Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Designing SUSTAIN-The questions

At the beginning of December 2011, a mixed group of community members, students and faculty got together for the third design meeting for the SUSTAIN launch. They created a sticky wall of questions that they are asking as part of SUSTAIN.

There questions fell in four categories and are presented here:



Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical World

Cultures
How would you measure the wealth of a nation?
Is the "free market" worth promoting?
How do people , acting individually or collectively, effect or resist change?
What is community?
Are you concerned about large gaps in income and wealth? If so, why?
Is marginal analysis real and applicable for today's problems?

Sustainability & the physical world
How exactly do we define sustainability?
What does it mean to live sustainably?
How do we live sustainable in a world/economy designed for infinite growth?
What does it mean "to sustain"?
What is the nature of energy?
Rotational momentum: Can we see it everyday and analyze?
Are "sustainability" and "choice" compatible?
How does concern for community meaningfully enter economic theory?

Intellectual and Practical Skills

Teamwork
How do I/we succeed at this?
How do you start a team project?
How do you successfully manage chaos/ambiguity in a team task?
How do establish goals or objectives for our activities?
What is the role of design in our lives?
How are you a designer?

Communication
What is the nature of effective communication?
What does that structure of a speech look like?
How do we learn to use our voice?
How do you make decisions about form/organization for a reader?
How can identity be questioned/discussed without being threatened?

Integrative Learning
How do we learn to make, defend, and suffer for our models?
How do I (a sustain student) find the resources to solve a problem effectively with my specific learning style?
What does "general" mean in "general education?"  What is its role in our learning?
What does a learner look/act like?   A teacher?
How do I/we learn?
Is it really possible to put a label on the type of learner someone is?
How do we experiment with our lives in order to learn?
How does learning "task" relate to long term life/career skill?
How can critical thinking be learned?
How can we make this a comment of learning? 

Individual and social responsibilities

Existential questions
What does love look like?
Wh does this matter?
What does it matter today?
Why did it matter yesterday?
What is necessary?
What is the role of play & the playful in our life?
Why are poor people poor?
What is the importance of creativity & imagination?
How do you determine the value of people and commodities?

Questions about self
Do you like to write?
Describe your core values & beliefs. Provide an example of how these values and beliefs influence your conclusions
How do you find out what you think? (access your own ideas)
Is your process working for you?
What do i want?
How do you decide how to spend your time?
What is the value of my awareness of the quality of my connection to the topic at hand?
How do you respond to stuckness or failure?

Questions on relationship between self and society
How do we perceive our surroundings & ourselves in our surroundings?
How does society impact our actions & vice versa?
What role does profit/materialism play in the topics we teach? Value?
What universal need is my topic of study meeting?
What is my relationship to energy?
What are things you can do to protect your credibility?

Questions about citizens' role in social change
What is the future I/we imagine/assume?
What is the change you would like to see in the world ? Be the change
What is accomplishment?  How?
How can we empower students globally?

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