B. People and Environments: The Role of Government and Responsible Citizenship · Government and Citizenship

Be a Social Scientist: Investigating an Issue from Many Perspectives

B2.1 B2.2 B2.3 B2.4 B2.5 B2.6 B3.8About 50 minutes

Learning goals

I can ask inquiry questions about a social or environmental issue that include different perspectives.
I can gather and organize information from several sources.
I can read and make a map as part of an investigation.
I can analyse data, draw a conclusion, and share my results with the right vocabulary.

Words to know

inquiry
An investigation that starts with a question.

source
Where information comes from: a person, website, book, map, video or data.

primary source
Information from someone who was there or collected it first, like an interview or a survey you do.

secondary source
Information that explains or reports on other sources, like an encyclopedia or news article.

floodplain
Flat land beside a river that floods when the water is high.

wetland
Land covered by shallow water for at least part of the year, like a marsh or swamp. Wetlands soak up water like a sponge.

Your mission

Every spring, when the snow melts, the Willow River in the pretend town of Maple Creek floods. Basements fill with water. Some people want to build a wall along the river. Others want to protect the wetland upstream. The council must decide.

Your mission: investigate the issue like a social scientist, using all six steps of the inquiry process, and recommend what the town should do.

A muddy, fast-flowing river swollen with spring snowmelt runs beside a wide cattail wetland, with houses on higher ground in the distance. — In spring, melting snow can make a river rise quickly. Wetlands like this one soak up extra water, which is one reason some people want to protect them to reduce flooding. AI-generated image

Step	What you do
1. Formulate questions	Ask questions that include different perspectives, including Indigenous peoples and the government responsible
2. Gather and organize	Collect information from several sources; organize it in charts or notes
3. Use maps	Read and make maps (paper or digital) to see where things are
4. Interpret and analyse	Look for patterns in data; use graphs, tables and organizers
5. Evaluate and conclude	Weigh the evidence and perspectives, then decide
6. Communicate	Share your results using the right vocabulary

The six steps of the social studies inquiry process.

Step 1: Ask good questions

Main question: How should Maple Creek reduce flooding from the Willow River?
Who is responsible? The town council (municipal), the conservation authority (floods and wetlands), and the province (rules about building in floodplains).
Perspective questions: How do homeowners in the flood zone see it? How does the nearby First Nation, whose traditional territory includes the river and wetland, see it? What do farmers upstream think? What does the council have to consider, like cost?

Step 2: Gather and organize

Use several kinds of sources:

Primary: interview a neighbour whose basement flooded; do a survey.
Secondary: the conservation authority's website, news stories, an encyclopedia article about wetlands.
Indigenous knowledge: what the First Nation's Elders and land guardians say about how the river and wetland have changed. (Learn this only in the ways the community chooses to share.)

Organize what you find in a chart with columns: Source, What it says, Whose perspective, Can I trust it?

Step 3: a pretend map of Maple Creek (not a real place, not to scale). The Willow River flows from west to east. The grid has columns A to D and rows 1 and 2.

Worked example

Step 3: Let's read the map

Use the map and its legend. (a) In which grid square are the homes inside the flood zone? (b) Where are homes outside the flood zone? (c) Where is the wetland? Is it upstream or downstream of the flooded homes?

Check the legend: small squares are homes; the dashed line is the flood zone.
(a) Three homes are inside the dashed box, near the river, in column C, row 1: C1.
(b) Three other homes are far from the river, in D2.
(c) The wetland is in A2. The river flows west to east, and A is the west side, so the wetland is upstream (the water passes it before reaching the homes).

(a) C1, (b) D2, (c) A2, upstream of the flooded homes.

Step 4: Analyse the data

Here is pretend data the class gathered:

Year	Basements flooded in C1 area	Wetland area (hectares)
2010	2	40
2014	5	32
2018	9	25
2022	14	20

Pretend data for Maple Creek. A hectare is 10 000 square metres: a square 100 m long on each side.

The pretend data as two bar graphs. Flooded basements went up while the wetland got smaller. A pattern is a clue, not proof, so look for more evidence.

Worked example

Steps 4 and 5: Let's find the pattern and conclude

What pattern do you see in the table? What could it mean?

