Activity: Choosing a challenge topic
Taking action: Adolescents choose a challenge topic, a problem or opportunity that they will work on together in future sessions
Activity overview
Energy level: 3/5
Literacy level: 1/5
Complexity level: 4/5
Time: 30 to 45 minutes
Purpose: Use creativity and critical thinking skills to solve community problems.
Objectives
Adolescents will be able to:
- Collaborate with others to solve problems.
- Critically think about and explain challenges in the community.
Competency domains
- Critical thinking and decision making
- Creativity and innovation
Works well for
Circles where adolescents can sit together, reach decisions collectively, and work on activities in small groups.
Phase
Taking action
Before
Adolescents should have already explored problems, issues or opportunities that are important to them. Recommended: Our challenges, our solutions and Our environment.
After
Adolescents should develop and carry out plans to address the problem or opportunity identified. The Forming problem and opportunity statements, Using interview skills, and Brainstorming solutions, possibilities and project ideas activities are good next steps.
Preparation
Find stones in the area to use in the activity.
Activity steps
Step 1
Warm up: Divide the circle into two groups. One will be the buyer group and the other will be the seller group.
Step 2
Explain: The seller group will go back to the creative presentations, maps, and drawings that they have developed during other sessions and identify the top five challenges, problems or opportunities facing adolescents.
Step 3
Divide the sellers into five groups of equal size. Each group should choose one of the five challenges. The job of each group is to try to sell their challenge to the buyers.
Step 4
Explain: Each team of sellers will have two minutes to make a sales pitch (a short speech about the importance of this challenge) to all of the buyers. They will want to convince the buyers that this challenge is extremely important to their community.
Step 5
Divide the buyers into five groups. Give each group three small stones or cards. These represent money or tokens they will use to buy a challenge. Each group of buyers can buy up to three challenge topics. Before they buy anything they should listen to all of the sales pitches.
Step 6
Give all of the groups five minutes to prepare. The groups of sellers should create their sales pitch, and the buyers should discuss what criteria they will use to decide which challenge to buy.
Step 7
Once the five minutes are up, each group of sellers should stand or sit in a different part of the space. That space will be their market stall or shop, from where they will give their sales pitch to the buyers who stop and visit them.
Step 8
Open the marketplace.
Step 9
Facilitator says: “Tell the buyers that they have 20 minutes to visit all the sellers.” (Optional: Arrange for the groups of sellers to rotate around to different buyers).
Step 10
Once the 20 minutes are up, give the buyer groups three minutes to decide which of the three challenges they will buy. They can do this by placing their stones or cards beside a challenge.
Step 11
Count the stones or cards to determine which challenge the circle has decided to buy. Make sure that everyone in the circle knows which challenge topic they have chosen, so that they can use it in future sessions to work on their projects together.
Step 12
Share and Take away: Review the exercise by asking the following questions:
- How did it feel to be a seller? What strategies did you use to try to sell your challenge?
- How did it feel to be a buyer? How did you decide which challenge to pick? What criteria were most important to you?
Use a matrix to write their responses on the marker board:
Sellers: What arguments worked well to convince the buyers to buy your challenge?
Buyers: What criteria did you use to decide which challenge to buy?
Do and don't
Do
- Use a problem or opportunity that the adolescents discussed in a previous session.
- Allow adolescents to consider challenges, which may be difficult for them to address.
- Encourage adolescents to consider opportunities as well as problems.
Don't
- Force adolescents to focus on a specific topic that you chose for them.
Adaptation
Low literacy: Instead of writing, adolescents can use drawings to illustrate the problem or opportunities they want to address.
Environment
Indoor or outdoor space. Quiet.
Supplies
- At least one large piece of chart paper for each group (or something else for them to draw or write on).
- At least one pen, pencil or marker for each adolescent.
- Stones (enough for each group to have three).
Read and use
Our challenges, our solutions, Our environment, Forming problem and opportunity Statements, and Brainstorming solutions, possibilities and project ideas activities, for steps to take before and after this activity.
Improvise
Adolescents can create drawings, photo essays, dramas or stories about this topic.
Adolescents can research and explore their problem or opportunity topic in more depth by interviewing each other, or others in their community.
Continue
Adolescents should have the opportunity to explore their own solutions to their challenge topic in future sessions. This could include carrying out plans to address the challenge or using the problem or opportunity as inspiration for creative storytelling.
Highlights
Use creativity and critical thinking skills to solve community problems. Works well for circles where adolescents can sit together, reach decisions collectively, and work on activities in small groups.
