Activity One

This activity is intended as an introduction to the key skills introduced in History 20.

Incorporating the C.E.L.s:

Concept Development Lesson for:

Issues
Problem Solving
Dialectical Thinking
Independent Learning

Skills Development

The student will:

Practise the skill of brainstorming.
Learn/practise using personal experience to gain an understanding of a concept.
Learn to use the abilities of:
- problem solving;
- dialectical thinking; and,
- independent learning.

Values Issues

The student will:

Discuss whether a person should handle situations that are frightening, frustrating and unclear by relying on:
- emotion;
- reason;
- power; and/or,
- morality and ethics?

This activity is intended to help students understand that, despite how difficult life's problems and issues might appear, there are methods and approaches that can be used to find solutions for them, and to give the students an overview of the basic skills/abilities they will be studying this year.

Note: This activity and most of the other activities in this guide provide several ideas that can be used in the classroom. It may not be necessary to use all of them or to use them in the order in which they appear. These are only suggestions and ideas that can be adapted and modified for different situations and needs.

Outline of the Activity

Ask the students to make a list of issues, problems, or situations that make them really upset. In order to stimulate their thinking put this stem on the board:
I can really get upset about:

school when ...
my parents when ...
my job when ...
my community when ...
my friends when ...
politics when ...
the environment when I hear ...
etc.

Now ask the students to briefly write down how they handled each situation, and then ask them to categorize each approach using the concepts of emotion, reason, power, or morality/ethics. (See student worksheet for an example.)

Then ask the students to rank each situation according to how well they think they were able to work out the situation.
Ask the students to think about whether there was a relationship between the way they handled the situation and the results they got.
Have a general class discussion around the values issue for this activity.

Ask the students whether they are interested in developing a human rights code for their classroom which would govern human relationships for the remainder of the course. Some things they might consider are:

a list of what they consider to be as the basic rights of everyone in the social unit (classroom);
what the associated responsibilities and obligations are for each right listed; and,
what rights each person believes is necessary for their well-being, and what limitations each person will accept on their freedom to do as they please.

Divide the students into groups and ask each group to come up with a list of basic rights and their related obligations that they would recommend the entire class to accept.

When the students present their ideas, have them sit in a circle while remaining in groups. Each group in turn will present a right and its obligation for the rest of the class to consider. Allow time for discussion and reflection.
Once the suggestion has been carefully considered allow the class to vote on the issue. A voting procedure that might be followed consists of giving students five coloured pieces of paper which indicate:
Green card - expresses complete agreement
with the proposal and indicates active support in enforcing the obligations involved in the right;
Yellow card - expresses support for the
proposal, but doubts whether they would support or enforce the obligations;
Orange card - expresses dislike for the
proposal with no support or enforcement of the obligations, but are not prepared to veto it;
Red card - expresses a veto over the right because they are completely opposed to the right and its obligations.
Note: a veto kills the proposal. Groups should have the opportunity of reconsidering and resubmitting a right for a second vote if it has been vetoed.
Continue the process until the students have outlined a class human rights code that is acceptable to the class.

Step Two

As a way of introducing the four main skills/abilities of this course have your students roleplay a typical marital situation in which decisions have to be made about how to spend money on a major family investment.
Note: Other issues can be assigned:

sports - should fighting be banned from hockey?
environment - should a nuclear industry be established in Saskatchewan?
social - does the "no shoes, no shirt, no service" rule in restaurants infringes on peoples' rights?
moral - what are your duties toward a loved one who is facing a serious illness, is unable to cope and needs help in making decisions?

Divide your students into groups of four with one group of two students playing the wife and the other group of two students playing the husband.

Explain to the groups that they are going to have to deal with some of life's typical "little" problems that all married couples have to deal with.
One problem is that the family car has failed to start one time too often and has a bad habit of "dying" at stop signs.
Another is that the husband and wife team has been lucky enough to win $20,000.00 in a lottery. Both partners' names were on the ticket. Now some decisions have to be made about how to spend the money.
Also point out to them that they are presently living in an apartment and the $20,000.00 would make a nice down payment on a house.

Provide the students with the problem-solving model (see student information sheet) and ask the wife groups and the husband groups to meet separately and, using the problem-solving process, decide how to solve the family's problem.

Have each group develop an argument which, they think, will explain why their particular approach to the problem is the best way to go.
Once this has been completed, have the wife groups meet individually with their husband group to see whether there is any agreement on the approach to be taken.

