Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes	Part B: Understanding Social Enterprises
25 minutes	Part C: Social Enterprises in Your Community
5 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Differentiation:

Where students have completed the previous lessons in this unit:

Remind students of the Global Problem Solvers team and how they developed a solutions for a problem with wells in Malawi. Invite students to suggest what this problem is and what the solution was that was developed by the GPS team. You can also invite students to remind themselves of the solution their group created in response to the same problem.

Where students haven't completed the previous lessons in this unit:

Explain to students that in this lesson they will be exploring a problem that is based in a part of North America. This problem will be identified and discussed by the characters of an animated series called Global Problem Solvers:
"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. The GPS team has proposed a solution for this problem: An emergency classroom kit that allows teachers to create a “pop-up” classroom at a shelter. The kit will include lights, internet hardware for accessing course material and solar panels.

You could share the trailer for Series 2 with students:

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

Step 2.

Explain to students that as part of delivering their solution to students who are missing school the GPS team had to create a business plan. A business plan is a document that includes information about what you are trying to do, why you want to do it and how you will do it. The GPS team want people to buy their kits as this means they can make more kits and can help more students get back to school sooner. Because people are investing money in their idea, they need to be able to show them they have really thought about how their idea will work and how it will be successful. Having a document like a business plan is an easy way to show that you’ve thought about how your idea is a good investment.

However, in the case of the GPS team their aim was not to make money but rather to help people. Any money they make is used to pay suppliers and buy more kits. This type of business is called a ‘social enterprise’.

Invite students to raise their hands if they have heard of the term ‘social enterprise’. Briefly engage students in a discussion around what they understand this term to mean.

Then share the following definition with students:

“Social enterprises are businesses that trade to intentionally tackle social problems, improve communities, provide people access to employment and training, or help the environment.” (Source: https://www.socialtraders.com.au/about-social-enterprise/what-is-a-social-enterprise/social-enterprise-definition/)

Some examples of social enterprises could be a cafe that offers training for disadvantaged youth or a clothing company that uses profits to support education programs in schools.

Explain to students that in this lesson they will be exploring different types of social enterprises and finding out what role and value these businesses play in society.

Part B: Understanding Social Enterprises

Step 1.

Students will now participate in a guided discussion around the following clip from the GPS series. Explain to students that in this episode of the GPS series, the GPS team are collecting data about their work to see if they were successful. They will evaluate this data and if they are successful they can consider taking their model of social action and turning it into a business.

(Source: Global Problem Solvers: The Series - Episode 2.7: Birth of a Social Enterprise, https://vimeo.com/267620002.)

Suggesting timings:

1:35 - What was the feedback from teachers?
Suggested answer: The kits were easy to assemble and use, even though they had a big technological component which can often present challenges.
1:49 - What was the feedback from parents?
Suggested answer: Parents are happy that kids were able to keep their lessons going.
2:00 - What was the feedback from the principal?
Suggested answer: Because of the kit, students are back on track with their studies.
2:14 - Were the GPS team successful? What does this mean for them establishing a business?
Suggested answer: The feedback from stakeholders is that the kits were a success, and Putri is now happy to take their business a step further and establish it as a social enterprise. She describes as social enterprise as "a business like the one we created around our emergency classroom kit that attempts to solve a social problem".

Once complete, invite students to reflect on this clip using the following questions:

Why are feedback and evaluation so important running a successful project?
Suggested answer: They allow you to identify what worked and what didn’t, and to check that you met the aims of your project.
Why are feedback and evaluation important to establishing a business such as a social enterprise?
Suggested answer: If you want to turn your project into a business, you need to know that you can complete tasks successfully and that the people you are helping are actually being helped.

Part C: Social Enterprises in Your Community

Step 1.

Students will now work collaboratively to explore a social enterprise in their area. Break students into mixed ability groups and explain that they will need to work collaboratively to conduct research online in order to find the answers to the following questions in relation to the social enterprise they are exploring (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Name of social enterprise:
Where did you find out about this business (include URL)?
What does this business do?
Why do they do it? What is the problem they are trying to address?
How do they do it? What is their solution to the problem they are trying to address?
How do they make a difference?
How do they tell people about what they are doing?
How do they measure whether they are successful?
What do you like about this social enterprise and why?

NOTE: If students are unable to find an example of a social enterprise in their area, you could direct them to one of the following:

The Fabric Social - https://thefabricsocial.com/
Soft Landing - https://www.softlanding.com.au/
CERES - https://ceres.org.au/
OzHarvest - https://www.ozharvest.org/
Good2Go - https://g2gcoffee.com.au/
Greenbatch - https://www.greenbatch.com/
hireup - https://hireup.com.au/
Swanky Socks - https://swankysocks.com/
Words With heart - https://wordswithheart.com/

Step 2.

Once they have answered these questions, each group needs to create a poster or Padlet (https://padlet.com/) to share their results of their research. These can then be shared with the class. This could be done with each group taking turns to present to the class or groups could rotate and briefly present to each other. The aim here is for each student to become familiar with a range of different social enterprise models.

Extension: Students needing extension could compare and contract two different social enterprises.

Reflection

Students need to work independently to imagine they are about to start their own social enterprise. Invite students to respond in writing to the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What social or environmental issue would you focus on and why?
How would your social enterprise help to address this issue? What actions would your business take to help address this social or environmental issue?

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 - The Social Enterprise

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