### Title: Problem-Solving and Policy Solutions in University and Society
**Synopsis:** This lesson focused on identifying and analyzing problems within the university and broader society, with an emphasis on understanding the consequences of these problems and brainstorming policy solutions. Students were tasked with refining their understanding of problems identified in a previous session, considering the stakeholders involved, and proposing actionable policy solutions.
### Attendance:
– No specific number of absent students mentioned in the transcript.
### Topics Covered:
1. **Review of Previous Concepts:**
– Problems and Consequences: Reviewed brainstorming session on problems affecting students’ lives and the wider world, with an example of limited library hours affecting student access to resources.
2. **Group Work and Presentations:**
– Problem Identification: Students worked in pairs or groups, sharing and discussing problems and their consequences.
– Presentation of Problems: Groups presented one problem each with two consequences, focusing on issues like mass immigration, traffic jams, hazing in schools, and air quality due to cars.
3. **Policy Solutions:**
– Introduction to Policy Solutions: Explored the concept of policy solutions, defining ‘policy’ and discussing the importance of addressing specific problems with actionable solutions.
– Criteria for Policy Solutions: Discussed four criteria for a good policy solution, including direct actionability, realism, connection to the problem, and stakeholder interests.
– Problem-Solution Exercise: Groups worked on refining problematic solutions to make them actionable and connected to the problems.
### Actionable Items:
– **Understanding Stakeholders:**
– Emphasize the need to consider who is affected by the problems and their interests when proposing solutions.
– **Enforcement of Solutions:**
– Highlight the importance of ensuring that policy solutions can be enforced, especially in contexts where laws are not always followed.
– **Funding for Solutions:**
– Encourage students to consider where funding for their proposed solutions will come from.
### Homework:
– **Problem and Solution Selection:**
– Choose one specific problem to address, detailing the problem, its consequences, its history, and provide a citation or describe where information will be sourced.
– **Solution Proposal:**
– List a specific solution that meets the discussed criteria.
– **Stakeholder Analysis:**
– Identify stakeholders, their interests, and note which interests align or conflict.
– **Submission Guidelines:**
– The problem must be related to the student’s university/school, city, or country, and they should have a direct connection to it.