Canada is a highly connected country: 96 percent of us have access to the internet. As technologies have improved to allow corporations, law enforcement and others to gather information and monitor activities online, media reports about violations or breaches of privacy are more and more frequent.
In the working guide Journey On: Working Toward Communication and Information Technology Literacy, media-related outcomes are integrated throughout the curriculum.
According to this document:
Home Economics incorporates various media education themes, such as completing research, fostering human relationships, education about consumerism, and resource management. In the Intermediate Level Home Economics Program: Overview and Organization, the Canadian Home Economics Association defines the subject as:
The Prince Edward Island Mathematics curriculum includes curriculum expectations relating to recognizing and correcting for bias and the portrayal of probability and statistics in media.
Strands in the Technological Education curriculum
The overall and specific expectations for each course in the technological education curriculum are typically organized in four distinct but related strands. The strands are Fundamentals; Skills; Technology, the Environment, and Society; and Professional Practice and Career Opportunities.
The Grade Nine and Ten curriculum document Technological Education includes information on how media literacy is relevant to the content of these courses:
According to the document Career Education 9, “The Career Education curriculum is designed to develop the competencies required by all people to successfully manage their work and life.” Media and digital literacy skills and mostly found in the Change and Growth strand.
Mathematics courses in the High School Block “prepare students to use mathematics confidently to solve problems; communicate and reason mathematically … and make connections between mathematics and its applications.” Connections with digital media literacy are found in the Logical Reasoning strand.
In Manitoba, Technology Education includes several subject areas with connections to digital and media literacy: Applied Commerce Education and Human Ecology.
Applied Commerce Education
This section comprises a curricular overview (below) and, in the sidebar, curriculum charts for Grades 1-12 that feature media education outcomes in the Atlantic Provinces Education Foundation Framework, with links to supporting MediaSmarts resources and lessons.
Photo credits: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador
Media-related objectives can be found in all of the General Learning Outcomes in Social Studies in Manitoba.
Identity, Culture, and Community