Teacher+Notes

**Global Problem Solving - //Teacher Notes//**

toc **Introduction** This unit of work is designed to be delivered in a secondary school classroom, in a blended learning environment. Students will explore a complex global problem, its causes and effects, and apply business knowledge to provide a range of possible solutions and recommendations for the problem. In particular, they will consider complex problems arising from global recession, natural disasters, and social networking. The unit has been aligned closely with constructivist principles in terms of encouraging learners to engage with the task and their peers in order to construct a deep understanding of each topic.

**Year Level**

 * Year 13 (17-18 years old)

**NZ Curriculum Level**

 * Level 8

**Key Business Concepts**
//**Globalisation**// is the umbrella concept for the year 13 course of study, and this unit is clearly situated within this concept. //**Globalisation**// is about "exploring what it means to be part of a global community and to live amongst diverse cultures". (Ministry of Education, 2010)

**Achievement Objectives**
This unit of work will allow students to work towards achieving the curriculum Learning Objective 8.1:

"...analyse how and why businesses in New Zealand operating in the national and global markets make operational and strategic decisions in response to interacting internal and external factors." (Ministry of Education, 2010a)

**Specific Learning Objectives**
By the end of this unit, students will be able to:
 * Recognise how global issues such as recession, differing trends, natural disasters, war, political unrest, and social networking affect New Zealand organisations.
 * Identify causes and effects of a range of global issues.
 * Undertake a problem-solving process to identify a range of possible solutions to a global problem.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Recommend a commercially viable solution to a given global issue and consider the consequences of this solution for the organisation.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Links to New Zealand Curriculum**

 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**//Principles//** || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**//Values//** || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">//**Key Competencies**// ||
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: baseline;">This unit is designed to incorporate the principle of **future focus** by:

<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: baseline;">"...encourag[ing] students to look to the future by exploring such significant future-focused issues as sustainability, citizenship, enterprise, and globalisation." <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">(Ministry of Education, 2007a) || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Students will be encouraged to value:

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">** "Innovation, inquiry, and curiosity **, by thinking critically, creatively, and reflectively". (Ministry of Education, 2007b) || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Students will be encouraged to develop competencies in:

<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: baseline;">**"Relating to others**[- this] is about interacting effectively with a diverse range of people in a variety of contexts. This competency includes the ability to listen actively, recognise different points of view, negotiate, and share ideas". <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">(Ministry of Education, 2007c) ||

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Effective Pedagogy**
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">According to the Best Evidence Synthesis by Aitken & Sinnema (2008), the following four items are the basis of effective pedagogy in the Social Sciences.
 * 1) <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: baseline;">Connection: Make connections to students’ lives
 * 2) <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: baseline;">Alignment: Align experiences to important outcomes
 * 3) <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: baseline;">Community: Build and sustain a learning community
 * 4) <span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: baseline;">Interest: Design experiences that interest students.

These principles also align closely with Goodyear's (2002) concept of cognitive interaction as by building Aitken's et. al (2008) four aspects of effective pedagogy in to the coursework, learners are encouraged to engage with the material. In fact it is the designer's view that the four principles of effective pedagogy must be present for students to interact cognitively with the material.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Suggested Timeframe**
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">This unit of work is planned for approximately 25 hours of learner time. In a blended learning environment, it is envisioned that students will spend 15 hours working through the unit in-class with the teacher, and between 5-10 hours of homework time. Depending on the student cohort and the level of technology available, the duration may vary significantly. For example, a typical class schedule might be:
 * || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">//**Suggested Wiki Pages**// ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">//Lessons 1-2// || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 22px;">Introduction to Global Problem solving ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 22px;">//Lessons 3-4// || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 22px;">Tools Test ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 22px;">//Lessons 5-9// || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 22px;">Problem-solving ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 22px;">//Lessons 10-14// || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 22px;">Global Recession ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 22px;">//Lessons 15-16// || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 22px;">Social Media ||
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 22px;">//Lessons 17-18// || <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; line-height: 22px;">Natural Disaster ||

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Opportunities for Assessment**

 * Formative Assessment:** Students will gain feedback throughout the unit by sharing ideas and gaining feedback on these from peers and teacher. There are multiple opportunities to formatively assess the progress of students as they complete each section of work. Goodyear (2002) stresses the importance of feedback to online learning materials and consequently, feedback is embedded into this unit in three ways:
 * There are opportunities for learners to get feedback from their peers both through the online course materials (such as wall wisher and wiki comment), and through small-group discussions and interactions with peers.
 * The blended classroom environment allows teachers to give both informal and formal feedback and feed-forward on how well each stage of the unit is performed. The intention is that teachers will monitor group interactions and progress regularly, and give each group feedback/forward during lessons. They will also have an opportunity to provide formal feedback through progress-marking of the portfolio assignment.
 * Students will complete a self assessment of their understanding and progress through the units. They will also complete a peer assessments of their team-mates' contribution to the tasks.


