3. Solving real-life problems from the classro0m

Introduction

Are youth the leaders of tomorrow? Educate! believes they are the leaders of today! True empowerment translates into individuals pursuing their passion, shaping their lives and making a positive change. Educate! believes students can start making a difference today, right where they are! This is why the Educate! Experience builds in platforms for students to come together and solve community problems, think about community day, mentoring week, the Student Business Clubs, and of course Back Home Projects. Youth are incredibly capable of taking initiative and inspiring others to do the same. Great designers can spark this change from the classroom!

Design skill

You will be able to develop practical assignments that solve real-life problems.

Which real life problems are we talking of?

Entrepreneurship starts with identifying a need and utilizing resources creatively to come up with a solution. Educate! identified five core problems communities in East Africa face and raises awareness of young people in these five domains to inspire action.

P - Poverty
E - Environmental degradation
D - Disease
V - Violence
U - Uneducated/disempowered

As a designer you continuously explore the manifestation of these problems in different contexts and include content that equips learners with accurate knowledge to provide sustainable solutions.

See our lesson on PEDVU here (page 16).

Unlocking students' problem solving potential

Skills

In order for students to be the change they want to see it is advisable to invest in the following skills that support problem solving:

Analytical thinking
Creativity
Decision making
Team work
Planning

Skill development happens best by doing, reflecting and learning from each other. Therefore think of realistic learning experiences that are as close to the real experience in the community as possible.

Inspiration

Through the learning experience you design in the class you can spark change outside the class. Combine skill development always with an element of inspiration.

Create urgency around community problems by presenting facts or let students research a problem of their choice.
Use illustrative case studies and role models.

Remember to complete the problem solving process, do not only analyze a problem but let learners also come up with solutions.

Possibility

A learning experience for Educate! designers is only complete when the learner has an opportunity to practice what they have learned. This can be through different avenues both in-class and after-class:

Portfolio activities
Group work in Skills Lab
Community day/mentoring week
Student Business Club project
Back Home Project

Measure of success

When students are being prepared to solve real-life problems, it is important to clarify your bar of success. In class activities will likely result in ideas or plans. Include success criteria for these outputs in your lesson plan to support formative assessment.

In case the actual community service activity takes place outside of the classroom, think of realistic and measurable criteria of success. What would you expect to see? Will participants sign? Will they submit an interview report signed by the respondent? Communicate this together with the assignment.