An understanding of the Community Action and Problem Solving Process as a whole will help you, as an educator, better understand how each step can help you accomplish your classroom goals. As your students begin the Process, a comprehensive environmental inventory can lead to a well-defined issue to be addressed and, eventually, more focused research.
Use the following tools to:
- Understand where in your curriculum and teaching responsibilities the Process fits best
- Connect the environmental inventory to your curriculum and standards needs
- Understand how to prepare your students to engage effectively in a project-based learning experience
- Learn about a variety of inventory methods, and the types we recommend
Helpful Step 1 Videos
Get a brief overview of Step One of the Community Action and Problem-Solving Process.
This video will help educators think about how to work the Process into what they are already teaching so that they can plan for a seamless integration.
Three keys to a successful Earth Force Inventory: outdoor experiences, expert input, and using multiple methods of gathering data.
Use this video to introduce Earth Force to your students.
Step One Classroom Resources
A Note on Distance Learning Facilitation: In a distance learning environment, conduct inventories in students’ homes and surrounding outdoor space (if accessible). Earth Force is creating 3 inventories specifically for this purpose in the following topics:
Water Quality
Waste
Flooding Risk
These inventories will include google slides to introduce each topic, an educator instruction accompaniment, and additional digital resources specific to each topic. Please take and adapt as needed to fit your individual needs.
After conducting inventories, use the fillable version of our Root Cause Tree to delve into the underlying community issues of the observations and data collected.
Introduction Material:
Getting Started with Earth Force
Respect Agreement
Environmental Citizen Activity
Attributes of an Environmental Citizen
Inventory Material:
Community Inventory List
Flood Mitigation Inventories
Materials and Set-up – Water Quality Monitoring
Strengths and Concerns List
Getting to the Root Issue:
The 5 Whys Method of Questioning: Why You Need to Ask Why
Identifying Cause and Effect Relationships
Cause and Effect- Example and Organizer
Cause and Effect Tree: An Exercise in Root Cause Analysis
FILLABLE PDF Version: Cause and Effect Tree