Analyzing a Situation

Session Two

Review issue analysis

• Invite students to share their responses to the skateboarder situation recorded in Skateboarders. Discuss any difficulties students encountered and explore possible solutions to the issues raised by the competing interests. As above, encourage students to suggest courses of action that promote as many of the stakeholders’ interests as possible; e.g., many of the interests would be met if the merchants agreed to help turn the spare lot into a skateboard centre and if, in exchange, the skateboarders promised to wear helmets and not skateboard near the stores.

Introduce critical task

• When students understand how to analyze a situation for the stakeholders, interests and underlying issues, explain that they will research a particular aspect of the selected issue in anticipation of addressing the following critical challenge:

Identify the stakeholders, interests and issues involved in ________________________.

Assign topics

• Organize the class into groups, each focusing on a different topic or on a different aspect of the same topic; e.g., economic, environmental or political. Provide students with briefing sheets or appropriate references from textbooks or library resources as a basis for researching their assigned topic. Explain to students that they are to use the facts they will gather to identify the various stakeholders, interests and issues involved in their assigned topic. This analysis will be shared with the rest of the class.

Conduct research

• Suggest that students begin by reading the briefing sheets or other material that you have supplied. This material should provide sufficient information to complete the information aspect of the poster. Invite students to add new information. Indicate how much class time will be made available to them for gathering additional information. You may wish to assign some research for homework.