Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future
© UNESCO 2010
MODULE 27: COMMUNITY PROBLEM SOLVING
INTRODUCTION
This module introduces Community Problem Solving as a teaching and learning
strategy. As such, it is the ‘practical’ application module that builds on the ideas for
citizenship education developed in Module 7. It also draws on the ideas about
experiential, enquiry and values education, Future Problem Solving and learning
outside the classroom in other modules.
Community Problem Solving provides students with an opportunity to practice the
skills that are needed to participate in finding solutions to the local issues that
concern them. This helps to develop the important citizenship objectives of learning
for a sustainable future and integrates skills – for both students and teachers – of
using experiential and enquiry-based strategies. It also integrates skills in the
planning of values clarification and values analysis with the possible solutions so
students can take action to help achieve a sustainable future.
OBJECTIVES
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To develop an understanding of Community Problem Solving, especially as it
may be used in education for sustainable futures.
To identify the skills students need to participate in Community Problem
Solving.
To explore questions and issues that may be encountered when teaching
through Community Problem Solving.
To identify teaching and learning strategies that may be used as part of a
Community Problem Solving project.
ACTIVITIES
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Local concerns
What is Community Problem Solving?
Developing students’ skills
Planning to use Community Problem Solving
Reflection
REFERENCES
Barrett,T., MacLabhrainn, I. and Fallon, H. (eds) (2005) Handbook of Enquiry and
Problem-based Learning. Irish Case Studies and International Perspectives,
AISHE, Released under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialShareAlike 2.0 licence.
Bardwell, L., Monroe, M. and Tudor, M. (1994) Environmental Problem Solving:
Theory, Practice and Possibilities in Environmental Education, North
American Association for Environmental Education, Troy, Ohio.
Bull, J., Cromwell, M., Cwikiel, W., Di Chiro, G., Guarina, J., Rathje, R., Stapp, W.,
Wals, A. and Youngquist, M. (1988) Education in Action: A Community
Problem Solving Program for Schools, Thomson-Shore, Dexter, Michigan.
Hungerford, H. et al. (1988) Investigating and Evaluating Environmental Issues and
Actions: Skill Development Modules, Stripes Publishing Company, USA.
Jensen, B.B. and Schnack, K. (1997) The action competence approach in
environmental education, Environmental Education Research, 3(2), pp. 162178.
McCain, T. (2005) Teaching for tomorrow: teaching content and problem-solving
skills, Corwin Press.
OECD (1995) Environmental Education for the 21st Century, OECD, Paris.
Rogers, A. (ed) (1995) Taking Action: An Environmental Guide For You and Your
Community, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi.
Stapp, W., Wals, A. and Stankorb, S. (eds) (1996) Environmental Education for
Empowerment, Kendall/Hunt, Dubuque.
Wals, A. (1994) Action Research and Community Problem-solving: environmental
education in an inner-city, Journal Educational Action Research, 2(2), pp.
163-182
INTERNET SITES
Community Problem Solving Project @ MIT
Earth Force Youth Action Programme
On the Line – The Countries of The Greenwich Meridan
Points of Light Institute
CREDITS
This module was written for UNESCO by Bernard Cox, Margaret Calder and John
Fien from material and activities originally written by Eureta Janse van Rensburg and
Debbie Heck in Learning for a Sustainable Environment (UNESCO – ACEID).
ACTIVITY 1: LOCAL CONCERNS
Begin by opening your learning journal for this activity.
What would your community look like if it were on course to a sustainable future?
Would there be:
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A clean and safe environment?
A diverse and vibrant economy?
Good housing for everyone?
People who respect and support each other?
Celebrations of cultural, historical and natural heritage?
Co-operation and power-sharing between citizens and government?
Affordable health care for everyone?
Good schools?
These are all features of a healthy and sustainable community.
Community Problem Solving is a strategy for working step-by-step towards this goal.
This module begins with an exploration of issues and problems in your own local
community.
Q1:
List five issues or problems you are concerned about in your community.
In Module 1 you identified local examples of nine major concerns (Question 5) and
investigated one in detail through the process of Strategic Questioning. For example
they included:
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Population
Industrial pollution
Low social and economic status for women
Loss of biodiversity
Unequal consumption
Poverty
Disease and malnutrition
It may be useful to review your ideas from these activities as a starting point when
making your list.