Provide the students with the dialectical thinking model (see student information sheet) and have them, in separate groups, list the arguments for both points of view on what to do about the problem.

Have the groups meet again and compare notes to see whether both sets of arguments have been stated fairly and honestly.
Suggest to the students that at this stage they should concentrate on finding the "best" solution rather then defending a "personal" solution.

Now distribute the Student Information Sheet: Methods of Testing Viewpoints to See How Good They Are to help students evaluate their arguments.

Ask the students to return to their individual groups and evaluate each argument using the tests in order to decide what conclusion they think is the best one.
Again have the two groups meet and compare their results to see whether there is any agreement between them.

Point out to the students that it is time to make a decision.
Note: You may not wish to proceed with decision making at this point. There will be several opportunities later in the course to deal with it.
The decision-making model (see student information sheet) suggests a review of what has been done so far to see whether anything important has been overlooked before proceeding with a decision.

This is when an individual has to use some common sense to decide if a situation is going the way they would like.
Part of this process is to be clear about your goals and use them as criteria to evaluate how well the decision is working out.

Teacher Information Sheet

Note:

Two major objectives for this course are to help students learn to recognize that their personal life experiences are sources of data and then learn to analyze that data using concepts. One way of doing this is to organize the data using a grid or matrix. Information can be categorized using concepts and then these different categories can be arranged into a classification system using a matrix. Then it is easier for the student to examine the relationships between categories and draw inferences from them. If students have been taught the basic skill prescribed in the revised grade nine and ten social studies curricula, they should have some familiarity with this process.

In this first activity students are being asked to recall some interpersonal crises they have experienced and think about the different ways (conceptual categories) they could have handled that crisis. Then they should think about the consequences of their approach and ask themselves whether other methods would have been better. The matrix is just a way of laying this data out in a patterned fashion so that it is easier to draw conclusions (inferences) about what happened and why it happened.

The analytical grids you will find throughout this activity guide are only a suggested way of organizing data. The most useful thing that can happen in a classroom to develop students' independent learning is for you and your students to collaborate on the development of an analytical system that will serve your needs. It is important to emphasize that these are only tools that can and should be modified until they meet the students' needs. The best outcome would be for students to make their own grids to handle information.

The grid below is partially completed as a way of indicating what might result from this analysis. The material in italics is what a person who fills out the grid might say.

A SCHOOL-related situation which had to be handled.
I work after school and often I don't have time to get my homework done. I was supposed to have this presentation ready for class and I didn't get it ready. So I skipped class that day by pretending to have a serious crisis at work.
What was the main APPROACH you used in dealing with this situation:

an emotional response of some kind?
an attempt to reason things through?
use of power to make something happen?
I chose power with reason as my fall-back position, because a reasonable teacher would have to realize and accept how important my job is.
reliance on a moral or ethical belief?
The CONSEQUENCES of using this approach.
The teacher checked out my story with my parents and then with my boss. So now everyone thinks I am irresponsible. I am really frustrated with being considered a jerk simply because I have job responsibilities.
EVALUATION: How well did it work out?
Terrible; I feel like I am getting no where with my life. I am not getting the marks I need, haven't got enough money to live, and I feel like everyone dislikes what I have to do.

For printing and copying these templates Require Acrobat Reader

Student Work Sheet

A SCHOOL-related situation which had to be handled. What was the main APPROACH you used in dealing with this situation:

an emotional response of some kind?
an attempt to reason things through?
use of power to make something happen?
reliance on a moral or ethical belief?
The CONSEQUENCES of using this approach. EVALUATION: How well did it work out?
A family-related situation What was the main APPROACH you used in dealing with this situation:

an emotional response of some kind?
an attempt to reason things through?
use of power to make something happen?
reliance on a moral or ethical belief?
The CONSEQUENCES of using this approach. EVALUATION: How well did it work out?

A Job-related situation What was the main APPROACH you used in dealing with this situation:

an emotional response of some kind?
an attempt to reason things through?
use of power to make something happen?
reliance on a moral or ethical belief?
The CONSEQUENCES of using this approach. EVALUATION: How well did it work out?
- related situation What was the main APPROACH you used in dealing with this situation:
an emotional response of some kind?
an attempt to reason things through?
use of power to make something happen?
reliance on a moral or ethical belief?
The CONSEQUENCES of using this approach. EVALUATION: How well did it work out?

