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Chapter One

The System of Things

Part One

Why does research and storytelling matter?

Why Nature?

We use nature as a metaphor to help explain your class lesson. Why?

Find out!

Read Story Instead

Prefer reading instead? Here's the text version of your lesson.

Go!

Questions & Activities

Reflect on your lesson with short activities, or by exploring referenced articles, featured podcasts, term definitions, and more!

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Featured Hot Take

Are the big, complex systems in our society important? Can they evolve? Absolutely! Just ask Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell, Canada’s first – and so far only – female prime minister.

We’re featuring this podcast across all five Nature Labs subjects. You might not like every course you take in school, but they are all related. By listening to this podcast, hopefully you’ll better understand why.

Reflection

  • Do you agree that our democracy is fragile? And, if it is, how can we contribute to its health?
  • Should more of us consider running for office, or is it fair to say that politics isn’t for everyone?
  • Is voting during an election all that's required to be a good citizen, or is more required of us?
  • Are too many of us ceding important decisions to a small group of political power brokers?
  • How can we each help advance good policy? How can research and storytelling help?
  • If you could use storytelling to advance one new policy, what would it be and how would you build support for your idea?
More on Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell

Part Two

THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITIES WILL HELP YOU BETTER UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPTS YOU NEED TO LEARN IN THIS CLASS. YOUR TEACHER WILL SELECT WHICH ACTIVITIES YOU NEED TO COMPLETE BELOW.

Truth vs Lie

What do you know? Try to trick your classmates in a friendly game of two truths and a lie.

Begin the trickery

Know the Terms

What terms and concepts will you discover in this unit? Learn and practice, and practice again!

Start

Jeopardy!

The classic game, with a twist. Apply what you have learned so far and compete to win!

What is...

Pinteresting

Create a Pinterest board where you can post ideas and questions that come up during the course. It's like note-taking, but fun!

Pin it!

Discuss

Have a conversation with your classmates to help each other better understand what you'll be learning in this class. * Recommended

Converse

Part Three

HOW DOES THIS CLASS RELATE TO REAL-WORLD ISSUES?

Inquiry Media

Can we save every species?

Go!

Canada at a Crossroads

NEW: Inquiry Media Series

This five-part story will be featured across each of the first five chapters of Nature Labs and will ask students to explore the question of how Canada can protect our economy and sovereignty while still addressing the other challenges of our time.

Go!

Further Exploration

Latest News

Canada at a Crossroads: Decision-Making, Democracy, and the Cost of Inaction (Lesson)

Nature Labs
Based on the story Canada at a Crossroads: Chapter 4 Grade Level: 9–12 Time Required: 80-120 minutes Big Idea: Indecision has consequences. In a democracy, making fair,...
Read more

Canada at a Crossroads: Democracy, Responsibility, and the Choices We Make (Lesson)

Nature Labs
Based on the story Canada at a Crossroads: Chapter 5 Grade Level: 9–12 Time Required: 80-120 minutes Big Idea: Democracy is not self-sustaining. It depends on informed,...
Read more

Everything that could happen next…

News
The Alberta/Ottawa Agreement Meets Another Unity Crisis Following the November 27th memorandum of understanding between the federal government and Alberta, we sat down with Canada's...
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What is Systems Change

How To
Systems change is a process that seeks to reconstruct or evolve an entire system, impacting everyone and everything connected to it. Systems change often...
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What is Design Thinking

Critical Thinking
Design thinking is a problem-solving methodology that focuses on needs and experiences to generate creative solutions. It is a human-centred approach to innovation that...
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Terms

English Resources
It’s important to build a base of knowledge for this class. First, let’s start with a few questions: How do you define storytelling? Why does...
Read more

Resources From the Curated Library

Meet the British Columbians whose names match their lives

Bias: none Source: CBC File Type: Article Overview: Meet the British...

8 Visionary Leadership Examples

8 Visionary Leadership Examples Sub-Category: Leadership Source: Future...

What is Stewardship, and should all great leaders practice it?

Sub-Category: Leadership Source: New York Times File Type: Essay/Analysis Overview: Why...
More From the Curated Library

Additional Resources

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Unit completion

Chapters

Chapter One

The System of Things

You are here!

Chapter Five

Here’s How

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Chapter Nine

Own Your Hypocrisy

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Chapter Two

The Context of It All

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Chapter Six

Your Turn

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Chapter Ten

Keep Going

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Chapter Three

We Don’t Know What We Don’t Know

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Chapter Seven

Dig Deeper

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Chapter Eleven

One Last Thing

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Chapter Four

Hard Stuff is Hard

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Chapter Eight

Be Better

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Chapter Twelve

The End (of the Beginning)

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