Tools for Dialogue and Deliberation on Wicked Problems

The Wicked Problem of Educating the Next Generation of Problem Solvers

I am a middle school teacher interested in challenging my students to think globally about the wicked problem of global climate change. I'd love to start a discussion about another wicked problem - how to educate for global awareness, systems thinking, and problem solving.

My hypothesis is that the next few generations are critical for the survival of the human species and that the next generation of leaders, who are now in secondary school will be the ones who will have to lead the way. So it is critical that GSM Essence develop a team to help write and disseminate cutting-edge technology-enhanced curricula that provide younger students with the tools to make sense of these wicked problems and to organize social networks to take action and change the course of the world.

The first step is to engage students - giving them a reason to care.

The next step is to empower them with actions that give them a sense of accomplishment.

The third step is to have them communicate their accomplishments first to a local audience and then to a global audience.

Along the way, I hope to challenge them with projects in which they have to participate in and manage a multifaceted team directed toward sustainability. I see mind mapping as a good planning tool early in the process followed by dialogue mapping during formative stages of the team and finally argumentation mapping as part of their presentations to the world.

Will you help me create materials?

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Comment by Jack Park on January 15, 2010 at 4:46am: I heard an interview with Daniel Pink today on NPR (National Public Radio-US). His Ted talk is found here. I have this intuition that he has some ideas worth consideration.

Jack

Comment by Scott Nesler on January 11, 2010 at 1:47pm: Hello again Gregory,

As I mentioned before I have two grade school children. Motivation is a continues process for parents and teachers.

I hope you get a chance to read the Motivation blog on the GSm.

I describe a prize system in the Motivation blog. At this point I don't want to promise anything, but I would suggest providing a waiver for the entry fee for up to 25 students to participate in this process. The waiver would allow the students to compete for the cash prizes. I really there may be some ethics issues here, but since 100% of all money collected will go to the prize system, I would hope the perception of the ethics would be as accepted as a church raffle.

NOTE: The total prize value will be dependent upon paying contributors. There must be motivation in getting people to participate in the process and contribute to the pool.

I also realize there is a trust issue, this is something we will have to address together.

Comment by Scott Nesler on January 2, 2010 at 6:36pm: Hello Gregory,

I think you are on to something and may have the participates for success. Several points in your blog stand out:

1. Engage students
2. System of accomplishment
3. Build toward higher demographic visibility
4. Diverse team participation

Problem solving is an iterative process. The final solution will most likely differ from ones original suggestion. Developing an articulate argument requires refinement, coaching, publication, feedback, and revision. As one's idea evolves, comparing it with other intelligent approaches provide room for mutual improvement.

Though disjointed efforts may produce different end products, there may be room for sharing commonalities in an efficient manner.

Competition is a motivator. Though our form of government has a poor track record for financial responsibility, this is a lesson you should teach your students. I would suggest defining a fictitious grand total of money available to your students to reward mutual agreed upon solutions. Or provide the students the opportunity to define their own revenue generation process. The students will also be responsible for setting the cost of the projects based on developing cost models for their solutions. Checks and balances for these cost models can be provided by competing projects.

It would be the responsibility of the students to determine all winners and what percentage goes to each solution.

I would also suggest a level of anonymity or some other mechanism which encourages the highest level of participation. As a parent of a middle school-er, I understand the divergent social behavior which comes with the age. Really it is this same divergent social behavior which plagues the human race.