Whole Earth Curriculum WEC

Lesson 01 — Ethics, Justice & Civic Power: Where We've Been, Where We're Going

Learners recall four Grade-7 ideas — who is helped/harmed/what is fair, human rights, how people influence decisions, and restorative steps — and preview this unit's four strands and eight goals. They meet the unit's organizing idea: we weigh dilemmas, compare ideas of justice, study collective action, and pursue peace — and we hold every question as a question, never as dogma.

D09 P4: Contextual & Ecological Awareness D09.S1D09.S2D09.S3D09.S4 50 minutes Draft

Objectives

Essential question

What does it mean to think about right and wrong, fairness, and power — and where is this unit going?

ethicsdilemmajusticerightspowersocial movementreconciliation

Materials

Standard materials

Low-tech / no-cost

Enriched / lab & device

Works in different contexts

A map of the unit showing four strands — moral reasoning and values, fairness justice and rights, civic participation and collective action, and peace conflict and restorative practice — each with two short goals, connected by the words ethics, justice, and civic power
A map of the unit showing four strands — moral reasoning and values, fairness justice and rights, civic participation and collective action, and peace conflict and restorative practice — each with two short goals, connected by the words ethics, justice, and civic power

Lesson 1 — Ethics, Justice & Civic Power: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going

Summary

Learners recall four Grade-7 ideas — the who is helped, who is harmed, what is fair frame, human rights, how people influence decisions, and restorative steps — and preview this unit’s four strands and eight goals. They meet the unit’s organizing idea: we weigh dilemmas, compare ideas of justice, study collective action, and pursue peace — and we hold every question as a question, never as a settled answer.

Objectives

  • Begin to name the unit’s eight goals and see how they trace to the four strands. (D09.S1.08.01–D09.S4.08.02)
  • Recall from Grade 7 the tools we already carry — weighing who is helped and harmed, naming human rights, noticing how people influence decisions, and repairing harm through listening. (builds on D09.S1.07.01, D09.S2.07.02, D09.S3.07.01, D09.S4.07.01)

Connection

Think of the last time you saw something unfair — a line skipped, a voice talked over, a place closed to some people but not others. In that moment you were already doing ethics: you noticed something was wrong, you cared, and you wondered what to do. Ethics is not a subject that lives only in books; it is the everyday habit of asking is this right? who is helped? who is left out? and then deciding how to act. Today we gather the tools we already have and see where they are taking us.

Materials

  • Unit map sheet
  • Recall cards

Preparation

  • Copy the unit map sheet and recall cards.
  • Retrieval: from Grade 7, recall (a) the frame who is helped, who is harmed, what is fair, (b) human rights, (c) how people influence decisions, and (d) restorative steps. Today we link those to the new unit.

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner (“you”). It is the unit’s opening and retrieval pass, so the goals are modest: (1) recall four Grade-7 ideas — the helped/harmed/fair frame (S-001), human rights (S-060, S-149), ways people influence decisions, and restorative steps (S-022, S-161); (2) preview the unit’s four strands — moral reasoning & values, fairness/justice/rights, civic participation & collective action, peace/conflict & restorative practice — and its eight goals; (3) plant the organizing idea: we ask, weigh, and act, and we hold questions open (philosophy §11). Do not try to teach the eight goals today; just name and locate them. The ethics lens: the whole unit is one long practice in weighing what is right. The egalitarianism lens: every question asks who benefits and who is left out. The global lens: the same questions are asked differently in every culture, and none of those ways is the “default” (philosophy §4). The critical-thinking lens: we distinguish evidence from values all year (philosophy §5). Spacing note (S-039): this recall pass is what makes the unit’s ideas stick later. Keep it warm and open — nothing here is a verdict, a ranking, or a creed.

Procedure

  1. Recall (10 min). In a small group, look at four recall cards: helped/harmed/fair, human rights, influence decisions, restorative steps. For each, say in one sentence what you remember from Grade 7.
  2. Connect the four (5 min). What do all four have in common? (Each is about how people decide what is right and act on it — alone and together.)
  3. Meet the map (10 min). Look at the unit map. Four strands: moral reasoning & values, fairness, justice & rights, civic participation & collective action, peace, conflict & restorative practice. Eight goals — two per strand. Read each goal aloud once; don’t worry about understanding them yet.
  4. Plant the big idea (10 min). The unit’s idea in one breath: we ask what is right, weigh it with care, and act with others — and we never pretend the answer is easy or already settled. Say it back in your own words.
  5. Wonder (10 min). Write one question about each strand in the wonder box. Which question do you most want answered by the end of the unit?
  6. Close (5 min). Today we remembered what we know and saw the road ahead. Next: we weigh a real dilemma — consequences, duties, and fairness.

Differentiation

  • Support: Give sentence starters for the recall round (“A right is…”, “To repair harm means…”).
  • Extension: Add a fifth Grade-7 idea of your own and say why it will matter in this unit.

Assessment

  • Formative (observation): Can the learner recall each Grade-7 idea in one sentence and name the unit’s four strands?
  • Artifact: The completed unit map (or the learner’s written recall), kept in the portfolio.

Home connection

Ask someone at home: what is one thing that felt unfair when they were your age, and what did they do about it? Bring the story (no names needed) to the next lesson.

Resources