CGW4U
World Issues: A Geographic Analysis
Unit 1: Understanding World Issues
Activity 4: What process can we use to understand complex world issues?
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
Curiosity is good! It is how we have ended up with wonderful treats like chocolate covered jujubes and s’mores. Someone had to wonder about what could improve a plain jujube, or a melted marshmallow.
Have you ever been near a little child who is asking question, after question, after question? We are all born curious. According to Ian Leslie, author of Curious: The desire to know and how your future depends on it, for most people, curiosity is formed when there is an information gap; we know something but realize that there is more to be known, so the more you WANT to know! Leslie believes that if we don’t use our curiosity we will “lose it.”
How critical is this idea for students of world issues? The truth of it though, is that learning and fostering curiosity can be hard work and it is at the very core of studying world issues. We must develop and then focus our curiosity.
Curiosity will solve the geographic mystery of the formation of the giant sinkholes in Siberia Russia.
At the end of the clip you heard the narrator suggesting possible explanations (OK maybe not aliens!). This is where a geographic inquiry process could begin.
What can possibly go wrong when we don’t use an inquiry process? Maybe you have heard of the Darwin Awards that honour people who do the most to improve our gene pool--by removing themselves from it, thereby ensuring that the next generation has fewer idiots. That’s the rather harsh way the Darwin Awards describe their “winners.”
These people were curious; they had a question or inquiry. However they failed catastrophically to consider the likely consequences of their actions. They did not plan, or gather and analyse information that would keep them safe. They didn’t figure out how to fill in their personal “information gap” and this caused personal injury and even death.
The inquiry process we will use is very much like the process used to solve a murder mystery.
The Inquiry Process
Look at the picture below of Robin Barnes’ kitchen. You will notice that it has been reproduced in miniature scale. What happened here? Take a moment and look at this photograph. Create some rough notes where you list your observations about the scene. Be sure to include only your observations (what you see), not your interpretations (what you think has happened).
Review the information you have collected, and then scroll over the the image in Death in Diorama to see if you missed any important facts about this crime scene.
Notice how the pop-up information has moved beyond the facts to an interpretation. For example, you would have noticed that there is an iron on the ironing board. It might have been used to knock the woman out. Then the killer could have then turned on the gas stove.
Now you are thinking about the information and interpreting and analysing the data you gathered when you first looked at the picture.
All detectives hope that once the data has been gathered and organized, interpreted and analysed, they can evaluate and draw a conclusion for the question they asked (What happened here?). Finally, they can communicate their conclusion: Robin Barnes did not commit suicide; she was murdered. In most cases there is a new question to answer such as ‘Why was this woman killed?’ or ‘Where is the person who did this?’ and ‘Why was this woman, and not somebody else the victim?’
Our work differs from that of the detective in that we will not always use the inquiry process in the same linear way.
If you look at the visual of the Inquiry Process below you see that there are five cogs that interact. We won’t always start at the same point and we don’t always complete all five components of an inquiry. For example you might be provided with data that you will interpret and analyse; or be asked to formulate the next question that follows from a conclusion.
Throughout this course you will be a world issues investigator who uses an inquiry process to learn about and more deeply understand a variety of world issues. Click on each cog in the interactive below to learn more.
Let's see if you have the gist of the inquiry process. Drag the following attributes and drop them on the best of the five "cogs".
The Inquiry Process
In the last activity (What does it look like to do geography?) you used the Concepts of Geographic Thinking to learn about the many challenges facing the Arctic. We will again look to the Arctic and the people who live there to build on your understanding of the inquiry process.
Watch The Nature of Things episode called Franklin’s Lost Ships to find and record evidence of the five components of the Inquiry Process in use.
Use this graphic organizer to record your examples of the Inquiry Process components.
Have you heard of the CRAAP test? It's a way to determine the credibility of a resource. Complete the interactive below to learn more, then use this checklist for your sources.
Thinking Log
One question that remains for our studies is: “How does finding Franklin’s Erebus contribute to our understanding of the Arctic and its people today?” Write a supported opinion paragraph that answers this question. Use this template to review the components of a well-supported opinion paragraph.
What inquiry topic interests you?
Consider how to use the inquiry process to investigate a world issue that is of particular interest to you.
- Identify any world issue that is of interest to you.
- Formulate a question about that issue that could start your inquiry.
- Consider:
- The breadth: How much of the world is affected by the issue?
- The depth: How complicated are the implications of this issue? Is this a social, political, economic and/or environmental issue?
- The duration: How long has this issue persisted, and how long is this issue likely to persist?
Introduction
Learning Goals
Learning Skills
Rubric 1