Flooded basements went up: 2 → 5 → 9 → 14.
Wetland area went down: 40 → 32 → 25 → 20 hectares. That's half of the wetland gone (20 is half of 40).
Pattern: as the wetland got smaller, flooding got worse.
Careful! A pattern alone does not prove cause. But science sources say wetlands soak up water like a sponge, and, in this pretend story, the First Nation's knowledge keepers say the river floods more since parts of the wetland were drained for building. Several sources agree.
Weigh perspectives: a wall would protect C1 homes quickly, but costs a lot and could push water elsewhere. Restoring the wetland helps the whole river and the fish, and respects the First Nation's knowledge and connection to the land, but takes longer. Homeowners want help now.
Conclusion: Protect and restore the wetland, stop new building in the floodplain, and give flooded homeowners help now (like backwater valves and sump pumps), working with the conservation authority and the First Nation.

The evidence suggests losing the wetland made flooding worse. The best plan combines restoring the wetland with quick help for homeowners.

Step 6: Communicate like a pro

Share your results in a report, slide show, poster, map or speech to council. Use subject words: jurisdiction, municipal, conservation authority, perspective, floodplain, wetland, evidence, consult. Show your map and data, name your sources, and explain how you weighed different perspectives. Today, many towns have digital maps online that show floodplains, parks and wards. Ask a grown-up to help you explore your town's online map.

Just for fun

Why are wetlands so good to have around in a flood?

They're nature's sponges: they soak it all up!

Hands-on activity

Your own mini-inquiry

Pick a local issue: a busy crosswalk, a park that needs fixing, litter, flooding, or something in the news.

Question: write one main question and two perspective questions.
Gather: use at least three sources, including one primary source (like a short interview with a family member or neighbour).
Map: draw a simple map of the place with a title, legend, compass rose and a grid, or explore it on an online map with a grown-up.
Analyse: make a tally or table of something you can count (cars passing in 10 minutes, pieces of litter, etc.).
Conclude: what should be done, and by which level of government and citizens?
Communicate: present your findings to your family in 2 minutes.

What to look for: questions with more than one perspective, more than one source, a map with a legend, a conclusion based on evidence.

Your turn

Name the six steps of the inquiry process.

What is a primary source? Give an example.

Using the map, which grid square has the wetland?

Which direction does the Willow River flow?

What pattern did the table show?

Why should the First Nation's perspective be included?

More practice: warm-up

What is a floodplain?

How does a wetland help prevent floods?

What does a map legend do?

Is an encyclopedia article a primary or secondary source?

How many homes on the map are inside the flood zone?

More practice: on your own

By how many hectares did the wetland shrink from 2010 to 2022?

How many more basements flooded in 2022 than in 2010?

Why should you be careful saying the wetland loss caused the flooding, based only on the table?

Write one inquiry question about the flooding from the council's perspective.

Give one strength and one weakness of building a flood wall.

Challenge

A homeowner says, "Just build the wall!" A First Nation Elder says, "Bring back the wetland." Explain each perspective and suggest a recommendation that respects both.

Why is it important to use more than one source, and to ask "Can I trust it?"

Which levels of government should be named in a report to the Maple Creek council about the floods, and what should each do?

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which is the first step in the inquiry process?

Which is a primary source?

On the Maple Creek map, the wetland is...

The wetland shrank from 40 to 20 hectares. That is...

Which conclusion is best supported by evidence?

Why include many perspectives in an inquiry?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: The inquiry process (question, gather and organize, map, analyse, conclude, communicate) helps students investigate social and environmental issues from many perspectives, including those of Indigenous peoples and the government responsible.

How to help at home:

Support the mini-inquiry: help find sources, and help with a short interview of a neighbour or relative.
Explore your municipality's online map (many show floodplains, parks and wards).
Ask: "How do you know? Which source says that? Can you trust it?"

Common difficulties:

Yes/no questions. Help turn them into "how" or "why" questions with perspectives.
Using only one source, or trusting any website. Check who made it and why.
Confusing a pattern with proof. Look for several sources that agree.

Note: Maple Creek and its data are pretend, made up for practice.