Summary: Students will come across problems and solutions throughout their lives, both on an individual and collective level. Students have a responsibility to create a more sustainable community for future generations. From big to small, students need to have the skills to work collaboratively and think "outside of the box" to develop innovative solutions to real world problems without shifting the burden or undermining their intended purpose.

During the planning phase, we had hoped students would research and issue and develop some sustainable solution. Students learned about how to (1) identify a problem, (2) identify the root causes of a problem and (3) list the effects. We used the problem tree graphic organizer, which was very helpful.

Students chose an issue to focus on. They were asked to focus on a local issue. Students learned APA citation strategies. They would be asked to include a references and annotated bibliography with their paper.

Takeaways:

• We did not have enough time for students to design/ implement a solution;

• Students struggled picking a sustainability issue that was specific enough;

• Expectations for the body paragraphs (causes, impacts, solutions, considerations) asked too much of students to cover with enough depth; informative essay began to drift into an argumentative piece;

• Students were successful in learning about and applying APA citation rules to their writing (in-text citations);

• Students were successful in identifying reliable sources;

• Students were relatively successful in using myBib -- however need more guidance on checking the information pulled from the source;

• Students were relatively successful in choosing which information to cite/ paraphrase/ or summarize;

• Students need more explicit instruction in paraphrasing information from sources;

Action Steps:

• Provide students with a curated list of topics to choose from

• Body paragraphs should center around elaborating on details

• Explicit instruction in synthesizing information from multiple sources

• Scaffolding for paraphrasing information (digital or hard copy/ index cards)

• Time for students to share learning with others (i.e. video; podcast)