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Chapter Four

Hard Stuff is Hard

Part One

Decision-making isn't easy - Even if life is hard, this story is simple.

Read Story Instead

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

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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

How do we solve complex problems and make better decisions? Listen to different perspectives and experiences, like those of Dr. Kerry Bowman. He’s world-renowned ethicist and quite possibly the most interesting man in the world. Kerry took the time to join us in conversation to discuss the art of difficult decision-making.

We’re featuring this podcast across all five Nature Labs subjects. You might not like art, or science, or English, or social studies, but they are all related and by listening to this podcast, hopefully you’ll better understand why.

Reflection

  • What do you think defines good ethics?
  • Do we do a good enough job of considering ethics when we make decisions? Why or why not?
  • When we talk about ethics, do we realize different regions and different people hold different ethical values? How should we weigh different ethical standards when making decisions?
  • What are the social, cultural, economic and biological ramifications of including ethics in our decision-making processes? What are the ramifications if we don't?
  • What role should ethics play in politics? Do we worry too much about the ethics of a politician? Or do we not worry enough?
  • How will you apply lessons learned in this story to this class and your life?
More on Kerry Bowman

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.

The Art of Decision-Making

Think political decisions aren't hard? Try your hand at reaching a consensus agreement between divergent stakeholders.

Hmmm

Policy Investigation

How are decisions made? Explore an existing policy and better understand how it attempted to solve a societal problem.

Investigate

Tariffs

Canada, we have a problem. What is a tariff and how does this affect our economy? What does this mean for the future of our country?

Find out!

Problem Solving

Good decisions don't start with an idea, but rather begin with a focused question that requires solving. * Recommended

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Part Three

HOW DOES THIS CLASS RELATE TO REAL-WORLD ISSUES?

Inquiry Media

Does nature need half?

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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.

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Further Exploration

Latest News

From Minority to Majority

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Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals started with a minority government after the 2025 election but have upgraded to a majority government through floor crossings...
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It’s a Majority

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After tonight’s three by-elections, we can now officially say that Mark Carney and the Liberals have formed a majority government. We’ve already updated our...
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Canada announces new plan to protect biodiversity. Will it work?

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Prime Minister Mark Carney recently released a new $3.8 billion strategy to protect 30% of Canada's lands and waters by 2030, building on Canada’s...
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Resources From the Curated Library

Full recognition of UNDRIP is a necessary step toward reconciliation

Full recognition of UNDRIP is a necessary step toward...

Canada’s Approach to the Treaty-Making Process

Canada’s Approach to the Treaty-Making Process Sub-Category: Global Treaties Source: Parliament of Canada File...

The Legislative Process: Structure of Bills

Bias: none Source: Government of Canada File Type: Resource Overview: The Legislative Process: Structure of Bills Web...

Consultation

Bias: Centre Right Sub-Category: Policy Making Source: Uphere File Type: Article Overview: What does consultation mean in Canada Web...
More From the Curated Library

Additional Resources

Policy Analysis

Social Studies Resources
Creating LawDownload Policy analysis is a process of evaluating and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a particular policy or set of policies, with the...
Read more
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Unit completion

Chapters

Chapter One

The System of Things

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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

Brainstorming to Focus

You are here!

Chapter Eight

Be Better

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Chapter Twelve

The End (of the Beginning)

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