2.3 Responding to change
Responding to change in the world
The ongoing global pandemic has brought to the forefront of young people's minds that change on a mass scale can happen seemingly overnight. What can we learn from ways 'leaders' have responded locally, nationally and internationally? We want life to return to normal but what might this new normal look like? This series of exercises explore this context but also the implications it has for our mindsets and mental health. What can we do to respond to change and step out confidently and with resilience?
Watch this short video and read through the transcript of Bill Gates talking about responses to pandemics. Discuss whether you think he is a pessimist, realist, pragmatist or optimist. How might this affect what sort of leader he is?
Definitions
pessimist [n]: a person who tends to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen.
realist [n]: a person who accepts a situation as it is and is prepared to deal with it accordingly.
pragmatist [n]: a person who is guided more by practical considerations than by ideals.
optimist [n]: a person who tends to be hopeful and confident about the future or the success of something.
'We all want to return to the way things were before COVID-19. But there's one area where I hope we never go back: Our complacency about pandemics. We can get ahead of infectious-disease outbreaks.
By the next pandemic, I believe we can have what I call mega-testing diagnostic platforms.They can be deployed quickly, cost very little, and test 20% of the entire population every week. We also want to get treatments out far faster next time. One of the most promising is monoclonal antibodies. These manufactured antibodies grab onto the virus and disable it, just like your immune systemand can reduce death rates by as much as 80%.
I also think that we'll develop new vaccines quickly, in large part due to this new mRNA platform. mRNA will become faster to develop, easier to store, and lower cost. That’s a huge breakthrough.
To stop future pandemics quickly, we need to be able to spot disease outbreaks as soon as they happen anywhere in the world. And that requires a global alert system. If there turns out to be some new infectious pathogen, then we need a group of infectious-disease responders to spring into action. Think of these as like pandemic firefighters. They're going to use their logistics, use their ability to build up capacity quickly. They're going to go wherever that problem is. Stopping the next pandemic will require a big investment. But I think of this as the best insurance policy the world could buy.
You can read more about this in our annual letter'.
Bill Gates, 27th January 2021
Worksheet for Critical and Creative thinking exercises (as detailed below)
Critical thinking exercise: Fact check Bill Gates
There is a lot of information here that Bill Gates has used to support his hypotheses about future responses to pandemics. As a class or group, identify where he has made a prediction or presents a hypothesis about the future. Then highlight evidence used by Bill Gates and identify what sort of information he has used. Lastly, find a source you feel supports this information reliably and use the R.A.V.E.N system to check its relevancy and reliability.
Teacher notes for discussion and critical thinking activity
To stop future pandemics quickly, we need to be able to spot disease outbreaks as soon as they happen anywhere in the world. And that requires a global alert system. If there turns out to be some new infectious pathogen, then we need a group of infectious-disease responders to spring into action. Think of these as like pandemic firefighters. They're going to use their logistics, use their ability to build up capacity quickly. They're going to go wherever that problem is. Stopping the next pandemic will require a big investment. But I think of this as the best insurance policy the world could buy.
This is an excellent exercise to prepare students for reflective project research.
Underlined in the passage above are examples where Bill Gates has made predictions or presented hypotheses about the future. Also highlighted above are key words that you might want to draw out in discussion or will be identified by students as a piece of evidence to highlight and fact check. What might emerge from this initial discussion is an exploration of the language of leadership - students can draw out phrases that demonstrate different types of thinking - creative and critical - to present an ethical discussion. Where has he presented something as fact? Where has he envisioned an outcome and how has he done this?
This particular excerpt has been used because of its relevancy to the current context but also because of Bill and Melinda Gates' stance on being optimists. This is so this sequence of exercises can also be developed into an exercise in personal development and positive mindset for students. This is down to the teacher's discretion of the students' needs at the time.
In terms of the fact checking exercise, as detailed in the accompanying worksheet, students should be encouraged to justify their choices of source as well. They are not only exploring the credibility of Gates' ideas but also seeking to find as reliable a source as possible. The context chosen is intentional as it gives the students a platform hopefully to find good quality sources to support the information they have.
As ever, students can be encouraged to present their findings however they choose and do not have to be limited by the suggested table.
Creative thinking and problem solving: What might 'a global alert system' look like?
Taking Gates' ideas as a foundation, create as a group a presentation for what a global alert system for new pandemics could look like. There are various ways of carrying out this exercise as a class as detailed below.
Version 1. Start by mindmapping as a group all the different areas you might have to consider - this is a huge topic so limit yourself to 10 minutes. Create a presentation of no more than 5 minutes for your class on how you would create a global alert system. Listen to each other’s presentations and ask questions. Reflect on the similarity and differences of ideas each group had in your reflective journal.
Version 2. Hold a class discussion to mindmap all the different factors that spring to mind when considering a global alert system. There is not one answer to this and it is a huge conversation. Limit yourselves to 10 minutes. Allocate specific areas to individuals or groups (depending on size) and break off to plan presentations.
Reflection.
Create four statements in your journal about the current global context that represent the views of a pessimist, realist, pragmatist and optimist. Which one represents most how your naturally are inclined to think? What effect on your mindset does each statement have? What does being an optimist look like?
Teacher notes on creative thinking exercise
The idea behind this exercise is how combining positivity plus action creates a healthy, resilient mindset. See Personal Development with Tom Rivett-Carnac's TED talk on 'Stubborn Optimism and Change' to support this further.
The two versions of the creative thinking exercise are included as class sizes vary. They also represent the different outcomes that you might desire from the activity. You might want students to identify commonality and difference of ideas and debate different approaches that they took. Equally you might want to create a team of problem-solvers that work together on a dilemma. Both ways demonstrate that there is not one approach to this. In both cases, it is a good opportunity to reflect not just on the outcome of this exercise but also the process they went through to come up with their ideas; again a very good simulation of the reflective project process where they will have to support the research and analytical process they go through with the RPPF.