How are we engaging learners in community-issues problem solving? This week’s TED talk celebrates our own.

Andrew Hennessy – Turning “Lost” Into “Found”

My school faced a problem: An unruly Lost and Found space filled with multiple examples of the same clothing, namely blue fleece cover-ups. My goal was to reinvent the process for labeling, sorting, storing and returning items that get left behind at my school. The solution involved applying a wear-proof QR code that contains critical information used to help reunite the lost item with the owner.  Teachers use a phone based QR app complete with automated parental notification to make the magic happen.

How might we continue to teach community problem solving? What if we teach and learn more about perseverance?

How might we help our learners choose and collaborate projects that they care about?  What if we join a team of learners to discover how the content of our discipline can be used in the process of finding, working on, and solving problems?