Teaching Sequence

15 minutes – Introduction: What does social action look like?
10 minutes – Part A: Identifying the issue and forming collaborative community action groups
20 minutes – Part B: How might we…?
35 minutes – Part C: Group-based research
20 minutes – Part D: Ideation – 50 ideas in 10 minutes
30 minutes – Part E: Community Action Project Design
20 minutes – Reflection

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Introduction: What does social action look like?

Step 1.

Watch the following clip about Orange Sky Laundry as a class:

Orange Sky Laundry - World First Free Mobile laundry for the homeless (https://youtu.be/cb0YYMW6D6g)

Then guide a quick discussion about the value of community service using the following questions:

What was the action being taken by the founders of Orange Sky Laundry?
What was the issue being addressed by Orange Sky Laundry?
So...why community service? What’s the point?

Encourage students to look beyond the obvious response: the volunteers at Orange Sky Laundry wash the clothes of their friends on the street, but they also forge meaningful relationships with those friends, changing perspectives, attitudes and outlooks, which in turn ensures that the people are being treated with dignity and respect.

Part A: Identifying the issue and forming collaborative community action groups

Step 1.

Introduce the lesson by explaining to students that after working individually to conduct research or investigating the challenges or issues faced by their local community, they will now begin collaborating in groups to consider how they can take social action within their community to address one of these concerns. In this lesson, they will be guided to design and carry out a community action project or service, or find an organisation (that is already doing great work to address the issue) that they can volunteer with on an ongoing basis.

Show students the following quick video:

The Power Of Teamwork - Funny Animation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4duPBWzf46E)

Then, using the questions below, facilitate a brief discussion about the benefits of working collaboratively.

How does working together increase the power of action?
How does working together add value to outcomes?

Step 2.

Following this discussion, invite students to share briefly with the class the issue or challenge they investigated in previous lessons. Ask students to listen carefully to each other so that they will hear if there is an issue or challenge they would like to work on. This could be the basis upon which they form their groups.

Alternatively, students could form groups of 3-5 then share the issue or challenge they have investigated. As a group students can then decide on the community issue, challenge or need they would like to address together. Groups may need some extra facilitation and/or adjudication during this decision making process.

Step 3.

Once groups have decided on the issue/challenge that they will work together to address, invite them to move the classroom furniture so that they are sitting in groups facing each other and to note the issue/challenge down on the Student Worksheet.

Part B: How might we…?

Step 1.

Explain to students that the next steps of the lesson will involve groups considering how they will address the issue or challenge. The first step involves defining the issue or challenge as a “How might we…?” (HMW) question. Explain that HMW questions are short, precise questions to give strong direction for discussion and brainstorming activities.

Encourage student volunteers to read the "How Might We...?" questions Factsheet. Invite students to open the copy that is embedded on the Student Worksheet so that they can read along and suggest that they use a highlighter tool on their version to identify any words or phrases that require clarification for them. If necessary, allow five minutes for students to discuss the words they have highlighted in their groups (if time is of the essence, park this section of the lesson and encourage students to conduct individual research to ensure understanding of the information).

Step 2.

Draw students’ attention to the information about how to adopt different perspectives (or Point of View - POV) about the central challenge or issue they are working to address. Discuss the different example questions listed and encourage students to come up with similar questions about the challenge they are working to address.

Step 3.

Provide one piece of butcher’s paper for each group, and encourage students to stand to work... this can foster creativity and group thinking. Ask students to work together to draft five or more HMW questions. Encourage students to think broadly and deeply about the challenge they have identified.

Once students have had a good chance to work in their own groups, encourage them to move freely around the room to share their thinking and comments in order to collaborate with other groups. Point out that this collaboration across groups can help strengthen everyone’s capacity and motivation to contribute to the community.

Step 4.

If students have moved from their groups to collaborate with other class members, invite them to return. Invite each student to view their groups’ list of questions, then draw a smiley face next to the question they would most like to work on. The question that ends up with the most smiley faces next to it will be the question that the groups will work on together. If necessary, work with groups to eliminate the questions progressively as a way to ensure buy-in from all group members.

Step 5.

Once the group has arrived at the “How might we…?” question that they will address, invite students to note the question in the space available on the Student Worksheet.

Part C: Group-based research

Step 1.

Explain to students that they may need to conduct more targeted research about the issue or challenge their group is addressing, especially regarding links to the community or specific stakeholders who are already involved. Point out that this could include looking through media coverage to see if there have been any updates around the issue, viewing each other’s surveys or questionnaires (see lessons 3, 4 and 5 in this unit) or conducting a site visit and recording the details using sensory writing.

