Curriculum for Excellence: Joined-up Thinking for the ... - WWF UK

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Activity GuidesIntroductionThe style of welcome and introduction will dependon the context. Where participants are from differentestablishments it is useful to include a simpleactivity which sets everyone at ease e.g. introducethemselves to someone they haven’t met before andtell each other about their favourite hobby/place tovisit/food etc. This can be repeated several times in3 or 4 minutes so that the group members begin tofamiliarise themselves with names.Activity 1What’s in the News?Where working with a group from one schoolor cluster group, it is helpful to ensure that groupmembers do not work in exclusive groups, e.g. allscientists or senior management together.ObjectiveTo demonstrate the need for joined-up thinkingacross subject areas as a vital skill, helpingparticipants understand that issues are linked andnot always straightforward.Materials RequiredNewspaper headlines, photographs, post-it pad foreach group, marker pens, and flipchart paper.TimingAllow 30 minutes.Procedure• Divide participants into groups of 2/3 people(dependent on number of headlines and photosavailable).• Spread newspaper headlines from recent local andnational papers and a range of photographs on thefloor in the centre of the circle. (See Resource List andContacts).• Invite the groups to make links between headlines(local/ national) and pictures (global) Use ‘post-its’to make the links - one on each post it - between theheadline and the picture (similarities / differences /contrasts).• What sorts of links have been identified? Groupthe types of link and devise a flipchart diagram. Arethe linksHistorical / geographical / scientific /technical / mathematicalLinguisticEnvironmentalSocialPoliticalEthicalHealthEconomic / BusinessSpiritualHuman rightsLocal or Global?Others?• Visit other groups’ flip charts and add contributionsusing post-its.Discussion and Learning Points• Draw out the environmental, social, economic,ethical, human rights etc. links so interconnectionsand systems become clear.• Learning points to highlight if not raised byparticipants:- Nothing is simply, for example, an‘environmental issue’, a social issue, or an‘economic issue’.- There are many connections - this issystemic/ joined up thinking – for the complexworld we live in. We try to ‘box’ things, inschool subject areas for example, but mostevents and issues are interconnected.- Always look for the bigger picture – thewhole is bigger than its parts.- There are no right or wrong answers but lotsof different points of view.- Not thinking systemically in a systemicworld can cause problems (knock on effectsfor us, others and for the future).
Curriculum for Excellence: Joined-up Thinking for the ClassroomEvaluation• Ask participants how useful the exercise was.• Did it help meet any of the objectives for the session?(Tick these on your flipchart)• Could they foresee situations where they could usethis in the classroom? How would they adapt it?these link back to the roots? Mention that at thisstage we are not inviting a discussion of the relativemerits of solutions; the aim is to highlight thecomplexity of most issues and their inter-linkingwith other issues.• Alert the groups to the notion that they haveidentified political/ ethical/educational/ humanrights implications of the issue as well asenvironmental.ObjectiveActivity 2The Issue TreeTo develop joined-up thinking skills, enablingparticipants to explore a real-life issue, itscauses and possible solutions, in a way that canhighlight potential further and perhaps unintendedconsequences.Materials requiredFlipchart paper, pens, A3 or A4 outline of issuetree.TimingAllow 45 minutes.Procedure• In small groups, brainstorm sustainability issues,for example HIV Aids, flooding, a new supermarketand ask each group to choose one as a focus for theexercise. Or groups may decide to work with theissues arising from the previous exercise.• Draw a tree outline on the poster paper and writethe focus issue on the trunk.• Ask groups to write the possible causes of theissue into the roots of the tree. Remember to includefeelings, ideas, values, priorities, emotions anddecision making. What caused these causes? Writethese in too, and any things that may have causedthese causes.• Then ask them to write any likely impacts(effects or consequences) into the branches. Andwhat impacts may these impacts have? What arethe ultimate consequences of the issue? Are thesesolutions or do they generate further problems? DoDiscussion and Learning Points:• Ask each group for feedback to the main groupabout what have they learned from the process. Tryto ensure that discussion is about the usefulness ofthe technique and where they might use it in theirown work/teaching situation rather than the detailedcontent explored in each diagram.• Learning points to highlight if not raised byparticipants:- Problem-solving is not linear.- It is important to recognise in ‘problemsolving’ that issues rarely have one singlecause or effect.- Any ‘cause’ can also be an ‘effect’ and viceversa and we often cannot know what longterm effect our actions will have.- Working on relevant real world issues in aparticipative way is good education- Learn to think ‘out of the box’, looking at thewhole story not just a part of it.- Learn to look at issues in context, lookingat all the influences at the start and knock oneffects at the finish.- As we cannot predict outcomes in humanand most natural systems, flexibility,accepting uncertainty and change,participation and learning from change areessential for us all.Evaluation• Ask participants how useful the exercise was.• Did it help meet any of the objectives for thesession? (Tick these on your flipchart)• Could they foresee situations where they coulduse this in the classroom? How would theyadapt it?
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