Module 5 - Solution Development

Now that students have identified stakeholder roles, group students into the different stakeholder roles, conducted their research, they are ready to come up with solutions from that stakeholder perspective. For example, in considering the Dustbowl problem, learners might accomplish the following:

• Read and discuss information from a variety of sources on a variety of new farming methods/techniques, as well as ways to help people change their approach to farming.
• Check local and state policies.
• Determine whether other resources, such as conflicting viewpoints on various farming methods and irrigation, are accurate and pertinent.
• Ask questions about local conditions, such as population shifts, and land use in the affected area.

One way of helping students organize possible solutions is a decision-making matrix. You can see what such a matrix below, featuring one possible strateg with pros, cons, and consequences. Per Torp and Sage (Problem as Possibilities):

The students' goal is to create the most acceptable set of outcomes in response to the conditions specified in the problem statement. This event is crucial to producing a well-supported and feasible solution. Critical thinking literature supports the fact that skillful, responsible thinking comes about from good judgement supported by criteria, context, self-correction, and explicit reasons for drawing a conclusion.

Students can develop a variety of solutions using the decision-making matrix, and then choose to use one or a combination of solutions to address the problem.

ASSIGNMENT 5.1

Using the decision-making matrix template provided, create decision-making strategies (2) from a stakeholder perspective addressing high priority questions.

ASSIGNMENT 5.2

Once students have decided on a strategy to use, they can focus on how to best present their solution to a panel and the whole group. The panel can be composed of people who are knowledgeable about the problem issues and that agree to serve on the panel. One common format involves having several groups presenting solutions (these solutions usually vary from each other), then the panel members question each group after its presentation.

With web-based technology tools, there are various ways of "presenting" the solution to the panel or to a much broader audience online. Explore some of the solutions below and pick one to present ONE of the solutions you have developed. Your presentation should not be longer than 5 minutes. Some suggestions for differentiating the presentation include the following:

• Have students create a wiki that explores the various aspects of the decision-making strategy, then invite feedback from the community.
• Have students create video clips or audio recordings. Often, these can be shared online. Recordings can be done using technologies like FLIP video cameras, mobile phone video cameras, digital audio recorders.

Students can act out the solution, taking pictures with a digital camera. Then, they can use a free program like MS PhotoStory (Windows) or iMovie (Mac) to create a narrated walkthrough their solution. You can find additional suggestions online.

We will talk about assessment--using rubrics--later.

Resources

1. Sample Decision-Making Matrix