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Preliminary Research
Have the students do some preliminary literature and web research to get a general sense of the scope of each issue. Encourage students to identify a broad range of factors relevant to the issue, including:
- The chemistry, physics, biology, geology, meteorology, or other natural science(s) relevant to the issue
- The socioeconomic and cultural contexts through which people affect and are affected by the issue
- The sociopolitical processes that create and implement the laws, incentives, policies, or practices that cause and/or try to “fix” the problem
Based on what they learned in this quick overview, have them commit to one of the issues/topics that they find most interesting.
Kendra discovers that she isn’t all that interested in the salmon issue, but has a tough time deciding between sea turtles and corals. Her preliminary research uncovers a surprisingly long list of threats to coral reefs, which she finds both disturbing and fascinating, so she decides to focus on coral reef conservation. |
