becoming a solutionary 4 27 - institute for humane education

Relevant Information

This activity is meant to be an interactive brief exploration for students, so that they can eventually engage in solutionary work in greater depth and detail over time (e.g., a semester or school year).

The activity should follow age-appropriate lessons on real-world issues of concern to students, and students should have a basic understanding of societal systems and how they interact.

To highlight some of the processes of becoming a solutionary, choose a problem (or invite students to choose a problem) that is relevant, age-appropriate, of concern to your students, and within their means to address.

Below are some sample problems for demonstrating the process. Note: the sample problems for juniors and seniors below assume two things:

About This Activity

This activity is a brief exploration of some of the skills and processes needed to explore problems of concern to students and develop meaningful solutions.

Actually engaging in substantial solutionary work is beyond the scope of this activity. To fully engage your students as solutionaries, you as the teacher will want to give your students enough time to fully develop and implement their ideas and solutions through a solutions-focused approach within the curriculum.

IHE is developing training materials and resources through our Solutionary Program, which will be available in 2018.

Becoming a Solutionary By Institute for Humane Education

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Becoming a Solut ionary © Institute for Humane Education

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• students have been successfully solving less ambitious and more local problems in previous years;

• students have no less than a full semester (preferably a year) to work on their problem.

Sample problems for grades 6-8:

• Our school’s cafeteria serves many fast food-type meals that are unhealthy, as well as harmful to the environment, to people, and to animals.

• Our school is energy inefficient and does not rely on renewable, clean energy.

• Our school produces tremendous waste from single-use plastics.


• Our local river is polluted. • Several hate crimes have been perpetrated on families in

our community. • Undercover investigations have revealed an industrial farm

in our area that treats animals cruelly and produces significant pollution.


• More than 25 million people around the world live as slaves and produce many of the resources and products we use.

• Coral reefs are dying due to climate change and ocean acidification.

• Democracy in our country is being threatened by those with the money to influence elections.

Procedure

1. Name the problem: You may wish to choose the sample problem, or have students brainstorm a list of the some of the problems in the world and then choose one to explore. Once you/your students have chosen the problem to explore for this activity, write down the problem on a board or projected electronic device:

Example: Our school’s cafeteria serves many fast food-type meals that are unhealthy, as well as harmful to the environment, to people, and to animals.

About This Activity

PURPOSE

Students will practice

critical-, creative-, strategic-,

and systems-thinking skills in

order to brainstorm

potential solutions to a

problem that concerns them.

GRADES

6-12

TIME

2 hours

MATERIALS

• white boards and

markers; blackboard and

chalk; or smartboard and

computer

• camera and smartphone

for documenting,

capturing student

responses/thinking

SUBJECT AREAS

Art, Civics, Economics,

Health, Language Arts,

Psychology, Science, and

Social Studies/History

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What is a Solutionary?

A solutionary is someone who

can identify unjust, inhumane,

and unsustainable systems

and develop solutions that

benefit all stakeholders and

do the most good and least

harm for people, animals, and

the environment.

Underneath, write the following questions:

A. What systems contribute to and perpetuate the problem? B. Who and what is harmed by the problem? Who and what

benefits? C. Where are the leverage (impact) points within the

contributing systems that could be used to help solve/address the problem in a meaningful way?

D. What initial ideas do you think you could pursue to solve the problem?

E. What individual choices can we make to divest ourselves from personally contributing to the problem, so that we are practicing greater integrity and modeling a message of compassion, care, and ethical choicemaking?

2. Introduce systems: Let students know that, to better understand the problem, we must understand the systems involved. If students are not familiar with the concept of a system, share a definition, such as:

“A system is a set of connected parts forming a complex whole.”

You may also want to show them a short video introducing

systems, such as this one:

https://opb.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/syslit14-sci-sys-

bigidea/what-are-systems/#.WPZh9me1upo

3. Identify systems: Invite students to brainstorm some of the systems we have in our society (a couple were briefly mentioned in the video at 1:25 – such as transportation, communication, and financial). You’ll likely need to help guide them. Sample systems might include:

• education • media • political • economic

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4. Create a mind map: Let students know that you’re all going to create a mind map of those systems that contribute to and perpetuate the chosen problem. On a second board, write a shortened version of the problem in the middle, and draw a circle around it; invite students to name systems that contribute to the problem. Write down these systems and draw a box around each one, and a line from the system to the problem in the center. With many problems, the following systems may be involved:

• agriculture • economic • ecosystems • education • energy • health care • legal • media • political • production • psychological • transportation

Note that for students who don’t yet understand the concept of systems, you can invite them to name causes of the problem and then label their ideas with the system(s) they are describing. For example, if they say “commercials on TV,” you might say “Yes, that’s part of our media system; what else is it a part of…”, and so on.

5. Add sub-systems and make connections: Then invite students to identify relevant sub-systems that fall under these primary systems (e.g., lobbying, subsidies, advertising, etc.). Sometimes these sub-systems connect to several larger systems (and can be written again or linked by lines). Ask students to say where they think systems connect; draw lines between those systems. (Note that there are no hard and fast lines between primary and sub-systems and that the mind map will get very messy, with lines connecting almost everything.) Below is an example of a systems mind map around the sample school cafeteria problem:

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6. Answer question B: Review question B from the first board: Who and what is harmed by the problem? Who and what benefits? Important Notes:

• These problems all occur because some benefit from them. It’s important to recognize these benefits to successfully develop solutions that are good for all.