 * Summative Assessment:** There is one summative assessment task in the form of a portfolio. This portfolio may take the form of a physical 'pen and paper' portfolio (such as a book or clearfile), or an online portfolio (such as Mahara [|www.mahara.co.nz]). It is suggested that the portfolio be marked progressively as students finish each unit in order to provide feed-forward. It can also be marked as a a final assessment to the unit according to the rubric below. The unit covers topics from the NCEA assessment //Business Studies// 3.3 //- Apply business knowledge to address a complex business problem(s) in a given global business context (draft)//, and will be key to building knowledge for this externally assessed exam//.//

The benefits of using this portfolio approach to assessing this unit of work are:
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">To document progress over time
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">To develop skills in reflection and self-assessment
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">To provide evidence of problem solving in relation to global business issues
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">To provide evidence of the use of online tools used as collaborative learning tools
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">To present a holistic picture of individual skills and abilities as a business student


 * Assessment Rubric for Portfolio:**


 * Self Assessment Rubric:**


 * Peer Assessment Rubric:**

**Opportunities for Extension** This unit of work is highly scaffolded and assumes that students have not had much exposure to online tools, or a problem-solving process. For those students who need extension and challenge in your class, some ideas on how to extend these students are included below. It may be more of a challenge for students to complete these tasks individually, or they may complete in small groups. Students research the following independent research questions centred around each of the three themes. They will then make and upload a documentary style video to YouTube video about one (or all) of the topics.

__**1. Recession**__ <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Students may identify a major recession event such as the 2009 financial crisis and the following questions:
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Fully explain the causes of this event and the specific events or decisions that lead to the financial melt-down/recession.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Fully explain the effects of this event on one local and one global businesses.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Identify the decisions each of the businesses made as a result of the recession.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Identify actions that the NZ government took as a result of the recession.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Justify why these decisions were appropriate (or not) in this situation.

__**2. Social Media**__ Students track the rise and fall of businesses operating in the social media arena by:
 * Identifying one social media company that is currently operating well.
 * Identifying one social media company that has failed or is perceived to be in decline.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Fully evaluate the unique offerings of each organisations in terms of what benefits do they provide to both business and personal customers.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Identify 3-5 factors that you believe are key to operating a successful social media business.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Justify how these factors lead to the success of a social media business.

__**<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;">3. Natural Disaster **__ Students will investigate the protections and preparations that businesses can undertake to ensure operation through times of disaster.
 * Identify 2 business insurance companies and fully compare their business insurance products.
 * Fully explain the role that insurance companies have in ensuring the protection of a businesses assets in natural disasters.
 * Fully explain how businesses should go about ensuring customer and business data stored electronically is not lost in the case of a natural disaster.
 * Fully justify why businesses should (not) have insurance.

__**4. Video Documentary**__ Students create and upload a documentary style video covering one, or all of the topics researched above.
 * Your video should be informative and provide valuable information to businesses.
 * Your target audience should be young people starting out in business.
 * Your video should be 5-8 minutes long.
 * Upload your video to YouTube, and send your teacher the link.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**Suggestions for Adaptation**
While this unit is designed for a blended learning environment, the designers recognise that technology is not always available in schools or at home. The suggestions below identify some methods of adapting the tasks to a mostly face-to-face environment, as well as to a mostly online environment.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">** //Group Discussion Tasks//**

Group discussion tasks are intended to be completed in small working groups. Some ideas for using them in other ways are:
 * Class discussions - Discuss questions raised as a class with students noting down answers to questions as they go.
 * Homework Interview - Students raise these questions through an interview with member of their family and reflect on their answers.
 * Forum discussions - Students post their answers to a course discussion forum.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">** //Watch/View Tasks//**

Watch/View tasks are intended to be completed either on individual computers or as a small group on one computer. Some ideas for using them in other ways are:
 * Class view - Videos are viewed as a class, and texts are read from a printed class set.
 * Individual View - Videos and texts are viewed individually (homework?) and discussed face to face or in a forum.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">** //Comment Tasks//** Comment tasks are designed to encourage peer feedback and interaction with the materials. Some ideas for using them in other ways are:
 * Post box - Comments are written on paper and submitted to the relevant 'post box'. Teacher then collates answers and uses them to prompt class discussion.
 * Class discussion - Ideas are discussed as a class and students take notes.
 * Discussion forum - Students post their comments to a discussion forum.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">**//Portfolio Tasks//** <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;">Portfolio tasks are the basis of the final assessment task. There are a number of formats that this could take:
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Pen and paper - Students collect artefacts and present in a clearfile or specified portfolio book.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">E-portfolio - Students collect artefacts online and submit to a portfolio tool such as Mahara (www.mahara.co.nz) or using a Moodle plug-in for portfolios (www.moodle.co.nz).
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Word Sunmissions - Students may collate all of their answers to each topic into a word document saved on the school drive, or USB. At the end of each unit, this may be handed in to the teacher for formative feedback.

** Extra Resources **
Below is a collection of videos suitable for Problem Solving lessons.
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Problem Solving Ideas that work: [|YouTube video]
 * Problem Solving using Cause and Effect Diagrams: [|YouTube video on how to use them].
 * Problem Solving using SWOT Analysis: [|YouTube video on how to use them].
 * Critical Thinking: [|YouTube video discussing this technique.]
 * Chimpanzee Problem Solving by Cooperation: [|YouTube video]
 * Skills Of The Rockstar Planner: Intuitive Problem Solving: [|YouTube video]