Take Action Guide | Girl Scouts

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Think Like a Programmer Journey

Take Action Guide

What’s the difference between a community service project and a

Take Action project?

Community Service makes the world better by addressing a problem “right now.” For example,

collecting cans of food for a food pantry feeds people “right now.” Gathering toys for a homeless

family shelter makes kids happy “right now.” Providing clothing and toiletries to people after a re

or ood helps them “right now.” These acts of kindness are important ways to help people — right

now.

Take Action encourages girls to develop a project that is sustainable. That means that the

problem continues to be addressed, even after the project is over. Sustainability simply means

coming up with a solution that lasts.

For example, girls might want to do something about trash in a local park. If they go to the park

and pick up trash, they’ve solved the problem for today — but there will be more trash to pick up

tomorrow.

Instead, girls could explore why there’s so much trash. Here’s what they might discover:

1. There aren’t enough trash cans in the park.

2. The trash cans are hard to nd.

3. People have to walk out of their way to throw away trash because of where the

cans are placed.

4. People don’t realize the importance of putting trash in the trash cans.

Here’s how girls might address these issues:

• Issues 1 – 3: Make a presentation to the city council to report on their ndings

and suggest adding more trash cans or moving them to more visible or conve-

nient positions.

• Issue 4: Create a public awareness campaign that encourages people to use

the trash cans instead of littering.

• Variation: Older girls may want to design interactive garbage cans that make

tossing your trash fun. Do an online search for “the fun theory” or “the world’s

deepest bin” to see this in action.

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What are the steps of a Take Action project?

Girls team up to:

• Identify a problem

• Come up with a sustainable solution

• Develop a team plan

• Put the plan into action

• Reect on what they learned

Keep It Girl-Led: Girls should actively participate in each step in order for this to be girl-led.

Younger girls will need more guidance, but they can and should decide as a team what problem

they want to address.

How do girls make their project sustainable?

Here are three ways to create sustainable change:

1. Make your solution permanent.

2. Educate and inspire others to be part of the change.

3. Change a rule, regulation or law.

How can I help girls come up with Take Action Ideas?

Next are some specic examples you can use to help girls understand what sustainable

Take Action projects look like.

Keep It Girl-Led: These examples are intended to give a sense of what a Take Action

project could look like. Please do not choose a project from this list for girls to do!

Instead, guide them to brainstorm ideas, get feedback, and come up with a plan. Girls

will learn key leadership skills, such as decision-making, compromise, conict resolu-

tion, and teamwork, when their Take Action project is girl-led.

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Computer Science/STEM Take Action Ideas

Issue: Some girls think computer science is hard or boring or just for boys.

• Solution: Educate and inspire others. Create a girls’ coding club that meets at lunch-

time or recess. Teach other girls how to play with tangrams or learn algorithms by making

functional suncatchers.

Issue: Some kids think computer science is too hard to understand.

• Solution: Educate and inspire others. Make a video to explain algorithms, using fun

examples like baking a cake, planting a ower or giving directions. Show it to your class at

school or to a group of friends.

Issue: More kids need to know that how computer programmers can help others and

make the world a better place

• Solution: Educate and inspire others. Do some research about people who used code to

help others, and then create a video or slideshow to show at your school.

Issue: Not everyone knows about women who changed the world using their knowledge

of computer science.

• Solution: Educate and inspire others. Research the “hidden gures” in your community.

They might be women who have helped shape history, like those portrayed in the movie

Hidden Figures. Or you might want to prole computer science teachers who have made

a difference by mentoring and encouraging girls. You could create a display about their

accomplishments for a library or community center or make a video about them and show

it at school.

Issue: More people need to know how exciting and fun STEM can be.

• Solution 1: Educate and inspire others. Create a list of great books, movies and

documentaries that focus on STEM. Make copies for teachers to hand out or make posters

for the school library.

• Solution 2: Educate and inspire others. Create a short play based on one of the books

and perform it for your class or school.

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Other Ideas for Take Action

Issue: More kids need to know that engineering is a fun, creative way to help others.

• Solution 1: Educate and inspire others. For show-and-tell, explain what you’ve learned

about how engineers help others, then lead a design challenge activity with your class.

• Solution 2: Make it permanent. Partner with a teacher or principal to create an

“engineering space” at school where kids can make prototypes and share ideas for new

inventions. Put out a call for donations of recyclable materials or cheap prototyping

supplies (cardboard boxes, tape, string, paper towel tubes, etc.) to stock the space.

