Senenmut's Quest
Jamie Tooze, Tanya Whiting, Lori Jones
Below the Surface: Where Do Ideas Come From?
Exercise 6.1: Take the subject of the last book or news article you read and think of its systematic aspects. Are there objectives? Rules? Procedures? Resources? Conflict? Skills to be learned? Make a list of the the systematic elements of the subject or activity.
For this exercise, our group studied the news. We received inspiration from the following three stories:
What if China fails to contain the coronavirus outbreak?
Objective: To stop the spread of the coronavirus
Rules: If you come in contact with the coronavirus or are from an infected area, you must be quarantined.
Procedure: Isolate the outbreak zone, identify individuals who either have coronavirus or are from an infected area, quarantine said individuals, call for global solidarity and money to help stop the spread of the virus,
Resources: Swab samples, medical supplies, $675M from the US requested by the World Health Organization
Conflict: If China’s efforts to contain the coronavirus fail, the global ramifications could be catastrophic; the consequences of quarantine may have made the situation worse by sowing distrust among public health authorities and making it more logistically hard to get supplies there
Skills to be Learned: critical thinking, collaboration, proper diagnosis techniques, international cooperative skills, budgeting - getting funds from other countries, skills related to emergency response
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Ontario teen finds $30,000, turns it in to police
Objective: To make the right choice when you find a bag of money
Rules: You can turn the money over, contact a lawyer, or quietly keep it. You must avoid being charged with a criminal offense.
Procedure:
Step One: Players find a large sum of money
Step Two: Players choose their course of action. Do they:
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Call their grandma and take the money straight to the police station
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Call an attorney and inquire as to their rights and legal obligations
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Keep the money and use it for their own personal interests
Step Three: Action leads to consequence
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Become a local hero
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Find out if you can keep the money
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Spend the money freely or be criminally charged
Resources: $30,000 cash and cheques
Conflict: Do you keep the money or turn it in? If you keep the money, you could be charged with theft. Is this an ethical and/or legal question?
Skills to be Learned: Core competency skills development around problem solving, social judgement (ethical considerations), and knowledge (federal laws around finding/keeping money)
Police arrest 34 anti-pipeline protesters at Vancouver port as they enforce court injunction
Objective: For the protestors to block access to Coastal Gaslink workers as a way of voicing their opposition to the development of a gas pipeline through the traditional territory of the Wet’suwet’en peoples in Northern B.C.
Rules: Protestors must adhere to the court injunction or they will be arrested
Procedure: Protestors blockade access to the Coastal Gaslink port site at Hastings and Clark by gathering in the roadway and building a fire. They refuse to leave when the text of the injunction is read out.
Resources: Court injunction, Indigenous rights, natural gas, Indian Act
Conflict: Between the RCMP and the protestors who are protesting in support of the Wet’suwet’en people who are trying to stop the development of a gas pipeline in their territory
Skills to be Learned: Conflict resolution, understanding of Indigenous rights in Canada, understanding of territory