Invite students to open the Conducting Secondary Research Factsheet embedded on the Student Worksheet. This provides some points to consider as well as prompts to carry out further research or investigation based on their group's needs.

Step 2.

Give groups some time to reflect on their current knowledge and expertise around the issue or challenge, and identify any further research they need to conduct to deepen their knowledge about the challenge and prospective solutions, relevant stakeholders, anticipated outcomes of effects, and so on.

This lesson could be run over two separate sessions, and the end of Part C would be a good point at which to wrap up the session before reconvening to complete the steps described in Part D.

Part D: Ideation – 50 ideas in 10 minutes

Step 1.

Now that students have identified the challenge or issue they are interested in addressing, chosen their ‘How might we…?’ question and deepened their understanding through targeted research, they need to start thinking about what they can do to make positive change in their community. The '50 ideas in 10 minutes' challenge will guide students in a fast and furious brainstorm for ideas.

Students will work in their groups to come up with as many different and varied ideas as possible in five minutes. The ideas can be as abstract and aspirational 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 choose one that can be developed, refined and put into action.

Encourage students to use the HMW questions from earlier in the lesson to stimulate their brainstorm, essentially providing the questions that they are now brainstorming solutions for. Groups may like to divide their HMW questions between them so that they are focused in their brainstorming, but point out to students that this might limit their collective creativity in problem-solving.

The group brainstorm could be run like this:

Give each group a piece of butcher’s paper and each person a texta.
Before starting the countdown, ask students to write their action on the top of their piece of paper.
Students should stand around the tables rather than sit in their chairs as this can encourage more creative thinking.
They should:
- Write everything down as fast as possible on the butcher's paper.
- Work fast: they only have 10 minutes and they need 50 ideas.
- Do not discuss the ideas at this stage ... just get them recorded.
Give time markers as they progress – "Ten minutes left! Five minutes! One minute left!". You could project a countdown using this website.
Share a rough figure of how many ideas have been generated across the whole class - remind students how productive they can be in 10 minutes.
You could offer a prize for the group that creates the most ideas within the 10 minutes.
Remind students that volunteering with an existing organisation or program is an extremely valuable and equally valid way to address the “How might we…?” question their groups is tackling. They could even create a campaign to encourage other young people to volunteer.

Project this Brainstorm Rules Display for students to view as guidance if necessary.

Step 2.

Once groups have completed the '50 ideas in 10 minutes' challenge, ask each group to spend some time viewing and discussing their list of ideas. Invite each student to nominate their favourite ideas 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.

Step 3.

Explain to students that each group will be selecting one idea to bring to life. It is important that each group selects an idea that is feasible and realistic to complete within the time frame. One way to do this is using the S.M.A.R.T. project criteria.

Ask each group to use the S.M.A.R.T. project criteria to select one idea that they will complete. Project S.M.A.R.T. project criteria slide and explain to students that the S.M.A.R.T. project criteria can help focus on what you what to achieve, how you will achieve it, how long it will take and how you will measure your group's success.

Explain to students that if any of the ideas don't stand up to the S.M.A.R.T. criteria they should be discarded. If they have more than one idea that stands up to the S.M.A.R.T. criteria then the group should decide fairly on which one to choose. If none of the ideas stand up to the S.M.A.R.T. criteria then groups will need to adjust or adapt existing ideas to meet the criteria.

Part E: Community Action Project Design

Step 1.

Write the following quote on the board and explain to students that now they have developed an idea for action, it’s time to start planning a project around this action.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Margaret mead

Step 2.

Using the idea developed and refined in Part D, groups should now complete the Project Planning Tool. Students should fill in one per group, but each group member should have a copy of the planning tool. Work through the following tips for supporting groups through the project planning phase:

Remind groups that this planning tool will be the first draft of their project and provide them with the planning material they will need to start pitching and presenting their ideas to the relevant people or interest groups in their community.

Reflection

Invite students to now take a short moment to reflect on their participation, engagement and learning thus far. The following questions are included on the student worksheet to prompt them:

How did I work in the group?
What would I do differently next time?
What is the best part of working on this project so far and why?
What is not so great so far and why?
What can I do to help fix or change this?
What impact have I had so far?
What am I most proud of so far?
What have I learnt about the issue or challenge, AND group work and project design so far?

Aspire Generation - Ideas for Positive Change

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