Topic outline

  • GROUP ROLE

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    Group role

    Introduction

    In order for a group to work together effectively within a sustainability project, students will need to play different key roles depending on the needs of the group and their individual abilities.

    1. Form teams of 4 students.
    2. Have the teams choose a sustainable goal that each team member is willing to commit to.
    3. Have each team member briefly write down the skills and strengths he or she wants to bring to the group with one or more concrete examples for each point.
      1. Creative learners help the group see possibilities and shift the focus from “what is” to “what could be.
      2. Inquisitive learners investigate a topic from all angles and are able to convey knowledge in a clear accurate manner.
      3. Active learners bring practical strategies to the group and keep it moving forward.
      4. Social learners ensure that everyone is heard and enhance interaction among group members.
    4. Have each team member’s skills and strengths copied on a flip chart sheet.
    5. Each participant is given two minutes to receive feedback on their strengths from the rest of the group and without comment. Keep it positive!

    Identifying students’ skills and strengths and how they can be used within the joint project.

    Discover and confirm what each person can contribute in terms of strengths and skills to the chosen project.

    Flipchart paper, paper and pen

    Ask students if they actually experienced the strengths described by the others. Have they been able to show their own strengths. Did any surprising skills of team members emerge or develop during the project? Are they perhaps missing certain skills for completing the project well?

     

  • DECISION TREE

    Decision tree

    Introduction

    Sometimes we are faced with a situation, for which there is no clear solution. We are stuck. A decision tree is a tool to help us get our thinking back in order and enable us to discern a clear set of options and weigh the values of each option.

    1. Download and read the document: Deciding-in-Messy-Situations
    2. Form a team and collectively select an issue where the team is “limping along. In other words, she is unable to choose between one option and the other.
    3. On the left, write the name of the decision on a large piece of paper and on the right, write the different options. It helps if the diagram you are about to draw is methodically drawn from left to right. The idea is for the team to map out the decisions with the associated consequences in the diagram.
    4. Evaluate the decisions have mapped out evaluate the decision paths and discover the criteria you are going to use for assigning value and probability. (Also, don’t ignore the following options: make no decision, make a different decision, or let someone else make the decision.
    5. From time to time, reconsider the name of your decision. Sometimes the decision itself evolves as you consider the options.
    6. There are only a few ways a decision tree can go wrong. One is to ignore the rule that options must be mutually exclusive. For example, deciding which of several options to try first (a mutually exclusive approach to options) will work much better than deciding on the best order to try the options (where options are not mutually exclusive).
    7. In unclear situations, the first option will generate new information and understanding. This changes the circumstances of the decision about what to do. Calculations can also go wrong. Always check that the probabilities of all decisions combined are 100%. Check the calculations of an expected value for each decision with an uncertain outcome.
    8. Decision trees provide “answers,” but are especially good to use when drawn with the specific intention of ordering thoughts rather than representing “reality” and really figuring out what to choose. Using the diagram as an exploration allows you to “interrogate” the diagram, making ideas and assumptions visible.

    Learning to use systems thinking in decision-making processes.

    Decision trees to understand and analyze the options we face in making good decisions.

    A large sheet of paper, markers

    Download and read
    https//www.scribd.com/document/60011634/Deciding-in-Messy-Situations

    Review the drawn decision tree with students. Do they find it a useful addition to making a mind map. Do they see where a decision tree is different from a mind map? Do they think a decision tree can help them with future decisions?

  • SQUARE

    Square

    Introduction

    Source: thefoodproject.org

    Some decisions are made in a “group mind,” a decision-making process that requires immediate communication in response to a new situation. In this activity we will explore what communicating in such a group mind is and how it can be developed.

    1. Divide the students into four teams.
    2. Each team stands shoulder to shoulder on one side of an imaginary square. Everyone is looking at the center.
    3. The facilitator stands in the center of the square and acts as a “toll. He or she turns on his or her axis and stops opposite one of the teams.
    4. At that point, each team must observe and remember the order in which their team is positioned (which individuals are next to each other) as well as where the team stands in relation to the toll. A team can be opposite, to the left, to the right or behind the toll. Observation and memorization are done without talking.
    5. Without warning, the spinning top spins several times and stops opposite a team and shouts “square! The teams must then regroup around ‘the top’ as quickly as possible in their original positions: in front, to the left, to the right or behind ‘the top’ and of course in the original order within the team.
    6. Once a team is back in its original order and its original orientation on the toll, all members raise their hands and shout “together!
    7. Each team notes after the event what the members observed during this activity.

    Learning to build teamwork and communication and break the ice in a new group.

    Students learn to communicate more effectively in changing circumstances.

    None

    What techniques did the teams use to be the fastest? Was communication between team members important? If so, how did the team members communicate? How did the teams deal with team members who struggled?