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G5-6 Text Set: Young Problem Solvers

Alex Knoll created an app to help people with disabilities. COURTESY ALEXANDER KNOLL

Young people will be the next generation of leaders and change-makers. But many don’t wait until they are in positions of power to take action. These innovative minds search for and create solutions to the problems they see around them. This text set explores young people who research, invent, or speak out to solve problems.

Essential Questions

1. Whose responsibility is it to solve problems in the world?

2. How can young people make an impact on their community? How can they impact the world?

3. What inspires young people to take action?

4. Why is it important for young people to be involved in finding solutions?

Click here for full PDF guide to this text set.

Paired Text

Technology

Robotics Champions

November 8, 2019

A large international robotics contest, the FIRST Global Challenge, took place from October 24 to 27 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Youth from 191 countries participated. Contestants were challenged with finding high-tech solutions to the problem of ocean pollution. Each…

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Kid Heroes for the Planet

April 11, 2019

Earth Day is April 22. On this day, people around the world focus on environmental issues. But you don’t have to wait for Earth Day to take action. You can improve our planet every day of the year. TIME for…

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8 Questions for Evan Barnard

February 14, 2019

When he was a kid, Evan Barnard, now 19, learned that someone had damaged a Braille nature trail. People who are blind or have low vision use these trails to explore nature. Barnard helped fix the trail. Then he set…

Technology

Bodybuilding

October 23, 2017

In 2013, at 27, farmer Jake Hubbard of Chana, Illinois, lost his left hand in an accident. Recently, a group of eighth graders at nearby Rochelle Middle School came to his aid. As part of a STEM project, they helped…

Audio
Video
Spanish

Technology

Helping Others

September 6, 2017

If you see a problem, you should find a solution. That is what Alex Knoll, 12, of Post Falls, Idaho, believes. So when he noticed a man struggling to open a heavy door from a wheelchair, Alex’s brain started buzzing.…

Video

Time Off

Soap Club

January 20, 2017

A nonprofit group uses recycled soap from hotels to improve the lives of people in Cambodia. Samir Lakhani was in college when he first visited Cambodia, a nation in Southeast Asia. The trip changed his life. In a remote village,…

Audio
Video
Spanish

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