Involving Youth in the Planning Process
9 Planning Steps
Creating Successful Projects
- Age Appropriate Practices
- Connecting with Youth
- Tips for Success
9 PLANNING STEPS - STEP 1
Understand the opportunity or problem
Example |
Ways to involve youth |
Considerations |
Service Learning Project – plan a student project for a green space located near the school |
Do a front-end needs assessment |
It is important to understand the problem or opportunity from the perspective of young people; to help young people see how the project relates to them; and to make sure that the project is important and relevant to the young people involved.
|
Additional Considerations
Gather baseline information to document the problem. The baseline information should be quantifiable so you can revisit and see your impact at the end of the project.
Examples:
Currently, our school has 50 pounds of trash every day and no recycling.
Currently, only 10% of students walk to school.
Currently, 90% of students at our school have never visited a wetland.
Source: RMC Research Corporation. K-12 Service-Learning Project Planning Toolkit. Scotts Valley, CA: National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, 2006/2009. www.servicelearning.org/library/resource/8542
A Needs Assessment is a way to seek opinions on things such as: what is currently happening; what people would like to see happen; how someone feels about what is happening; what someone feels is causing the current situation; and what someone feels might be a solution.
There are five different Needs Assessment Question Types that could be used when doing a front end needs assessment:
Type 1 Questions
Seek a general picture of the situation. What’s going on? What do you wish was occurring? Is there a gap between what’s happening and what you’d like to see happening?
Example
What do you think you know about [name of the green space]?
(check all that apply)
__I know nothing about [name of the green space].
__I know something about [name of the green space].
__I could define a green space.
__I could name three things that young people can do at [name of the green space].
__I’m not sure what I know or could do.
Type 2 Questions
Seek a detailed picture of the situation. Describe in detail what’s occurring.
Example
How many times each year do you visit [name of the green space]? (check one)
__none
__one or two
__more than two
Type 3 Questions
Provide proof of what the young person knows or can do. Test them.
Example
Write (in your own words) why young people would benefit from visiting [name of the green space].
Type 4 Questions
Seek feelings. How do young feel about the subject? Ask for:
feelings about the topic or subject
feelings about instruction regarding the topic
perceptions of topic as a priority in relation to other topics
confidence in their ability to grasp the topic or skill
Example
How do you feel about being here right now? (check one)
__I’m happy about it.
__I’m not happy about it.
__I feel something different.
__I’m not sure what I feel.
Type 5 Questions
Seek the causes of the gap between actual and optimal. What is creating or contributing to the discrepancy?
Example
If you have never visited the [name of the green space], why??
(check all that apply)
__I don’t have a way to get there.
__I have never had a reason to visit.
__I don’t have the time.
__My family / friends don’t support me visiting it.
__I have other reason(s).
Source: “Introduction to Program Evaluation with Quick & Easy Techniques” workshop documents prepared by Chris Parsons, www.word-craft.com, July 2008.
Additional Resource: Rossett, Allison, 1987: Training Needs Assessment.
How to do a “Picture Sort” with Youth
Case Study: Nevada Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights
The first step in creating the Nevada Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights was to seek input from youth – what types of outdoor activities would young people want included in the Bill of Rights?
After giving a brief introduction to the idea that there are inspiring natural and cultural treasures and that experiencing these are important, the adult facilitator explained what a Bill of Rights is, and that a group in Nevada planned to create a Children’s Bill of Rights for experiences in the outdoors.
To do the “Picture Sort,” the young participants were given a stack of photographs of people engaged in a variety of outdoor recreation activities, including hiking, biking, snow-sledding, swimming, playing soccer, looking through binoculars, etc. The youth worked in small groups to sort the pictures, first choosing their top three favorites. A facilitator with each group then recorded responses to these questions: why did you choose these pictures? What has your experience been? What pictures do you feel are missing?
The answers were recorded, and the input was reflected in the final Nevada Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights.
There are several reasons why the “Picture Sort” was a good approach for gathering input. A photograph can show what you mean in a more effective and concrete way than a written description. And, even if a child does not have experience with an activity, they can easily relate to the activity and even imagine doing the activity after seeing someone else do an activity in a photograph.
Engaging in a Community Mapping Activity
In this type of activity, the students walk through the community using a set of questions to guide their observations. They note what is going on in the environment (Are the sidewalks or pathways littered? Does the green space look inviting? In what ways are communities using the green space now? Do children use the space – how? Are there community agencies that manage the green space – what are the issues they see? Are there homeless people sleeping on benches? Are there barriers to the community using the green space?). Community mapping activities often lead to selection of issues such as working with the environment, the homeless, senior citizens, hospitals, and other agencies that are in the neighborhood. Some people use a school mapping activity with younger children, where they investigate the issues around the school, such as how the outside of the school looks (walls, cafeteria, etc.) and discover that they may wish to engage in recycling or school beautification.
Source: RMC Research Corporation. K-12 Service-Learning Project Planning Toolkit. Scotts Valley, CA: National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, 2006/2009. www.servicelearning.org/library/resource/8542