Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

25 minutes	Part B: Developing Solutions
25 minutes	Part C: The GPS Team Find A Solution
5 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Differentiation:

Where students have completed the Tuning In lesson (Tuning In To Global Problem Solvers):

Remind students of the Global Problem Solvers team and how they identified a problem in Tampa, Florida, USA. Invite students to suggest what this problem is, reminding them of the questions they created for finding problems and the answers they got to their questions from the previous episodes of the Global Problem Solvers (GPS) series. Where students need prompting, use the following: ‘A massive hurricane has hit the Gulf Coast of the United States and damaged areas of the city of Tampa, in Florida. The storm damage includes power cuts and flooding to many parts of the city, including schools around the city. This has meant that students are unable to go to school.’

Where students haven’t completed the Tuning In lesson (Tuning In To Global Problem Solvers):

Distribute a copy of this factsheet (Background Information - S2) to pairs of students and invite them to read through the factsheet together, making a note of anything they find interesting or important.
Explain to students that in this lesson they will be exploring a problem based in North America. This problem will be identified and discussed by the characters of an animated series called Global Problem Solvers (GPS):
"A massive hurricane has hit the Gulf Coast of the United States and damaged areas of the city of Tampa, in Florida. The storm damage includes power cuts and flooding to many parts of the city, including in schools around the city. This has meant that students are unable to go to school."

You share the trailer for Series 2 with students:

(Source: https://vimeo.com/273541111)

Part B: Developing Solutions

Step 1.

Students will now start thinking about what a solution to the problem in the schools in Tampa might look like. First, they will clarify the core issues.

Break students into pairs and invite students to look at this statement about the problem (also available on the Student Worksheet):

‘A massive hurricane has hit the Gulf Coast of the United States and damaged areas of the city of Tampa, in Florida. The storm damage includes power cuts and flooding to many parts of the city, including in schools around the city. This has meant that students are unable to go to school. Teachers and principals would like to start classes for students but are unable to do so without a safe space to do it in, without electricity for lighting and without the internet for students to access coursework and to collaborate.’

Each pair of students needs to read through this statement and, using a pen, underline the core points that need addressing. These will be the points that need to be addressed through the solution.

The aim is for students to underline the words safe space, electricity and internet.

NOTE: These three points are also identified in this episode (https://vimeo.com/259753497) from 2:48 to 3:08.

Step 2.

Students will now work collaboratively to think about what sorts of solutions they would propose for this problem. They will do this by brainstorming ideas, selecting one idea to focus on, and then applying a SWOT analysis to the idea to test it.

The brainstorming could be run in the following way:

Break the class into groups of four to five students
Give each group a piece of butcher’s paper and each student a marker pen
Ask each group to write “How can we address the problems of safe space, electricity and internet in Tampa?” in the middle of the paper
Give the class a time limit of 5 or 10 minutes for coming up with ideas (you can use this website to countdown: https://www.online-stopwatch.com/countdown-clock/full-screen/)
Explain to students that they should:
- Think creatively - don’t worry about whether it’s a realistic idea at this stage. There are no wrong ideas!
- Be inspired by what others are writing
- Write down any ideas they have for any of the three main points - the ideas they come up with don’t need to address all the points at once
- Don’t do any evaluation at this point - this can come later
- Try to get down as many ideas as possible
Once the clock has started, give time warnings (e.g. Seven minutes left! Five minutes left!)
Share a rough figure of how many ideas have been generated across the whole class - remind students how productive they can be in a short amount of time!

Step 3.

Once complete, invite students to remain in their groups and to spend some time discussing how these ideas might work, how ideas could be combined to create better solutions, or what new ideas could be added to the ideas they’ve already written down. 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 of these ideas. 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 as these may be useful in future activities.

Step 4.

Students will now conduct a SWOT analysis of the idea they have selected. Students can use the SWOT analysis template to guide their work.

While students are completing the SWOT analysis, the teacher can roam around the room and offer support to groups. If any groups are having trouble completing the task, the teacher can encourage them by asking prompting questions.

Following their analysis, encourage groups to refine their ideas for addressing the problem in Tampa. Pose the following question to students:

What problems did your SWOT analysis identify?
How could these problems be addressed?

Allow students time to make amendments to their ideas before moving onto the next activity.

Part C: The GPS Team Find A Solution

Step 1.

Explain to students that they will now find out what solution the GPS team devised. Share the following clip with students, and ask them to record anything important or interesting that they observe in this clip:

Episode 2.3: The Solution (https://vimeo.com/267618914)

Once complete, invite students to share their observations and to suggest an answer to the following question (suggested answer included):

What is the solution proposed by the GPS team?
Suggested answer: An emergency classroom kit that allows teachers to create a “pop-up” classroom at a shelter. The kit will include lights, internet hardware and solar panels.

Step 2.

Again working in their groups, invite students to conduct a SWOT analysis of the idea proposed by the GPS team. Students can again use the SWOT analysis template or create their own in their workbooks.

Once each group has had the chance to record their ideas, invite them to team up with another group to share their ideas. What were the similarities and differences between the ideas each group identified?

If you are planning on completing the other lessons in this unit, keep a record of the SWOT analysis. Students can add to this record as issues are raised throughout the course of the GPS series.

Step 3.

Invite groups to return to their original groups and invite them to work collaboratively to answer the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

How does the solution developed by the GPS team compare with your solution? What is similar and what is different?
Did you identify any similar strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and/or threats between the two solutions? Explain your answer.
Does the idea devised by the GPS team inspire any new ideas for improving the solution your group came up with? What are these ideas?

Allow students time to refine their solutions before moving onto the next activity.

Step 4.

Each group now needs to create a presentation that describes their solution. The presentation should include:

Details of how the solution addresses the main three points of the problem: safe space, electricity and internet
Possible threats or weaknesses and some ideas for how these could be addressed
Supporting images.

Extension: Students needing extension could create a longer presentation that includes additional information that justifies the details around the solution and strategies for addressing threats or weaknesses.

Each group should present their ideas to the class. You could use the Presentation Rubric to assess students' work. You could also provide students with a copy of the rubric so they know what is expected of them.

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 Tampa? 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 - SWOT Solutions

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