Student Information Sheet

Marriage

The two of you are married and are going to have to deal with one of life's typical "little" problems that all married couples face.

The problem is that the family's "bucket of bolts" (automobile) has failed to start one time too often and has a bad habit of "dying" at stop signs. You are deeply worried about the long-term future of this car.

You have been lucky enough to win a lottery ($20,000.00 and both your names were on the ticket) and now a decision has to be made about what to do with the money.

You presently live in an apartment with two children under five years of age. The kids find playing in the living room and on the balcony a little cramped. They would like to have a house with a yard to play in.

Hockey

After a major stick swinging brawl, a hockey player has been seriously brain injured. There has been an enormous public reaction and the Government of Canada is under a great deal of pressure to introduce a law that would provide harsh penalties for this kind of behaviour.

The Government has decided to appoint a commission made up of three members: one representing the hockey owners' association, a former Supreme Court Justice, and a person representing the amateur hockey association. The terms of reference for the commission are to investigate the situation and to make recommendations to the Government about controlling violence in hockey.

The hockey owners' association argues that rough play is part of the game of hockey and should not be tampered with. It believes the Government has no business interfering with sport. The hockey owners' association is self-policing, is considering the situation and will make rule changes as needed.

The amateur hockey association representing parents believes that the major hockey leagues have a responsibility to act as role models for young people. Little has been done about violence in hockey beyond talking about it. Presently the youth of Canada are learning from hockey that there are times when violent behaviour is acceptable. The amateur hockey association argues that this double standard can no longer be allowed to continue because it makes a joke of civilized behaviour.

Parenting

You, as prospective parents, eagerly awaited the birth of your second child. You spent hours preparing and picked out a boy's name and a girl's name. The big day finally arrived and after a difficult labour, a baby boy was born. Then your world began to fall apart. The doctors came to tell you that there appeared to be serious problems with the baby. They said it was still too early to be very specific about what the problem was. You were instantly afraid, imagining the worst.

Over the next few days tests and examinations were conducted. The doctors conferred and you hoped. Finally, the doctors came to you and explained that the baby was very seriously brain damaged. They did not yet know the extent of the damage or what it would mean for the baby's future, but they were not very optimistic.

Then it was time for the mother to leave the hospital, but the doctors said that the baby must remain in intensive care for a while longer so they could make more observations. You began to realize that they did not think the baby would ever be going home. By this time, you were seriously wondering whether you had all the information you needed to help this baby. Was there something else that could be done; some new type of treatment perhaps? You wished you knew more about medicine, so that you could be sure everything possible was being done.

Then you learned that the baby was now no longer capable of breathing or eating by itself. Both of these functions were being done by machines. The doctors were now pretty certain that this condition was permanent and that the baby would not survive out of a hospital. You were heartbroken and angry at the same time. How were you going to help this defenceless child who was completely dependent on you?

One day you discovered your four-year-old daughter writing on some papers you considered very important. When you questioned her about why she was doing this, she began to cry and say that you didn't care about her any more. Through her sobs, you heard her say, "All you do is talk about the baby and nobody plays with me or anything. I hate that baby."

You were completely overwhelmed. You knew that your daughter had a point. You had been completely preoccupied with the baby's problems. What were you going to do? How could you balance all these needs and responsibilities?

A SCHOOL-related situation which had to be handled.	What was the main APPROACH you used in dealing with this situation: an emotional response of some kind? an attempt to reason things through? use of power to make something happen? reliance on a moral or ethical belief?	The CONSEQUENCES of using this approach.	EVALUATION: How well did it work out?
A family-related situation	What was the main APPROACH you used in dealing with this situation: an emotional response of some kind? an attempt to reason things through? use of power to make something happen? reliance on a moral or ethical belief?	The CONSEQUENCES of using this approach.	EVALUATION: How well did it work out?
A Job-related situation	What was the main APPROACH you used in dealing with this situation: an emotional response of some kind? an attempt to reason things through? use of power to make something happen? reliance on a moral or ethical belief?	The CONSEQUENCES of using this approach.	EVALUATION: How well did it work out?
- related situation	What was the main APPROACH you used in dealing with this situation: an emotional response of some kind? an attempt to reason things through? use of power to make something happen? reliance on a moral or ethical belief?	The CONSEQUENCES of using this approach.	EVALUATION: How well did it work out?