Module 2 – Sample Assignment & Rubric

This page outlines the assignment students are to complete for this module. Included, you will find:

  • Pre-assignment reading
  • Student learning objectives
  • Assignment details and introduction
  • Assignment deliverables
  • Assignment rubric

A downloadable file of the assignment can be found at the bottom of this page.

Pre-Assignment Reading

Please have your students read the following CBC article, court case summary and the timeline of events below, before starting the assignment:

  1. CBC Article: ‘We still have title’: How a landmark B.C. court case set the stage for Wet’suwet’en protests
  2. Court Case Summary: Delgamuukw Case

Learning Objectives

Assignment – Student Objectives

After completing this assignment, students will be able to:

Knowledge

  • Define “way of knowing”
  • Appraise the strengths and limitations of the empirical way of knowing
  • Synthesize two cross-cultural perspectives to create a shared strategy with polarity mapping
  • Differentiate normative claims from prescriptive claims

Skills

  • Construct a polarity map based on a general recipe
  • Demonstrate cross-cultural analysis by compiling the guiding principles of two ways of knowing

Attitudes

  • Express interest in uncovering personal and group biases
  • Reconcile and reframe apparent unresolvable, opposing problems by using a polarity map

Assignment

Assignment – Setting the Stage

Please review this condensed timeline of the given case study:

  • 2012 — TC Energy is selected by LNG Canada to design, build, own and operate Coastal GasLink. TC Energy begins a community engagement process, followed by environmental and engineering studies along the proposed route.
  • 2014  —  Coastal GasLink files the Environmental Assessment Application with the BC Environmental Assessment Office and a detailed project design application to the BC Oil and Gas Commission. The project’s conditional Environmental Assessment Certificate was awarded on October 24, 2014.

In November 2014, the Wet’suwet’en First Nation Band, Chief and Council and the Province of British Columbia, represented by the Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation signed the “Natural Gas Pipeline Benefits Agreement”, outlining a project payment of 2.32 million dollars in exchange for use of land encompassed in Wet’suwet’en territory along with other benefits.

  • 2019 — The Wet’suwet’en Nation comprises 5 clans, each clan split into house groups who take care of different territories. The Unist’ot’en House of the Gilseyhu Clan are responsible for protecting a territory known as Talbits Kwa, through which the Coastal Gaslink pipeline is proposed to be constructed. The main access to this territory is the Morice River Bridge. Many of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs oppose the pipeline plans, and the Unist’ot’en house have committed themselves to safeguarding with the construction of checkpoints along the road to Unist’ot’en. These checkpoints were used to prevent Coastal Gaslink from beginning pipeline construction in the territory.

On January 7th, 2019, the Supreme Court of British Columbia issued an injunction, (a judicial order compelling a party to do or refrain from certain acts) prohibiting the prevention of freedom of movement over the Morice River Bridge. This injunction application was made on behalf of the plaintiff, Coastal Gaslink Pipeline LTD to those delaying access to the bridge and preventing the construction of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline. This order also included enforcement injunctions so that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and other appropriate police authorities could forcibly arrest and remove any person contravening the order, and detain them until they appear before the court.

In the following weeks, the Unist’ot’en camp which occupied the Morice River Bridge was dispersed. The RCMP detained and arrested 14 protesters on-site, enabling Coastal Gaslink passage across the bridge. This sparked Indigenous rights and environmental solidarity protests in 70 cities around the world, according to the Unist’ot’en.

  • 2020 — May 14, 2020, a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministers of Indigenous Relations and the 9 active Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs that recognize Indigenous rights and title through hereditary governance and commit to negotiations over the following 12 months.

Assignment Details

  1. Answer the following: What are the differences in the ways of knowing sovereignty between Coastal Gaslink Pipeline LTD and the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs?
    • Hint: This question relates to the interpretation of legal authority. Please answer this by providing two prescriptive statements, one from the perspective of each party.
    • Example of a prescriptive statement: Engineering students should keep up with current events.
      • What are the assumptions that justify these two prescriptive statements?
    • Example assumption: Current events allow engineering students to see how their classes apply to the world.
      • Can the proof of the two statements be observed? If so, where? If not, why not?
  2. Create a polarity map that clarifies a shared challenge that has not yet been achieved by Coastal Gaslink Pipeline LTD and the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs. Imagine that this map could be co-created at the negotiation table by both parties. The instructions for creating a polarity map are below:
    • Define the Challenge
    • Identify Key Polarities
    • Label Poles
    • Brainstorm Content
    • Identify the Action Steps
    • Identify Early Warnings
      • You are encouraged to create your systems map layout to suit your space needs, however the Polarity Map [Web Link] by Barry Johnson and Polarity Partnerships may also be used.
  3. Outline and justify in 2-3 sentences the step in the design process where Coastal Gaslink and the Wet’suwet’en should reintroduce consultation measures moving forward.
    • Recall the engineering design process. This is the “recipe” for engineering work and guides the design of shared collaboration objectives. Please answer question 3 using the steps in this design framework.

