Social Change
Overall Expectations
Causes and Effects of Social Change: demonstrate an understanding of the causes and effects of social change;
Technological Change: demonstrate an understanding of patterns and effects of technological change from a social science perspective.
Specific Expectations
Students will:
- identify ways in which influential Canadian leaders have contributed to social change (e.g., Nellie McClung, Agnes Macphail, Tommy Douglas, Lester B. Pearson, Pierre Trudeau, David Suzuki, Phil Fontaine, Roberta Jamieson, Adrienne Clarkson)
- explain how various economic, environmental, political, or sociocultural factors (e.g., global warming/climate change, environmental activism, the threat of separatism, leadership changes, pluralism) can lead to social change, and how other factors (e.g., cost, traditional values, fear of negative consequences) can create resistance to change
- explain various means of creating social change (e.g., direct action, protest, advocacy, community organization, revolution, political activism)
- explain the relationships between conformity, alienation, and social change (e.g., conformity discourages social change; feelings of alienation on a group level sometimes lead to movements to bring about social change; drastic social change sometimes leads to greater conformity)
- explain the relationships between poverty, affluence, and social change (e.g., the effects of the digital divide and/or unequal access to higher education on the social and economic prospects of different groups)
- explain the impact of social change on individuals in Canada and on Canadian society
- identify some recent technological changes and describe how they affect individuals (e.g., computer technology and the Internet provide extensive opportunities for social networking; many workplace technologies place a physical strain on workers and require ergonomic remedies)
- explain how various new technologies (e.g., in medicine, education, entertainment, health and wellness) can affect social structures and interactions
- explain how technological advances (e.g., in manufacturing, agriculture, recycling) lead to cultural adaptations (e.g., the rapid introduction of new technologies creates cultural lag that leads to social problems and conflicts)
Lessons that meet Grade 12 expectations
- Beyond Media Messages: Media Portrayal of Global Development
- Buy Nothing Day
- Celebrities and World Issues
- Challenging Hate Online
- Diversity and Media Ownership
- Finding and Authenticating Online Information on Global Development Issues
- Making Media for Democratic Citizenship
- Online Propaganda and the Proliferation of Hate
- Political Cartoons
- Suffragettes and Iron Ladies
- The Citizen Reporter
Social Patterns and Trends
Overall Expectations
Forces That Shape Social Trends: demonstrate an understanding of how forces influence and shape social patterns and trends;
Social Deviance: demonstrate an understanding of social science theories about social deviance, and of how various responses to deviance affect individuals and society.
Specific Expectations
Students will:
- describe ways in which culture, tradition, and language influence social trends
- summarize and interpret statistics related to social deviance, discrimination, and hate crimes
- explain the relationship between social panic about crime and deviance and the attention given to these issues by media, politicians, and other social groups
Lessons that meet Grade 12 expectations
- Bias and Crime in Media
- Challenging Hate Online
- Crime in the News
- Cyberbullying and the Law
- Free Speech and the Internet
- Online Propaganda and the Proliferation of Hate
- Perceptions of Youth and Crime
- Political Cartoons
Global Social Challenges
Overall Expectations
Global Inequalities:
demonstrate an understanding of how various social structures and conditions support or limit global inequalities;
Specific Expectations
Students will:
- describe the key provisions of various provincial, national, and international agreements for addressing human rights issues (e.g., the Ontario Human Rights Code, the Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Geneva Conventions, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child)
- demonstrate an understanding of various types of discrimination (e.g., racism, homophobia, ageism, sexism, hate crimes, individual discrimination, systemic discrimination, genocide) and their impact on individuals and groups
Lessons that meet Grade 12 expectations
- Bias and Crime in Media
- Bias in News Sources
- Crime in the News
- Diversity and Media Ownership
- First Person
- Free Speech and the Internet
- Miscast and Seldom Seen
- Online Propaganda and the Proliferation of Hate
- Perceptions of Youth and Crime
- Sex in Advertising
- Shaking the Movers: Youth Rights and Media
- Suffragettes and Iron Ladies
- The Citizen Reporter
- Who’s Telling My Story?
Research and Inquiry Skills
Overall Expectations
- Exploring: explore topics related to the analysis of social change, and formulate questions to guide their research
- Investigating: create research plans, and locate and select information relevant to their chosen topics, using appropriate social science research and inquiry methods
- Processing Information: assess, record, analyse, and synthesize information gathered through research and inquiry
- Communicating and Reflecting: communicate the results of their research and inquiry clearly and effectively, and reflect on and evaluate their research, inquiry, and communication skills.
Specific Expectations
Students will:
- explore a variety of topics related to the analysis of social change (e.g., social and economic factors leading to political changes) to identify topics for research and inquiry
- identify key concepts (e.g., through discussion, brainstorming, use of visual organizers) related to their selected topics
- formulate effective questions to guide their research and inquiry
- create appropriate research plans to investigate their selected topics (e.g., outline purpose and method; identify sources of information), ensuring that their plans follow guidelines for ethical research
- locate and select information relevant to their investigations from a variety of primary sources
- based on preliminary research, for each investigation formulate a hypothesis, thesis statement, or research question, and use it to focus their research
- assess various aspects of information gathered from primary and secondary sources (e.g., accuracy, relevance, reliability, inherent values and bias, voice)
- analyse and interpret research information
- synthesize findings and formulate conclusions
- demonstrate academic honesty by documenting the sources of all information generated through research
- demonstrate an understanding of the general research process by reflecting on and evaluating their own research, inquiry, and communication skills
Lessons that meet Secondary expectations
- Deconstructing Web Pages
- First Person
- Free Speech and the Internet
- Hate 2.0
- Hate or Debate
- I heard it ‘round the Internet: Sexual health education and authenticating online information
- Learning Gender Stereotypes
- Promoting Ethical Behaviour Online: My Virtual Life
- Scapegoating and Othering
- Suffragettes and Iron Ladies
- Taming the Wild Wiki
- Thinking about Hate
- What Students Need to Know about Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy