How do we develop effective strategies and actions to effect social change?
While spontaneous and one-off actions can have impact, most lasting change occurs through intentional strategizing and planning.
This set of scaffolds helps students apply their insights from their coursework and change analysis to map out a viable strategy for action.
Students map out a plan of action to realize their goals. As with the other modules, students can also apply this lens to historical content to investigate how movements brought about change. While history classes usually teach that changes happened, this lens helps students understand how change happens.
Learn more about the Integrated Action Civics framework.
Strategies for Change includes four analytical tools:
From Vision to Realization / Stakeholder Transformation / Develop Change Strategies
From Vision to Realization
How does a movement move from a vision to achieving its goals?
This visual representation identifies three discrete aspects of any strategy in pursuit of a goal for change - Building Awareness, Developing Allies, Applying Pressure. This is a visual representation only, no strategies are associated.
The other strategies in this section scaffold student examination of historical movements for change as well as support student planning and action to influence contemporary issues.
Stakeholder Transformation
How might the stakeholders be mobilized to help realize a goal?
This step asks students to look at each stakeholder and consider how their relationship to an issues would need to shift in order to accomplish a desired change. For each stakeholder, the student asks:
- What is their current relationship to the change process?
- How would we want to see this shift regarding their interest and power?
- What are some possible approaches to realize this shift?
USE THIS STRATEGY
HOW IT WORKS
CLASSROOM RESOURCES
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EXAMPLES
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LEARNING & EMPOWERMENT
INQUIRY EXAMPLES
- Contemporary Analysis / Action - How can the different people and groups' be motivated to help change disciplinary policy at our school?
- Historical Investigation - How were northern white students encouraged to come to Mississippi to support Black voting rights?
CONNECTIONS AND EXTENSIONS
- Stakeholder Matrix - Determine the relationship of different people and groups to the issue as preparation for "Stakeholder Transformation" strategy.
- Stakeholder - Scaffold Set - Use all or some of a series of scaffolds to deeply analyze the role of various stake/rights-holders.
- Develop Change Strategies - Create coherent plan of action
Develop Change Strategies
How do we move from analysis to a plan of action?
This strategy helps students understand how movements create plans (strategize) to effect change. Students draw from their research about the causes of a problem, the locations at which various expressions of power operate, and the stakeholders involved.
This can be applied to historical case studies or to support student civic action projects.
USE THIS STRATEGY
HOW IT WORKS
|
CLASSROOM RESOURCES
|
LEARNING & EMPOWERMENT
INQUIRY EXAMPLES
- Contemporary Analysis / Action - Students set goals, identify stakeholders and brainstorm specific actions that help build awareness, develop allies and apply pressure in pursuit of their chosen goal.
- Historical Investigation - Applied to course content, this strategy helps students organize research about specific social movements to understand how they accomplished their goals.
CONNECTIONS AND EXTENSIONS
- Stakeholder Matrix - Explore who has interests in a solution and who has power to make change.
- Stakeholder Transformation - Brainstorm ways stakeholders might shift in their interests or power.
- Locations of Power - Explore ways power can be expressed in different realms within society.