Consider the Aboriginal People living along the St. Lawrence in the early seventeenth century. They lived through profound change that affected everything they knew. Immigrants who came to Canada had to accept many changes in order to adapt to a new land and culture. Current change always seems more difficult to deal with and accept than past change. The problem with change is the uncertainty and risk associated with it.
Past change seems less risky because the uncertainty is gone.
Change forces one to make judgments with incomplete information, because it is difficult to predict all the possible consequences that could result from a decision. Decision making about change requires the ability to evaluate critically and creatively and to consider the moral and ethical consequences of the choices being made. Learning to make wise judgments about a course of action is the core of effective evaluation. Change means making choices and that means evaluating the alternatives available to come to a considered judgment about the best choice. Students will be given opportunities in their analysis of change to apply dialectical thinking as a way of evaluating the issues in this unit.