students.
Give each group a piece of butcher’s paper and give each student a marker pen.
Students should stand around the tables rather than sit in their chairs, as this encourages more creative thinking.
Optional: Where students have completed the previous team work lesson (here), remind students of your guidelines for group work and remember that different people will bring different ideas and ways of thinking to the process - this is exciting!
They should:
- Write everything down as fast as possible on the butcher’s paper.
- Work fast: they only have 5 minutes and they need 50 ideas.
- Not discuss the ideas at this stage - just get them written down.
- Be inspired by what other people are writing.
- Not worry if ideas aren’t fully formed at this stage, as they will have time to develop the ideas in more detail later.
Give time markers as they progress - “Three minutes left! Two minutes! One minute left!” You could project a countdown of five minutes using this website: https://www.online-stopwatch.com/countdown-timer/.
Share a rough figure of how many ideas have been generated across the whole class - remind students how productive they can be in five minutes.

Step 2.

Still working in their groups, ask each group to work through their ideas, spending some time discussing how these ideas might work, how ideas could be combined to create better solutions, or adding new ideas to existing solutions. After several minutes invite each student to nominate their favourite ideas generated by their group by:

Drawing a star next to the idea they think is the most creative
Drawing a smiley face next to the idea that they like best.

Each group needs to select one idea. This could be done through a vote. Explain to students that although only one idea will be selected at this stage, they should keep a record of all ideas, which may be useful in future activities.

Step 3.

Each group can then share their ideas with the class and seek feedback from the rest of the class on their idea. Prompt students to provide feedback using the following questions:

What do you like about this solution? What are the strengths of this solution?
What could be improved? What are the possible weaknesses of this solution?
What would you like to know more about? What questions do you have about this solution?

When providing feedback, remind students to be kind, helpful and specific:

Some tips for providing feedback
*Be kind - it can be hard sharing your ideas with other people so make sure you remain kind and supportive.
*Be specific - be clear about what you think and why. Rather than saying "I like the facts", say something like "I like the way you used facts to provide justification for the actions you have suggested".
*Be helpful - try not to just say what is strong or weak, but also make suggestions about how things could be improved.

Allow students time to incorporate feedback into their ideas.

Step 4.

Before moving onto the next part of the lesson, consider engaging students in a brief discussion around why sharing ideas with peers is so important. Suggest to students that by sharing your idea, other people might identify problems or opportunities you wouldn’t have thought of on your own. This extra insight is of great value at this stage, as you haven’t invested many resources into your idea yet. To find out about these issues later on, after you’ve spent a lot of time on your idea, means that you might have wasted your time. Getting feedback throughout the whole process is essential to a successful project.

Part C: Global Problem Solvers Find A Solution

Step 1.

Students will now watch Episode 1.3, which describes the solution that the GPS team developed in response to the problem in Malawi. As they watch, invite students to focus on the solution being proposed.

(Source: https://vimeo.com/259753818)

Step 2.

Once complete, ask students to work in the same groups as used in the brainstorm activity to discuss and record their answers to the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What solution did the GPS team develop in response to the problem in Malawi?
What do you like about this solution? Explain your answer.
What don’t you like or understand about this solution? Explain your answer.
How well do you think this solution helps to address the problem?

Note: Students should work collaboratively to discuss these questions, but each student should be responsible for recording their own answers in their own words on their Student Worksheet.

When students have answered their questions, ask each group to team up with another group to share and compare their answers. Students should be encouraged to annotate their original answers in response to any new ideas that are raised in this discussion.

Next, invite volunteers to share their answers to these questions. Clarify that the solution developed by the GPS team is sensor technology that will notify local technicians when a well needs repair. In this way, well technicians can visit specific wells when they need repairing rather than just wandering around checking whether wells need repairing. And because the wells will be fixed more quickly, girls won’t need to miss any more school.

Step 3.

Still working in their groups, invite students to answer the following question:

How does the solution developed by the GPS team compare with the solution your group came up with? What is similar and what is different?

Extension: Students needing extension could also answer the following question: What problems can you see with the solutions? How might these be addressed?

Each group then needs to create an A3 sized poster showing the solution chosen by their group and the solution proposed by the GPS team. This poster should also:

Describe the differences and similarities between the two ideas, and explain the positives of these solutions
Include a short bit of background information to summarise the problem the solutions are addressing
Include images.

Extension: Students needing further extension could include information about the potential problems with both solutions and how these problems might be addressed.

Step 4.

Students could share their posters with the class through a gallery walk format:

A gallery walk enables students to provide feedback on their peers' work. Display students' work around the classroom and place a piece of blank paper next to each work to collect votes one. Invite students to move around the room viewing each others' work. Studentts could also reccord one thing they like about the pages displays, one thing they wonder, and one thing that may improve the work.

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to answer the following question (also available on the Student Worksheet):

How well does the solution created by your group address the problem you identified in Malawi? Explain your answer.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Cisco GPS - Generating Solutions to Problems

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