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Chapter Four

Hard Stuff is Hard

Part One

Lesson Media
  • Watch video (overview of concepts in this chapter)
  • Reflect (activities and discussions)

Part Two

Activities
  • Break down concepts and definitions
  • Test your comprehension
  • Apply your knowledge

Part Three

Inquiry Media
  • Watch video that relates concepts to the real world
  • Reflect and discuss

Part One

Decision-making isn't easy - Even if life is hard, this story is simple.
Chapter 4: HARD STUFF IS HARD
Understanding Canadian stakeholders and policy debates. (Five Parts | 48 mins)
 
  • Part 1: Why problem-solving and decision-making matters (0:00-4:26)
  • Part 2: Understanding stakeholders in Canada’s policy debates (4:26-13:54)
  • Part 3: Understanding regulations and government approval processes (13:54-26:27)
  • Part 4: Consensus-building and problem-solving (26:27-36:54)
  • Part 5: Why political decision-making is hard, featuring ethicist Dr. Kerry Bowman (36:54-48:00)

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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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

Go!

Part Three

HOW DOES THIS CLASS RELATE TO REAL-WORLD ISSUES?

Inquiry Media

Canada at a Crossroads

This five-part story is featured across each of the first five chapters 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!

Alternate Inquiry Media

Looking to explore another topic for student inquiry? Choose from 5 other themes.

Go!

Featured Resources

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
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Unit completion
Chapter Three
Chapter Five