Q2:
What skills or experience do you have that might be helpful in finding a
solution to any of these problems?
Q3:
What are you currently doing to help address any of these problems?
Review reports of ‘success stories’ of young people and their teachers working to
solve local community problems: cleaning up graffiti, saving energy, a river clean-up,
providing recreation for senior citizens, publishing a community environmental
inventory, and so on.
ACTIVITY 2: WHAT IS COMMUNITY PROBLEM
SOLVING?
Begin by opening your learning journal for this activity.
A CASE STUDY OF COMMUNITY PROBLEM SOLVING
Read a case study about the Park Beach Coastcare Project.
This is an account of the way a group of students in Australia helped restore a beach
near their school.
Analysing the case study will help clarify what is involved in Community Problem
Solving.
Q4:
Answer the following questions about the case study:
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What do you feel about the circumstances and events in the case study?
What do you think were the learning outcomes for the student?
In what ways are the teaching/learning strategies used in the case study
different from strategies most often used in your school?
What skills did the teacher need to teach this way?
What problems do you think the teachers in the case study might have faced
when they included this activity as part of the curriculum?
Community Problem Solving is a teaching and learning strategy that helps students
learn to participate actively in addressing local community concerns, with a view to
creating a more sustainable future.
STEPS IN COMMUNITY PROBLEM SOLVING
There are eight major steps for guiding students through the process of Community
Problem Solving:
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Taking action
Selecting problems
Investigating
Planning actions
Exploring community concerns
Assessing and developing student skills
Developing visions of a sustainable future
Evaluating actions and changes
All these steps are important but, no doubt, you noticed that the above list is not in a
logical problem solving sequence. Re-arrange the steps into a more logical
sequence.
ADAPTING THE EIGHT STEPS TO LOCAL CIRCUMSTANCES
The eight steps in Community Problem Solving do not have to be followed in a strict
order. For example, as students develop confidence in Community Problem Solving,
the need to assess and develop their skills will diminish. And often, new issues for
investigation will arise as you progress through the steps, requiring a recycling
backwards and forwards through the steps.
What is important is that the steps be used flexibly and be adapted to local
circumstances, to your own students, and to your own approach to teaching.
Q5:
Review the case study from Modules 15 and 24 about a geography class in
Nepal that worked in their home village to develop a local sustainable
development plan. Identify which of the eight steps were used and in what
order.
Q6:
Use your understanding of the Park Beach and Nepal case studies to identify
four distinctive features of Community Problem Solving as a teaching/learning
strategy.
Q7:
Explain how you could use the Community Problem Solving approach to guide
students through the study of a local issue.
Review a teaching guide for student participation in solving local transport problems.
Read about the Earth Force Community Action and Problem Solving Programme.
SERVICE LEARNING
Service learning – through which students volunteer to work on projects in their
communities (not necessarily problem-solving ones) – has a long tradition in
education in some countries. Examples of service learning projects include:
volunteering to assist in a hospital, kindergarten or other community centre; working
in a youth conservation project; and developing a community education and
information campaign around a topical issue.
Service learning is a common action that students and schools choose as a way of
acting on – and achieving – the visions of a sustainable future that are developed
during a Community Problem Solving project.
A recent evaluation of service learning revealed major impacts on students:
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Over 95% reported that they were satisfied with their community service
experience and that the service they performed was helpful to the community
and the individuals they served.
Over 90% felt that all students should be encouraged to participate in
community service.
87% believed that they learned a skill that will be useful in the future.
75% said that they learned more than in a typical class.
Approximately 40% reported that the service experience helped them think
about and/or learn more about a future career or job.
The impacts on the students? attitudes to citizenship were also quite significant.
Students showed positive, statistically significant impacts on three measures of civic
development:
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acceptance of cultural diversity;
service leadership; and
the overall measure of civic attitudes.
The impacts on civic/social attitudes were most evident among the high school
students in the study. Participants in high school service-learning programs showed
significant impacts on service leadership and the overall civic attitudes scale and a
marginally significant impact on attitudes towards diversity. Middle school students,
in contrast, showed some gains in the measures of civic attitudes, but none were
statistically significant.
