Whole Earth Curriculum WEC

Lesson 02 — Weighing Consequences, Duties, and Fairness

Learners meet three lenses for weighing a moral dilemma — consequences, duties, and fairness — see a worked example, and then weigh two more dilemmas themselves, defending a reasoned position in writing and talk. The three lenses are tools for thinking, not a formula that yields one "correct" answer.

D09 P4: Contextual & Ecological Awareness D09.S1 55 minutes Draft

Objectives

Essential question

How do I evaluate a real moral dilemma by weighing consequences, duties, and fairness — and defend my position with reasons?

dilemmaconsequencedutyfairnessreasoned position

Materials

Standard materials

Low-tech / no-cost

Enriched / lab & device

Works in different contexts

A triangle with three labeled boxes at its corners — consequences, duties, and fairness — and a question mark in the center where the three lenses meet to weigh a dilemma
A triangle with three labeled boxes at its corners — consequences, duties, and fairness — and a question mark in the center where the three lenses meet to weigh a dilemma

Lesson 2 — Weighing Consequences, Duties, and Fairness

Summary

Learners meet three lenses for weighing a moral dilemma — consequences, duties, and fairness — study a worked example, and then weigh two more dilemmas themselves, defending a reasoned position in writing and talk. The three lenses are tools for thinking, not a machine that prints one “correct” answer.

Objectives

  • Evaluate a real-world moral dilemma by weighing consequences, duties, and fairness, and defend a reasoned position. (D09.S1.08.01)

Connection

You find a wallet on the ground with money in it and a name inside. No one is watching. What do you do? Almost everyone feels the pull of several answers at once — keep it (no one would know), return it (it belongs to someone), give it to an adult (let someone else decide). That pull is the heart of ethics: a real dilemma is not a choice between good and evil but between two or more good-seeming things that cannot all be done. Today you learn three lenses for looking at such a moment clearly before you decide.

Materials

  • Dilemma cards
  • Three-lens chart

Preparation

  • Copy the dilemma cards and three-lens charts.
  • Prepare three short dilemmas (see the worked example and practice list below). Choose ones a learner can recognize from ordinary life — school, family, neighborhood, public space — so no learner needs special knowledge to enter the conversation.

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner. It introduces the unit’s first skill — weighing a dilemma with three lenses — so it uses a worked example and guided practice before independent work (S-011; Kirschner, Sweller & Clark, 2006). The three lenses map onto long-standing ethical traditions: consequences (what happens to everyone affected — consequentialism, S-386), duties (what I owe — deontology, S-387), and fairness (who gets what and who is left out — distributive justice, S-388). Do not present these as rival “teams” to pick from; present them as three questions to ask together, because most careful judgments draw on all three. This honors philosophy §11 (inquiry, not creed) and philosophy §5 (distinguish evidence from values): the lenses describe ways of reasoning, not a ranking of what is right. The egalitarianism lens lives inside the fairness question: always ask who is left out. The ethics lens is the whole lesson. Keep the climate safe: no learner’s answer is judged; the standard is does your reason hold up and do you hear other reasons. A learner who weighs only one lens is not wrong — invite them to try a second lens, never shame them (mastery, not ranking).

Procedure

  1. Meet the three lenses (10 min). Look at the three-lens chart. Three questions to ask of any dilemma:
    • Consequences — what will happen to everyone affected, now and later?
    • Duties — what do I owe others — honesty, keeping promises, care?
    • Fairness — who gets what? is anyone left out or harmed?
  2. Worked example (12 min). Watch and listen as we weigh a first dilemma together. Dilemma: a friend asks you to lie to a teacher about where they were, to keep them out of trouble.
    • Consequences: the lie might save your friend trouble now, but it could harm trust later, and hurt the person lied about.
    • Duties: you owe honesty to the teacher and care to your friend — two duties pull against each other.
    • Fairness: is it fair to the teacher, or to others who follow the rules, to be deceived? Then hear the position: “I would not lie, because honesty matters and the lie would quietly hurt trust — but I would stand with my friend and help them face it.” Notice: a reasoned position gives reasons, and it can be challenged.
  3. Guided practice (13 min). In pairs, weigh a second dilemma aloud: you find money in the library with no name on it. Fill the three columns together, then each say one position and one reason.
  4. Independent weigh (12 min). Choose a third dilemma from the cards — a scarce resource must be divided among people with unequal need. Weigh all three lenses on your own chart, then write a four-sentence position: what you would do, and one reason from each lens.
  5. Feedback and revisit (5 min). Trade charts with a partner. Ask: does their position give a reason from each lens? If a lens is missing, say so kindly, and they try again.
  6. Close (3 min). The three lenses are not a tie-breaker that always agrees with itself — they are a way to see more clearly. Next: how values and moral codes differ across cultures.

Differentiation

  • Support: Provide sentence starters (“The consequence of this is…”, “My duty here is…”, “It is fair/unfair because…”).
  • Extension: Write the strongest counterargument to your own position, then answer it in one sentence.

Assessment

  • Formative (self/peer): Does the learner’s written position give a reason from consequences, duties, and fairness, and can they defend it when a peer questions it?
  • Artifact: The completed three-lens chart and the four-sentence position, kept in the portfolio.

Home connection

Tell someone at home about a small dilemma you faced this week and weigh it out loud with the three lenses. Ask them: which lens do they lean on first, and why?

Resources