social issues – Taking Making Resources

March 26, 2019

Design Challenge 22: Developing Historical Empathy

The study of a country’s history and evolution requires more than the memorization of dates, names and facts. Historians need to develop a deep understanding of the confounding circumstances of events, including people, places, cultures, politics, and many other factors. Coming to know why things happened the way they did is as important as knowing what happened and when. As Jill Lepore said, “The study of our history requires investigation, imagination, empathy and respect,” (The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party’s Revolution and the Battle over American History, 2010).

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March 26, 2019March 26, 2019

Design Challenge 20: Displaced Students

The population boom, immigration, and rural families continuing to move into urban centres have taxed the capacity of schools to accommodate students in their immediate area. Not so many years ago, children walked or rode their bikes to their neighbourhood schools. However, increasingly urban centres are building large community schools to accommodate students being bussed or driven from multiple neighbourhoods. As a result, more and more students feel alienated and isolated, like strangers in their schools. A challenge becomes how to create initial and ongoing experiences for new students so they can increasingly feel welcomed; build relationships with their fellow students, teachers, and staff; find their place; and gradually become active members of their school communities.

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March 26, 2019March 26, 2019

Design Challenge 19: Apathy to Empathy

Thanks to social media and an almost continuous news cycle (e.g. television, radio, newspapers, etc.), we are provided many glimpses into global events, both happy and tragic, on a daily basis.
Some suggest social media has made our society apathetic to the world around us. Others propose that we are merely sympathetic to tragedies in a superficial, short-term way because another tragedy is always being reported. Initiatives like Fight Apathy and Me to We attempt to mobilize youth to make a difference and move from apathy to sympathy to empathy.

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