The largest impact on civic attitudes was on the measure of service leadership ? the
most direct measure of student attitudes towards service itself. Here, the students
reported that they felt that:
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they were aware of needs in their communities;
they believed that they could make a difference;
they knew how to design and implement a service project; and
they were committed to service now and later in life.
These are all good indicators of a very clear and positive contribution to active
citizenship for a sustainable future.
Source: Summary Report: National Evaluation of Learn and Serve America School
and Community-Based Programs, prepared for The Corporation for National and
Community Service by The Center for Human Resources, Brandeis University, USA,
1999.
ACTIVITY 3: DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ SKILLS
Begin by opening your learning journal for this activity.
Students use many skills when learning through Community Problem Solving. Four
categories of skills are:
Group process skills
For example:
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Taking different roles in a group and becoming a group leader when
appropriate
Listening to and comprehending ideas
Expressing ideas clearly
Considering and respecting others
Providing constructive feedback to others
Exploring group decision-making processes
Monitoring ‘on-task’ behaviour of the group
Monitoring the time allocated for tasks
Information gathering skills
For example:
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Using the library, including print and electronic resources
Designing data gathering strategies for the problem being investigated
Using scientific and social science techniques (e.g. water quality
testing, social survey) for investigation
Identifying relevant agencies, organisations and members of the
community
Requesting information from sources by writing letters, making
telephone inquiries, or using email
Analysis and decision making skills
For example:
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Analysing data gathered using scientific and social science techniques
Thinking critically and creatively about possible alternatives
Considering the values of other people and their own
Deciding on a course of action
Justifying decisions
Action and evaluation skills
For example:
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Deciding on steps in an action plan
Freely choosing to take actions
Evaluating whether the changes that were the result of the actions,
addressed the problem
Source: Adapted from Bull, J. et al. (1988) Education in Action: A Community
Problem Solving Program for Schools, Thomson-Shore, Dexter, Michigan, pp. 267269.
TEACHING SKILLS
It takes a skillful teacher to teach skills to students.
Think back to a recent lesson when you taught your students a new skill. Recall what
you did first, how you proceeded and what your students did in each step of the
lesson. For example, you might begin by analysing a skill to identify its parts and
demonstrate them to students.
Q8:
List some steps you usually follow in teaching a new skill.
Compare your ideas with a sample list.
ACTIVITY 4: PLANNING TO USE COMMUNITY
PROBLEM SOLVING
Begin by opening your learning journal for this activity.
Some of the problems that might occur when using Community Problem Solving
include:
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Q9:
Some students might not be used to teachers asking them to choose the
topic (ie. the local problem) they want to study.
Some students could be puzzled when the teacher sets a problem but does
not tell them the answer.
Some students lose their concentration when they are taken out of the
classroom on fieldwork.
Sometimes local problems of interest to students may be the cause of
controversy in the community.
Identify some teaching ideas that could prevent problems such as these.
SELECTING THE ISSUE
Selecting an issue that is practicable for students to investigate is a key aspect of
planning for Community Problem Solving.
The following criteria may help you – and your students – choose a possible project
and location:
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Q10:
The locations are readily accessible to students.
There is no serious risk to the safety of students at these places.
The projects are within the range of ability of students.
There is a genuine need in the community for this problem to be solved.
Students believe the problem is significant to them.
Rank these criteria in order of importance.
It is important to bear these criteria for selecting problems in mind. However,
experience indicates that students are most motivated when they work on problems
of their own choosing.
Q11:
Identify suitable teaching and learning activities that could be used at each of
the eight steps in Community Problem Solving.
[An example is given in your learning journal for each step. Activities explained in
other modules could be adapted and modified for use in many of these steps.]
Download a booklet on how to teach Community Problem Solving.
ACTIVITY 5: REFLECTION
Begin by opening your learning journal for this activity.
Completing the module: Look back through the activities and tasks to check that you
have done them all and to change any that you think you can improve now that you
have come to the end of the module.
Q12:
How useful are the guidelines for teaching through Community Problem
Solving in this sample lesson plan? Why?
Q13:
Identify how easy or difficult it will be for you to do introduce each of the eight
steps in Community Problem Solving in your teaching situation.
Q14:
After you have trailed using Community Problem Solving with a class, review
the process using questions such as these.
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What aspects of the Community Problem Solving project were really
successful?
Was there anything that you forgot to plan?
Did your students need more preparation before the fieldwork? In what
area?
What changes will you make to this project before doing it with another
class?
Park Beach Coastcare Project, Australia
The beach next to Sorrell State School in Australia was not an attractive place. The
dunes were becoming eroded and the noxious weed, African Boneseed, was
threatening to smother and replace the native vegetation. People had left behind
their rubbish and the public toilets were in a bad state of repair.
The teachers and students of the school asked the local Surfboard Club for help and,
together, they developed a Management Plan.
The objectives of the Management Plan were to protect the sand dunes from
erosion, remove weeds, and make the area safe and beautiful to visit. The actions
recommended in their Plan included:
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Fencing off the dunes and constructing a walkway to the beach.
Removing African boneseed and other weeds and replanting the area with
local native plants.
Building a viewing platform that includes access for people in wheel-chairs.
Beautifying the toilet area by painting murals on the water tanks.
Planting shade trees around the carpark.
Making a picnic and barbecue area.
Providing more rubbish bins.
Organising regular litter clean ups.
Building a community notice board next to the car park.
The students wrote letters and gave talks to local service clubs, such as Lions and
Rotary, and to the local Sorrell Council. Members of these groups combined to form
the Park Beach Coastcare Group. They made applications to the government and
received a grant for $5500 to implement their Management Plan.
In addition, the group organises regular community celebrations in the area for Clean
Up Australia Day and Ocean Care Day. They have cleaned graffiti from the
sandstone cliffs and are monitoring the effects of releasing African Boneseed-eating
beetles in the area.
The co-ordinator of the Park Beach Coastcare Group said:
The project offers a unique opportunity for the children at Sorrell School to learn
about the local environment, the problems of environmental degradation and the
care, patience and commitment required over a long period to rehabilitate damaged
land. The project also offers the opportunity for the school to co-ordinate resources
and community groups to achieve their aims. Management Plans were collated and
discussed at school. The children drew up the Management Plan for the area.
Source: K. Willing, Tasmanian Coastcare Co-ordinator, Australia.
Bhorletar – Nepal
Bhorletar is a rapidly growing settlement of some 150 houses which is run by an
elected Village Development Committee (VDC). The village centre is growing fast,
with 35 new houses built in the last year – 20 of them by newcomers to the area.
Without any town planning, the results are beginning to show in terms of pollution of
the village canal, uncollected garbage and poor sanitation.
In many respects it is a typical Nepal village. Land is scarce, yet most of the villagers
depend on farming. Roughly half the village land is cultivable but there is less than
half a hectare for each of the 3,000 people living there.
The task of drawing up environmental plans for Bhorletar began in 1990. A system of
‘participatory rural appraisal’ was used to collect information about every aspect of
village farming and life. This included drawing up detailed land use maps. A local
teacher was trained to carry out these activities, working with the local steering
committee and the community as a whole. Secondary school geography students,
under teacher guidance, carried out land use mapping and surveying. With the help
of two non-government organizations and an IUCN planning team, the village began
by preparing a profile of it.
The teacher took the lead in writing up the village profile, which then went through
various revisions. It included details such as the number of springs, forest patches,
tree species, landslides, cropping patterns and hazard-prone areas. The profile
highlighted a number of problems: rapid depletion of the forest due to increasing
population and the need for farmland and firewood; a lack of latrines now made
essential because of population growth; flooding and erosion in the river valley;
domestic animal diseases; a lack of clean drinking water; and increasing numbers of
landless immigrants.
Finally, an environmental plan based on this profile was defined by the villagers
themselves, and approved in meetings with the local District Council and
representative from the various line agencies of the central government.
The village selected its own activities for priority action and drew up a series of
recommended solutions. These included community forest conservation; improved
fuelwood stoves; new latrines; protective dams and afforestation to stop flooding;
raising ducks to control snails; improved roads, vegetable gardens and marketing;
and a new health post. Top priority for immediate action was given to clean drinking
water, to be provided by a system of gravity fed pipes and taps alongside a system of
long-term community maintenance, watershed protection, toilet building, fruit tree
planting and vegetable growing to take advantage of the convenient supplies of
water. All the villagers helped in building and laying the pipeline, which feeds 22 taps.
