OPTIONAL THEME:
KNOWLEDGE AND POLITICS:
TEN MOST PRESSING WORLD PROBLEMS

The Indian Ocean, just east of the island of Madagascar, as seen from the Gemini-6 spacecraft. Photo: NASA

The Indian Ocean, just east of the island of Madagascar, as seen from the Gemini-6 spacecraft. Photo: NASA

READY, FIRE… AIM!

This lively class activity assumes minimal prior political knowledge. With zero warning or opportunity for research, students are required to collaborate and reach some live consensus on value judgments about urgent and complex global issues.

Whatever each student’s level of political engagement in their lives so far, the moment they plunge into the activity they will be confronted with the urgency and relevance of politics on the global stage. Like it or not: they are already in medias res—inextricably embodied and embedded in the thick of the action! The intention here is rapidly to set the frame for students exploring meta-questions about their own relationship to local, national and global politics, as knowers and thinkers.

CLASS ACTIVITY

Jump right into this progressive activity without preliminary discussion.

1. Working alone (4 minutes) 
Think very carefully; then list the 10 most pressing problems in the world.

2. Working in pairs (4 minutes)
[If there is an odd number of students make a triad.]
Students collaborate on combining their lists. There can only be 10 problems on the final collaborative list.  To save time students should simply make edits to, what they mutually decide is, the stronger of the two lists.

3. Keeping pairs intact, working in groups of four (4 minutes)
[If there is an odd number of pairs form a sextet.]
Again students collaborate on combining their lists. There can only be 10 problems on the final list. Again make edits on the strongest list. A spokesperson should be appointed for each group.

4. Working in two large groups (3 minutes)
[Combine intact fours and sextets to make roughly evenly sized groups.]
Again, students argue and collaborate on combining their lists. There can only be 10 problems on the final collaborative list. Again, make edits on the stronger lists. A spokesperson should be appointed for each group. Only the spokespersons can speak at this stage.

5. Whole class initial consolidation. (3 minutes)
For the last time, the same spokespersons collaborate on combining the lists. Again, there can only be 10 problems on this final, whole class list. Non-spokespersons are silent witnesses at this stage. They will have a chance speak later.

6. Whole class holistic discussion
Spokespersons become the silent witnesses for this stage of the activity. Appoint a student to lead this discussion. When the class is settled; write the final list of 10 problems on an erasable whiteboard.  The leader should ask if the class is broadly comfortable with the collaborative list. Then he/she should solicit any “runners up” that were eliminated during the earlier stages of the activity but did not make the list.  Allow 3 “runners up” only. Write them down below the main list. The leader should facilitate ordered discussion to determine whether or not a “runner up” should replace a problem in the main list.


GENERATIVE QUESTIONS

  • What were the constraints for this activity? Did the constraints enhance or detract from getting to a satisfactory final product?

  • To what extent do individuals have the power to resolve any of these problems?

  • Is finding solutions to the problems on your list helped or hindered by political disagreements within countries?

  • Which problems would require nation states to think beyond their borders in order to find collaborative solutions?

  • To what extent is specialized expertise necessary to solve these problems?

  • Did any aspect of religious or indigenous knowledge make the list?

  • So, in your view, what is the single most pressing problem in the world today?