Project journey

The starting point of scientific research at Solve for Tomorrow is to understand the local challenges to be solved. Empathy is the foundation for this understanding, as by connecting deeply with the needs of others and the challenges of our communities, we have more opportunities to find a real and lasting solution. In this sense, it is time to research, talk to people, observe and delve into the experience of others on topics and issues that affect them.

Community Problem Mapping

Finding a problem to solve can be as simple as looking at the world around us. Global issues have an impact and can manifest themselves in local issues. To find them, it is necessary to identify the social, economic, and environmental challenges that affect people’s daily lives. Our neighbor is having a problem or our community is trying to solve a challenge. As a team, it’s important to come together to map and identify challenges, whose solutions feel relevant and important to everyone.

To organize the teams

With the general idea and context well understood, it’s time to organize the roles and responsibilities of each one, identifying the aptitudes and interests of those involved. The same issue can mobilize more than one group in the school, acting in a systemic and integrated way to face the identified problem!

To plan the work

With the team mobilized to think of a solution to the problem, it is time to organize a collective and collaborative stage by stage of the activities, listing the actions to be developed, those responsible, deadlines, and necessary resources.

Listening to the community

It is essential to listen to and understand the voice of the community involved with the issue to be addressed or benefited from the solution to be developed. Also called primary data, information from the community can be collected in focus groups, conversation circles, interviews, and questionnaires.

As a second stage in the process, Solve for Tomorrow proposes an in-depth analysis of the identified challenge. This means both qualifying the question verified in the previous stage and understanding how much and how the knowledge produced by humanity has already advanced to answer it.

To define the problem

To better understand and systemically analyze the challenge defined by the group, it is time to delve into its complexity, looking at the causes or relationships that affect it, as well as its environmental, political, social, and economic consequences, etc. During this analysis, it is also worth mapping existing solutions to the challenge. This action requires a review of the literature on the subject and in-depth discussions in the group based on quality information.

To conduct research

It is necessary to understand how the identified phenomenon or challenge behaves in the community. That is, investigating available databases – also called secondary surveys – supports the delimitation and understanding of how the identified issue is expressed in the community.

Deepening with the community

With the needs raised in stage 1, it is interesting to go back to the community to understand in greater depth the identified issue or even raise possible solutions or elements that should compose the identified solutions.

To review the findings

At this stage, it is important to return to the findings and systematization of the first stage of the journey. Returning to what was documented in the interviews, observations and preliminary studies is important to identify patterns and organize the different perspectives raised on the challenge.

Once the problem has been defined, it is time to visualize concrete solutions, imagine and draw paths, as well as conduct experiments and tests.

Thinking about solutions

Having identified and delimited the problem, the group must discuss and organize possible solutions following what was systematized in the research process and consultations conducted. Usually, complex problems have multiple answers or varied answers that must act in an integrated way. Therefore, it is important that the team discuss the possible journeys, how they relate to each other, and directly to the question to be answered.

To develop the idea

Based on the survey of possible solutions, the group must return to the initial planning and identify the paths for the construction of its authorial answer. The idea is that young people can choose and establish the stages to obtain the proposed objectives, even recognizing the limitations of the study or project in question.

In this phase, the goal is to make the solution tangible and real to share and validate it with the community. By sharing the prototype, it is possible to assess whether or not it responds to the problem to be solved and, also, to learn from the feedback/returns.

Prototyping

With the rationale established for the project, it’s time to get your hands dirty! Based on the literature studied in collective planning and ideation processes, the team must design its prototype or Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Following its etymological origin; from the Greek protos (first) and typos (type), the prototype is nothing more than a first exercise in concretizing the solution.

To validate the prototype

Usually, innovative solutions are constructions that require refinement and qualification. Therefore, the prototype can and should be revisited and tested under different conditions. To ensure a truly viable and adequate MVP in response to the problem encountered, it is important to consider improving the prototype.

A structuring part of a project or initiative is precisely its purpose; that is, to understand if the proposal worked and what are the lessons learned from its realization. The prototype represents the best product to date, therefore, putting it to the test, and presenting it to the community, allows us to see flaws and/or challenges that have not been identified so far. These test presentations also allow to see the proposed solution come to life!

Presenting results and analysis to the target audience (and other audiences of interest)

Fundamental in the conception of Project Based Learning (PBL), the feedback on what was developed in the project, as well as the presentation of the prototype, is an important action for implementation of the team’s learning process. Listening to community feedback allows not only to celebrate achievements but also to identify points of improvement to be undertaken in the future on the prototype.

Evaluating learning

Even in contexts outside regular class hours, it is essential that everyone can share their learning, identifying both individual and collective achievements as well as challenges. Establishing rubrics or indicators can help the group understand its progress and areas for improvement, both in terms of curriculum content and in terms of soft skills.