The goal of this activity is for students, working individually and as a group, to utilize knowledge from the course, research, and communication skills to suggest solutions or strategies to address a complex problem. This involves critical thinking; written, visual, and oral presentation of material; sharing ideas with peers; and collaborating to find a workable solution. The activity should motivate students to become more interested in sustainability problem-solving because they can explore their individual role/responsibility and because a chosen problem ideally should be connected to their sense of place.

This project is typically used as a longer term and cumulative final project. I used it successfully in my introductory level undergraduate science courses at a Tribal college in Washington State. I found that it worked well in my small classes where assigning an individually-created role for each student was possible. However, I can imagine that, with only a few minor tweaks, it could easily be scaled up for larger classes and more advanced levels. Usually students need about 3 weeks from the time the project is assigned until the time that it is due. I typically gave my students a little class time here and there to talk about it with their group members, but it is mostly an individual project. I used this assignment in my science courses, but this approach could be applicable in any discipline that explores multi-faceted, interdisciplinary issues.

The attached file offers an example of how to set up this project. In the example, the topic concerns industrial hemp production because that is what the class chose to study; their local tribe was actually exploring this option when I taught this class. This particular problem could be easily be swapped out for a problem more relevant to your class but I suggest allowing the students to come up with the problem themselves. You will see a description of the different prompts for different students depending on their role. I picked these specifically based on the interests of my students and they can be tailored to match the needs of your class. Interdisciplinary Problem Solving Project Example (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 18kB Jul19 17)

Students will definitely need additional handouts with an example of the type of flyer they need to create, and grading rubrics for the writing assignment and the final presentation. These have not been included because stipulations vary wildly from class to class and the skill level of the students.

I discovered that the students' presentation to a council or external panel was critically important because it motivated students to show their best work and mimicked what happens in the real world. At Northwest Indian College where I teach, our panel was called a "Tribal Council," because that is the form of local government most relevant to the students who live on the reservation.

At the conclusion of the final presentation to the "tribal council" I ask the students to write a short reflection about their time working on this project individually as well as while working to come to a consensus as a team with regard to possible solutions or alternative strategies to address the problem. This offers the best way to assess the project collectively. As for grading, I graded students individually on the quality of their written paper and 1-page flyer (typically looking at how well they argued for strategies to address the problem from the perspective of their role utilizing relevant research, class material, and critical thinking). I graded the group collectively on their communication between each other and to the "tribal council" during the final presentation (this assesses the important group communication and problem-solving aspect of the project and also serves to be sure everyone in the group speaks and no one person dominates the conversation).