Issue: It’s hard for new students to meet people and make friends at school.

• Solution: Make it permanent. Design and build “buddy benches.” Partner with the school

to have the benches installed on the playground so kids who want to make new friends can

nd each other.

Issue: Parents often run their engines outside the school as they wait to pick up or drop

off their children, which pollutes the air.

• Solution: Change a rule, regulation or law. Make a presentation to the school board or

administrators about why this is a problem and suggest a new rule that makes the pick-up/

drop-off area a “no idling” zone.

Issue: We could conserve water if more people collected rain water and used it to water

plants.

• Solution 1: Make it permanent. Make rain collection devices for family or friends that

can be installed in their yards. Give them a list of different ways to use rain water and how

they’re helping the Earth.

• Solution 2: Educate and inspire others. Create a handout, video tutorial, or show-and-

tell presentation about how to make a rain collection device, how to use rain water and how

that helps the Earth.

Issue: The local park doesn’t have a swing for children with disabilities.

• Solution: Make it permanent. Make a presentation to the city council explaining the

problem and offering to use troop money from the cookie sale to help pay for the swing.

• Extra Inspiration: Do an online search for “How One Brownie Troop Became Social

Entrepreneurs.”)

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Issue: There’s no sidewalk along a street near the elementary school, which makes it

dangerous for children to walk home.

• Solution: Make it permanent. Make a presentation to the city council about the problem

and suggest that they build a sidewalk. (Note: Even if the council doesn’t vote to create

a sidewalk, the girls have earned their Take Action award because they came up with a

sustainable solution and took action through their presentation.)

• Extra Inspiration: Do an online search for “Girl Scout Brownies Convince City Hall to Build

Sidewalk.”

Issue: There have been several accidents at a busy intersection that doesn’t have a

stoplight.

• Solution: Make it permanent. Research the number of accidents and make a

presentation to the city council, asking that they have a stoplight installed.

Issue: The local shelter is having a hard time getting rescue animals adopted.

• Solution: Educate and inspire others. Use your photography skills to create pet

portraits for the shelter’s web site. Use your writing skills to craft heart-warming bios for

each portrait.

Need more ideas?

Check out Girls Changing the World on the GSUSA web site. Girls post their Take Action and

Bronze/Silver/Gold Award projects on this site. You can search by project topic or grade level.

(And after the troop has done their project, please post it so they can inspire other girls!)

exclusively by GSUSA staff, councils, Girl Scout volunteers, service units and/or troops solely in connection with Girl Scouting.

Make your solution permanent.

1. Make and install something outside (benches, bird houses, dog run, ropes course, sensory trail for

children with disabilities, Little Library, etc.)

2. Plant something (buttery garden, tree, wind chime garden, etc.)

3. Make something inside (Maker Space, reading room, etc.)

4. Create a collection (children’s books children’s hospital or family shelter, oral histories for town

museum, etc.)

5. Advocate for building a permanent community improvement (sidewalk, bridge, park, streetlights,

stoplight, etc.)

Educate and inspire others to be part of the change.

6. Do a show-and-tell

7. Create a poster campaign

8. Perform a skit

9. Make a “how to” handout

10. Draw a comic

11. Give a speech

12. Write and perform a song

13. Make an animated movie

14. Make a live-action movie

15. Make a presentation

16. Create a workshop (perhaps in partnership with a local business or organization) to teach a skill

such as coding, camping, canoeing, robotics, sewing, car care, healthy eating, gardening, home

repair, budgeting, etc.

17. Create a workshop to teach others about healthy living (exercise, nutrition, mental health, etc.)

18. Create a social media campaign

19. Make video tutorials to teach a skill

20. Organize an email campaign

21. Organize a petition

22. Organize an event (concert, play, poetry slam, art exhibit, sporting event, eld day) to raise

awareness about an issue

23. Make a “playbook” to help others follow your lead (how to mentor robotics teams, organize a

workshop or event, advocate to city council, create an online petition, change a law, etc.)

24. Make an app that helps people take action on an issue

25. Create a web site

26. Write an op-ed or letter to the editor of a newspaper or magazine

2 7. Start a blog

Change a rule, regulation or law.

28. Make a presentation to your school principal

29. Make a presentation to your school board

30. Make a presentation to your city council

31. Speak up at your representative’s town hall meeting

32. Create an online petition

33. Advocate for a law with your state government

33 Ways to Take Action!