1 - Getting Started ~5 mins
In this lesson you are participating in a real investigation, not a classroom hypothetical. Every collaborative task later in this strand needs a live community issue underneath it. Today you pick one issue that actually exists where you live, in Ireland more widely, or in a community you are part of, and you map who it hits.
A strong investigation is not a rant and it is not a slogan. It names the issue in plain language, then names three groups of people and what specifically changes for each of them, for better or worse.
2 - Key Terms ~5 mins
Three terms carry this lesson. Read the table, then keep them beside you when you write: if a sentence in your investigation could not survive these definitions, rewrite it.
| Term | What it means for you | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Community issue | Your half-page must name one issue that exists outside this classroom, not a private annoyance. Link it to wellbeing, equality, care or the environment. | No safe walking route between a housing estate and the local secondary school |
| Impact | Each of your three groups needs a specific effect, not "they are affected". Say what gets harder, safer, costlier, more limited, or better. | Parents driving 20 minutes each way because the evening bus was cut |
| Stakeholder | Your three groups are stakeholders; later lessons will ask who else has power to respond. | Residents, a local sports club, the county council, shop owners on the main street |
3 - Walkthrough: Aoife's Investigation ~10 mins
Before you write your own note, work through Aoife's sample on the board. Notice the shape: one plain-language issue, three specific groups, a concrete impact for each (including one mixed effect), and a closing line on why this counts as a community issue.
Call out what each beat is doing. You will copy the shape, not the content, when you write your half-page next.
Aoife's Community Issue Investigation
4 - Write Your Community Issue Investigation ~30 mins
Your turn (about 25–30 minutes). Create a new document named Community Issue Investigation in your Strand 2.1 folder (or open it if you already have one). Write a half-page of your own that follows Aoife's shape:
- one real issue you can point at within a bus ride of home (or a wider Irish issue only if you can still name three concrete local groups), linked to wellbeing, equality, care or the environment
- three stakeholder groups, each named specifically (not "the community" or "young people" on its own)
- for each group, one concrete impact, positive, negative or mixed, with a fact, pattern or example underneath it
- one closing line on why this is a community issue rather than a private complaint
If you cannot find a third group, the issue may still be too thin: widen who you look at (workers, carers, businesses, people who benefit from the status quo) before you swap topic.
Keep invented statistics out; use patterns and examples you can stand over. This note is the raw material groups will draw on when the collaborative problem-solving task begins. A vague issue today becomes a stuck group later.
Portfolio entry: Community Issue Investigation in your Strand 2.1 folder. It should show one scoped real-life community issue, three impacted stakeholder groups, and concrete effects for each, ready for later collaborative work in this strand.
5 - Think About It ~5 mins
Talk these through with the person beside you, then decide whether your half-page still needs a fix before you leave.
1. Which of your three groups would be easiest for an outsider to miss, and what would disappear from the investigation if you left them out?
2. Positive and negative impacts both count. Did you make every group only lose out, or did you find someone who gains from how things are now? What does that second group tell you about why the issue has not already been fixed?
If either answer exposes a hole, add one sentence to your Community Issue Investigation document before the period ends.
Unlock the full learning experience
You're previewing this lesson. Get full access to this lesson and hundreds more — each one ready to teach, with interactive activities, printable resources and pupil progress tracking built in.
This lesson is copyright of Coding Ireland 2017 - 2025. Unauthorised use, copying or distribution is not allowed.