The Tikkun Project
Lesson
4
Present vs. Future: Benefits and Harms Over Time
Concept
Some benefits and harms are felt immediately; others only reveal themselves across generations and cultures have long traditions of thinking specifically about that time horizon.
Focus Question
How might our actions today impact individuals, society, or the environment in the future?
Knowledge & Understanding Goals
Science and Technology, Life Systems Strand B, Grade 7: Assess the long-term effectiveness of ways of mitigating negative and enhancing positive human impacts on the environment. (B1.2)
Social Studies/History, Grade 7: Consider Indigenous perspectives (Seven Generations thinking) on responsibility across time.
Thinking & Learning Skills
ATL — Thinking Skills: Using a value-line to position evidence along a time axis; evaluating source reliability; revising an initial position based on research evidence.
Learner Profile: Reflective, Balanced.
Context
Moves the unit from "who benefits or is harmed" (Lessons 2-3) to "when." Students have already selected a product and started an ANT map (Lesson 2); this lesson adds a time dimension and begins genuine primary research, feeding into Lesson 5's gap-filling work. Introduces the value-line as a research-recording tool.
Lesson Outline
TAKING AN INITIAL POSITION
Ask: are the most significant benefits of products enjoyed now or in the future? Are the most significant harms felt now or in the future? Students record their answers as markers on a line with endpoints "Today" and "Future."
TWO CULTURAL FRAMINGS OF THE SAME QUESTION
Watch two short videos: the story of Honi HaMe'agel (planting a carob tree for a generation he won't live to see) and a discussion of Seven Generations thinking from Ron (Deganadus) McLester, Algonquin College — the symbolism of seven generations placing a person on a continuum reaching back to great-grandparents and forward to great-grandchildren, whose choices reverberate throughout that continuum. Discuss explicitly: Honi's story centres a present-focused benefit (prayer) against a future-focused one (the tree); Seven Generations reframes the same tension at a much larger scale. Compare the two rather than treating them as interchangeable illustrations of "think long-term."
RESEARCHING WITH A RELIABILITY CHECK
Students continue researching their chosen product, extending their ANT map with the process modelled earlier in the unit. As information is gathered, students use the unit's established criteria to identify: the most important benefits and harms; the main actors connected to them; and whether those benefits/harms occur in the present or the future.
Before trusting a secondary source, remind students: "You've done this work before — in the Immigration unit, you learned to check a source using Red Light/Yellow Light signals for bias, and to look for corroboration across multiple sources. We're using that same thinking here, applied to a new topic." Revisit the six questions together as a refresher, not a new skill: Is it current and up-to-date? Is it relevant to the topic? Is it objective, or does it reflect bias? Does it come from a recognized authority? Is the information verifiable through other sources? Is it presenting fact or opinion? Suggested source types: encyclopedias, trusted websites (government, recognized academic institutions), newspapers, magazines, books, documentary films.
REVISITING OUR INITIAL POSITION
Return to the Today/Future line from the launch. Ask, based on research: are the most significant benefits enjoyed now or in the future? The most significant harms? Were initial ideas confirmed, or did they change — and what evidence best supports the answer?
Notes for Teaching and Evaluation
Naming the Immigration unit explicitly to students, rather than silently reusing the same skill, is what makes it register as a transferable habit of mind rather than a coincidence — students should start to expect that a "how do I know this is trustworthy" moment will recur across every Tikkun unit.
Revisiting the exact same Today/Future line from the launch, rather than a fresh reflection prompt, is what makes a genuine shift in position visible and citable, following the same before/after design used with the Dashboard dial in Lesson 1.