This included one extra tap for the primary school for which the parents provided all
the materials. Rules have been agreed for using the various taps (some being kept
only for drinking water).
Source: Adapted from Rowley, J. (1993) Bhorletar: The sustainable village, People
and the Planet, 2 (4), pp. 14-19.
Teaching a Skill
A sequence of procedures for teaching a skill might include:
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Analyse the skill to identify its parts.
Motivate the students so they realise they need to learn the new skill.
Demonstrate the whole skill, with students watching.
Do a second demonstration, step by step, and comment on each step as you
work.
At the end of each step, students should carry out the same activity as
demonstrated.
Observe the students at work and offer individual coaching where possible.
Provide the students with opportunities to use the skill so they can perfect it.
Encourage students to judge their own performances.
Community Problem Solving
Recommended Age Level
Later Primary, Middle School, High School
Guiding Question
How would different community people look at and try to solve an environmental
problem in their neighbourhood?
Concept
Environmental decisions – People most often affected by environmental abuses may
be the least able to bring about effective action to correct or prevent them.
Principles
Environmental problems and solutions usually impact the entire community.
Community input and action are often not utilised when there are environmental
problems in a neighbourhood.
Facts
Community problem solving requires time and a sincere respect for different peoples’
ideas.
People who make environmental decisions are often out of touch with the community
being impacted.
Skills
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Active listening skills
Analysis and problem solving skills
Small group facilitation skills
Team Work
Materials
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Pencils
Handout
Room Preparation
Arrange class into small groups of three to five.
Safety Precautions
None
Procedures and Activity
Introduction
Briefly set the tone for the activity by asking and discussing these questions:
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What kinds of environmental problems are we facing in our community?
Who is affected by these problems?
Who is coming up with solutions to the problems?
Often, the very people who are directly impacted by local environmental problems
and solutions – the community – have little input. Today, we will break into small
groups and try to see how different members of a community might view and
respond to a community environmental problem.
Activity
Class breaks into small groups of three to five. Each group identifies a ‘recorder’ to
write down information for the group.
Share that each group is to pick a community environmental issue on the handout –
or they may pick another issue and write it on the ‘other’ line.
On the back of the handout are examples of different community members. Groups
are to discuss and record how they think various community members would
respond to the problem and how they might contribute to solving the problem.
Groups discuss and record ideas.
Closing – Original Question
Ask again, “How would different community people look at and try to solve an
environmental problem in their neighbourhood?”
Evaluation
Bring class back together and let each group summarise the problem they addressed
and how three to five different community members might contribute to solutions. Ask
questions like:
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Why might community leaders avoid involving people from the community in
understanding and dealing with local environmental problems?
In your opinion, why should or shouldn’t community people be involved in
local environmental problems?
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What skills and roles are necessary for community teams to work well on
environmental or other issues?
How can more people in your community get involved in dealing with and
solving local environmental problems?
Extension Ideas
Class might choose a local environmental problem and meet with those who are
dealing with it. Students can interview people involved to understand and clarify the
problem, to learn about options and solutions, and to define impacts on different
community members. Students might offer support to garner community input, to
meet with community people, or to promote students and the community to be aware
of an issue.
Class or individual students might join a community team dealing with a local
environmental issue.
Class or individual students might interview and write articles about community
environmental issues for school, township or local papers, sharing how different
members of the community view or are impacted by the issue or problem.
Careers Related to Lesson Topic
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City, County, or Township Supervisors
Ecologist
Environmentalist
Environmental Engineer
Recreation and Park Planners
Urban Planner
People in your community with careers related to this lesson topic may accept an
invitation to talk with your class.
Notes and Suggestions
Students and everyday citizens often feel left out or don’t even know about
community environmental issues or problems. Help students explore resources and
groups in their community who try to have input and help solve problems. Invite
these people to come and share information about their group and programs.
Discuss strategies for the everyday citizen to be more informed and a part of
community environmental issues.
Encourage interested students to form a group that explores and shares local
environmental issues with fellow students via flyers, newsletter, paper articles and
group/class presentations.
Prerequisite Vocabulary
Community problem solving
Process where all community members or stakeholders participate to define
problems, identify resources and solutions, and participate in strategies and
evaluations.