---
title: "Identifying Knowledge in the Community"
description: "Small groups write different forms of personal, cultural, and formal knowledge onto color-coded paper shapes, assemble them into shared knowledge trees, and examine how communities value different ways of knowing."
last_updated: "2026-09-07"
canonical: "https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/5-identifying-knowledge-in-the-community/"
---

# Identifying Knowledge in the Community

Small groups write different forms of personal, cultural, and formal knowledge onto color-coded paper shapes, assemble them into shared knowledge trees, and examine how communities value different ways of knowing.

**Time:** 60 minutes. Collaborative Discussion Project source allocates 60 minutes across four phases. Tuned to 15, 10, 20, and 15 minutes to allow sufficient collaborative construction time.
**People:** 4 to 24. Small groups of 3 to 6 people. Form groups evenly: for 4 to 6 people, 1 group; for 7 people, 3+4; for 8, 4+4; for 9, 3+3+3; for 10, 5+5; for 11, 4+4+3; for 12, 4+4+4; for 13, 5+4+4; for 14, 5+5+4; for 15, 5+5+5; for 16, 4+4+4+4; for 17, 5+4+4+4; for 18, 5+5+4+4; for 19, 4+4+4+4+3; for 20, 5+5+5+5; for 21, 6+5+5+5; for 22, 6+6+5+5; for 23, 5+5+5+4+4; for 24, 6+6+6+6.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Map diverse sources of knowledge across a group and examine how different forms of knowing are recognized and valued.
**Use it when:** Use when launching a community project, civic cohort, or collaborative team where participants need to surface experiential, practical, and cultural skills alongside formal credentials.
**Skip it when:** Skip when the session demands rapid operational problem solving, strict technical analysis, or when participants lack time for hands-on visual construction.

## Materials and tools

- 1 large poster board or butcher paper sheet per small group
- 1 roll of masking tape or painter tape per small group
- 1 pack of markers per small group
- 1 pair of scissors per small group
- Orange or brown paper strips for roots (5 to 8 per person)
- Pink paper strips for stems and trunk (3 to 5 per person)
- Blue paper strips for branches (5 to 8 per person)
- Green leaf-shaped cutouts for leaves (5 to 8 per person)
- Yellow paper circles for buds (2 to 3 per person)
- Digital whiteboard template for remote or hybrid cohorts
- 1 digital countdown timer

## Before participants arrive

1. Pre-cut or set out colored paper shapes at each work table: orange/brown strips, pink strips, blue strips, green leaves, and yellow circles.
2. Tape one large sheet of poster board or butcher paper at each small-group station.
3. Post the shape legend visibly on a central whiteboard: Orange/Brown strips = family and socialization roots; Pink strips = school and formal stems or trunk; Blue strips = lived experience branches; Green leaf-shaped cutouts = nature and environment leaves; Yellow paper circles = future learning buds.
4. For remote or hybrid cohorts, prepare digital whiteboard frames containing a tree trunk outline, pre-colored digital sticky notes matching the legend, and the written shape legend posted directly on each workspace frame.

## Say this to open

We often equate knowledge strictly with academic degrees or professional titles. Today we will map the wider knowledge base present in this room. You will write different things you know onto colored shapes representing roots, stems or trunk, branches, leaves, and buds, then combine them into a single collective knowledge tree with your group.

## How to run it

### 1. Introduce and discuss knowledge types (15 minutes)

Say the opening script (2 minutes). Read the prompt questions aloud: What counts as knowledge versus information or wisdom? Where does your knowledge come from? Who holds deep knowledge in your life? Give participants 3 minutes of quiet individual reflection. Then spend 10 minutes facilitating a whole-room conversation, taking up to 6 brief volunteer reflections of 60 to 90 seconds each. Remote participants may speak via microphone or submit reflections in the main chat for the facilitator to read aloud.

### 2. Write knowledge on individual shapes (10 minutes)

Participants work individually to write specific skills, insights, or traditions onto their shapes. Aim to fill 2 to 4 shapes of each color based on what you want to share. For instance: a family tradition on an orange root, a research method on a pink stem, navigating public transit on a blue branch, herbal remedies on a green leaf, and a desired skill on a yellow bud. Participants choose what to share and may keep sensitive personal details private.

### 3. Assemble collective knowledge trees (20 minutes)

In small groups, participants share their shapes and tape them onto their poster paper to assemble a collective tree. Teams negotiate their layout together, using pink strips for the trunk or stems and deciding which knowledge forms the roots, trunk, branches, leaves, and buds. In-person groups tape their posters to the wall when finished. Remote groups ensure their digital frames are positioned on the shared canvas and marked ready for the gallery walk.

### 4. Tour trees and debrief (15 minutes)

Give participants 4 minutes to conduct a gallery walk to view all trees. For remote groups, share the digital canvas or pan across group frames. Regather the full room. Invite one spokesperson from each team (up to 6 teams, maximum 60 seconds each) to summarize their tree foundation. Use the remaining 5 minutes to take 2 or 3 responses to a selected debrief question.


## Debrief questions

- How did your group decide what forms the roots versus the branches of your tree?
- How do the knowledge types highlighted on these trees compare to what formal institutions or workplaces typically reward?
- What is one unexpected source of knowledge you noticed on another group's tree?

**Finished output:** Physical or digital community knowledge tree posters documenting group members' collective skills and learning sources.

## Remote

Run in an online whiteboard tool. Provide breakout frames containing a tree background, the shape legend, and color-coded sticky notes. Participants write notes individually, then collaborate in breakout rooms of 3 to 6 to arrange them onto their tree. During the gallery walk, participants pan freely across all frames while one representative per room presents over the main audio channel.

## Hybrid

In-person participants assemble physical wall posters while remote participants work in a dedicated video breakout room on a shared digital whiteboard. During the gallery walk, project the digital tree onto the physical room display and aim a camera or upload photos of physical posters to the digital board so remote participants can examine them.

## Access and participation choices

- Provide pre-cut paper shapes and broad-tip markers to reduce fine motor strain.
- Participants may record single words, sketches, or general categories instead of personal narratives.
- Anyone may participate by sorting, grouping, or pasting shapes without disclosing personal or family background.

## If the session gets stuck

**Participants stall while debating whether a specific skill belongs in roots, trunk, or branches.**

Remind the group that botanical categories are metaphorical. Teams can bridge categories or place shapes across border lines.

**A group lists only formal educational credentials and struggles to identify everyday knowledge.**

Prompt them with everyday examples such as caregiving, home repair, neighborhood navigation, cooking, bilingual translation, or community organizing.


## Terms used here

- Knowledge tree: A visual diagram mapping different skills, wisdom, and life experience into plant parts such as roots, trunk or stems, branches, leaves, and buds.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in the Collaborative Discussion Project curriculum under module 5.5, 'Identifying Knowledge in the Community'.

Retained the botanical color-coding schema and 4-step sequence from the Collaborative Discussion Project. Clarified that pink strips represent both stems and trunk structure. Added explicit shape labels in the setup legend and target shape counts in Step 2. Provided exact math rules for all participant counts between 4 and 24 to maintain small groups of 3 to 6. Added hybrid camera handoff rules, explicit remote speaking and chat mechanisms in Step 1, and digital completion steps in Step 3.

[Collaborative Discussion Project](https://www.collaborativediscussionproject.com/items-1/55identifyingtheknowledgeofthecommunity)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/5-identifying-knowledge-in-the-community/