Assignment Deliverables

You will submit one PDF document which:

  1. Answers the question – What are the differences in the ways of knowing sovereignty between Coastal Gaslink Pipeline LTD and the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs?
  2. Contains a polarity map that clarifies a shared challenge that has not yet been achieved by Coastal Gaslink Pipeline LTD and the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs.
  3. Outlines and justifies in 2-3 sentences the step in the design process where Coastal Gaslink and the Wet’suwet’en should reintroduce consultation measures moving forward.

Supplementary Articles and Other Resources

Rubric

A sample rubric to evaluate your students’ assignments is found below. Feel free to download and adapt the rubric to match your assessment procedures (i.e. changing weights, etc.).

Benchmark Grade Identifying ways of knowing (20%) Evaluating and Identifying
assumptions that uphold the ways
of knowing (20%)		 Respectfully synthesizing ways of
knowing with a polarity map (40%) 		Document Format (20%)
100% Student leadership: advanced skills
and approaches researched and
implemented above and beyond
standard expectations.		 Student leadership: advanced skills
and approaches researched and
implemented above and beyond
standard expectations.		 Student leadership: advanced skills
and approaches researched and
implemented above and beyond
standard expectations.		 Student leadership: advanced skills and
aapproaches researched and implemented
above and beyond standard expectations.
90% Given any knowledge claim, student
has the ability to isolate and
understand which ways of knowing
were used to acquire this knowledge. .
All written work is unbiased and shows
that student understands the validity of
all ways of knowing.		 Excellent understanding of the different
ways of knowing and interpretation of
legal authority. Prescriptive statements
are written in a manner that show good
understanding of normative claims and
prescriptive claims.		 Polarity map clearly states the shared
challenge and demonstrates an
excellent understanding of both
perspectives. Respective ways of
knowing are used to clarify and explain
both persrpectives. There is careful
attnetion to detail presented in both
perspectives allowing for a unique
synthesis of opposing ideas.		 All format expectations were followed as
described in the assignment outline
70% Given any knowledge claim, student
has the ability to isolate and undersand
most of the ways of knowing used to
acquire knowledge claim. All written
work is unbiased and shows that
student understands the validity of all
ways of knowing		 Good understanding of the different
ways of knowing and interpretation of
legal authority. Prescriptive statements
are simple and well written.		 Polarity map clearly states the shared
challenge and demonstrates an
excellent understanding of both
perspectives. Respective ways of
knowing are used to clarify and explain
both persrpectives. Polarity map is
detailed and presents an adequate
synthesis of opposing ideas.		 Most format expectations were followed as
described in the assignment outline, with a
couple of minor errors.
50% Given any knowledge claim, student
has the ability to understand some of
the ways of knowing used to make the
specific knowledge claim. There is
some understanding of the equal
validity of all ways of knowing but
written work may show some bias
towards certain ways of knowing		 Minimal understanding of the of the
differences in the ways of knowing and
interpretation of authority. Prescriptive
statements lack clarity.		 Polarity map clearly states the shared
challenge and demonstrates a good
understanding of both perspectives.
Respective ways of knowing are used
to explain knowledge from both
perspectives. There are some missing
details in the polarity map leading to a
biased synthesis of opposing ideas.		 Format expectations as described in the
assignment outline were somewhat followed.
0% Given a knowledge claim student is
unable to indenitfy which ways of
knowing were used to make the
knowledge claim. There is little to no
understanding equality and validity of
different ways of knowing		 Little to no understanding of different
ways of knowing and interpretation of
legal authority. Work is incomplete		 shared challenge isn't clearly stated in
the polarity map. There is little to no
understanding of how the ways of
knowing can be synthesized to bring
opposing ideas into one solution.		 Format expectations as described in the
assignment outline were ignored or unread.

Downloadable Files

Downloadable Assignment

Module 2: Assignment (Word)

 

 

License

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Decolonizing the Engineering Curriculum Copyright © 2022 by Pamela Wolf, Ben Harris, Nika Martinussen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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