• Explain that to answer question B fully, students would need to conduct careful research, but within the simplified parameters of this activity, you (the teacher) and your class will brainstorm what you already know.

• Come prepared, from your own research, to answer this question about benefits and harms and help students produce an accurate list. For the school cafeteria problem, here is a partial list of harms and benefits:

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Harms:

• health impacts on people o increase in Type 2 diabetes o obesity o hypertension o high cholesterol

• impacts on workers on farms and in slaughterhouses

o dangerous working conditions o workers exploited via low pay,

treatment, wage theft, etc. o physical and psychological injury

• environmental impacts o water, air, and soil pollution o ocean dead zones o climate change o habitat destruction

• impacts on farmed animals o cruel confinement farming o slaughterhouse killing speeds that

result in animal abuse and suffering

o routine mutilations without anesthesia, such as debeaking chickens, tail-docking pigs, ear-notching cows

o separating mother and baby cows at birth

• impacts on wild life o Wildlife Services shoots, traps, and

poisons millions of wild animals to protect ranging livestock

o destruction of habitat o wild animals like bison, wild horses,

are displaced, captured, killed

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Benefits:

• tasty, cheap, convenient food • jobs and profits for people, industry,

and investors o food industry (processed and fast

food net employees and investors, including through retirement accounts, significant money)

o fossil fuel industry (processed food and animal foods use far more fossil fuel that plant-based, whole foods)

o media companies (through advertising)

o politicians (through campaign contributions from agribusiness)

o health care professionals (through a sicker population needing health care)

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7. Identify leverage points: Invite students to briefly reflect on question C: Where are the impact (or leverage) points within the contributing systems that could be used to help solve/address the problem in a meaningful way? (Note that some strategies for creating change will be more far-reaching than others based on the careful selection of good leverage points and the ability to influence change at those points.) Let students know that leverage (impact) points are the places within a complex system (or problem) where a “small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything.” (Donella Meadows) Depending on the leverage point, the change can be really big for relatively little effort, or it can be relatively small for a lot of effort. Let them know that “Our goal as solutionaries is to identify what those leverage (impact) points are and to discern which one(s) may be the most solutionary.” Let students know that there are many types of leverage points. (Note: You may want to use photos or drawings to help illustrate examples of types to make them easier for students to understand.)

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A few types include:

o changing the s ize or number of something (such as increasing the amount of protected land dedicated to endangered species or planting more forests); o changing physical systems

themselves (such as creating more energy-efficient buildings) o changing who has access to

relevant information (such as labeling products with their carbon lifecycle impact); o changing the rules (such as requiring

climate education in all schools); o shift ing human values (such as

inspiring people to live in harmony with the natural world and to embrace reducing their consumerism).

Note: If you, as a teacher, want to better understand leverage points, see Donella Meadows 12-points of leverage: http://donellameadows.org/archives/leverage-points-places-to-intervene-in-a-system/

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8. Answer question C: Where are the impact (or leverage) points within the contributing systems that could be used to help solve/address the problem in a meaningful way?

Ask students to identify which areas within systems might offer the most strategic leverage (impact) points for creating change for the chosen sample problem. (You’ll need to guide students through this brainstorm.) For the cafeteria example, potential leverage points might include:

• tax subsidies that fund unhealthful, and unsustainably- and inhumanely-produced foods;

• the school’s participation in the USDA school lunch program;

• the school campus’ ability (or inability) to produce some of its own food

• education of the school community about the impacts of cafeteria food choices and more solutionary options

9. Answer question D: Invite students to

share their initial thoughts/ideas to answer question D: What initial ideas do you think you could pursue to solve the problem?

Important notes:

• A big brainstorm with creative, far-reaching ideas is useful. Students can then narrow down their ideas to the most practical and likely to succeed.

• Emphasize to students that detailed research and a clear understanding of systems thinking, leverage points, etc., are needed before choosing/implementing a solution, to avoid unintended consequences and to ensure that the solution does the most good and least harm for all.)

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For the cafeteria example, student solutions might include:

• work on legislation to challenge tax subsidies (legislative/policy solution).

• run a campaign to educate fellow students, teachers, and administrators about the problem of the school’s relationship with the government lunch program (an education-focused solution to gain support for creating a school change).

• develop a school campus garden to grow healthy food (a direct action solution).

10. Answer question E: Ask students to reflect on question E: What individual choices can we make to divest ourselves from personally contributing to the problem, so that we are practicing greater integrity and modeling a message of compassion, care, and ethical choicemaking?

Important notes:

• Remind students that to really understand the most good/least harm choices to make, we’d need to do a lot of research, so, for this activity, we’re just brainstorming based on what we know.

• Emphasize to them that there will be problems from which individuals cannot realistically divest themselves, but the greater the effort to make choices that do the most good and least harm the greater the influence we have by practicing what we preach.)

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Invite students to discuss ways that they can personally divest themselves from contributing to the problem so that they can more deeply live according to their own values, for example:

• choosing the foods in the cafeteria that are the most sustainable, healthy, and humane • bringing their own lunches if they are able

Follow-up

Since you have only explored a part of the process for becoming a solutionary, the next step is to engage students with a deeper investigation of one or more problems of concern to them, and the skills, tools, and processes for developing meaningful solutions.

See our (forthcoming) Solutionary Program resources and training for more assistance.

becoming a solutionary 4 27 - institute for humane education

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