Ethics, Justice & Civic Power
Objectives
- D09.S1.08.01 Evaluate a real-world moral dilemma by weighing consequences, duties, and fairness, and defend a reasoned position.
- D09.S1.08.02 Explain how values and moral codes differ across cultures and argue for respectful engagement with those differences.
- D09.S2.08.01 Compare different ideas of justice (such as equal treatment, need, and restitution) and apply them to a real case.
- D09.S2.08.02 Analyze how power and access shape who gets their rights protected and who does not.
- D09.S3.08.01 Analyze a social movement (its goals, strategies, and effects) and evaluate what made it succeed or struggle.
- D09.S3.08.02 Explain how digital tools change civic participation, and weigh the risks and benefits of organizing online.
- D09.S4.08.01 Evaluate a real conflict and weigh peaceful, restorative, and other responses, defending a reasoned choice.
- D09.S4.08.02 Analyze how groups and societies have pursued peace and reconciliation after conflict, using a historical example.
Essential questions
- How do I evaluate a real moral dilemma by weighing consequences, duties, and fairness, and how do values and moral codes differ across cultures?
- How do I compare ideas of justice and see how power and access shape whose rights are protected?
- How do social movements work, how do digital tools change civic participation, and how do people pursue peace and reconciliation after conflict?
Big ideas
- Real dilemmas are weighed with consequences, duties, and fairness, and moral codes differ across cultures in ways that deserve respectful engagement.
- Justice has more than one meaning, and power and access shape whose rights are protected and whose are not.
- Social movements, digital organizing, and peacebuilding are how people act together, with risks and benefits to weigh on every path.
Lessons
- 1 Ethics, Justice & Civic Power: Where We've Been, Where We're Going 50 minutes
- 2 Weighing Consequences, Duties, and Fairness 55 minutes
- 3 Values and Moral Codes Across Cultures 55 minutes
- 4 Three Ideas of Justice: Equal Treatment, Need, and Restitution 55 minutes
- 5 Power and Access: Whose Rights Are Protected? 55 minutes
- 6 How a Social Movement Works: Goals, Strategies, Effects 55 minutes
- 7 Digital Tools and Civic Participation: Risks and Benefits 55 minutes
- 8 Evaluating a Real Conflict: Peaceful, Restorative, and Other Responses 55 minutes
- 9 Peace and Reconciliation After Conflict 55 minutes
- 10 Capstone: Ethics, Justice & Civic Power — Putting It Together 55 minutes
Assessment plan
A reasoned position on a real moral dilemma, a cross-cultural values comparison, a compare-and-apply analysis of ideas of justice, a power-and-access rights analysis, a social-movement evaluation, a digital-participation risk-benefit note, and a conflict-and-reconciliation analysis as portfolio artifacts.
Unit 10 — Ethics, Justice & Civic Power
Overview
This unit turns the questions of the year inward to the self and the group, building on Grade 7’s framework of who is helped, who is harmed, and what is fair toward full evaluation. Learners evaluate a real-world moral dilemma by weighing consequences, duties, and fairness, and defend a reasoned position, and explain how values and moral codes differ across cultures and argue for respectful engagement with those differences. They compare different ideas of justice — equal treatment, need, and restitution — and apply them to a real case, and analyze how power and access shape who gets their rights protected and who does not. They analyze a social movement — its goals, strategies, and effects — and evaluate what made it succeed or struggle, and explain how digital tools change civic participation, weighing the risks and benefits of organizing online. They evaluate a real conflict and weigh peaceful, restorative, and other responses, defending a reasoned choice, and analyze how groups and societies have pursued peace and reconciliation after conflict, using a historical example. Questions are held as questions, never answered as dogma.
Essential questions
- How do I evaluate a real moral dilemma by weighing consequences, duties, and fairness, and how do values and moral codes differ across cultures?
- How do I compare ideas of justice and see how power and access shape whose rights are protected?
- How do social movements work, how do digital tools change civic participation, and how do people pursue peace and reconciliation after conflict?
Lessons
| Lesson | Title | Standards |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Ethics, Justice & Civic Power: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going | D09.S1.08.01–D09.S4.08.02 (preview) |
| 02 | Weighing Consequences, Duties, and Fairness | D09.S1.08.01 |
| 03 | Values and Moral Codes Across Cultures | D09.S1.08.02 |
| 04 | Three Ideas of Justice: Equal Treatment, Need, and Restitution | D09.S2.08.01 |
| 05 | Power and Access: Whose Rights Are Protected? | D09.S2.08.02 |
| 06 | How a Social Movement Works: Goals, Strategies, Effects | D09.S3.08.01 |
| 07 | Digital Tools and Civic Participation: Risks and Benefits | D09.S3.08.02 |
| 08 | Evaluating a Real Conflict: Peaceful, Restorative, and Other Responses | D09.S4.08.01 |
| 09 | Peace and Reconciliation After Conflict | D09.S4.08.02 |
| 10 | Capstone: Ethics, Justice & Civic Power — Putting It Together | all eight D09 grade-8 objectives |