My TLCP Journey

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Learning Cycle: A Geography Inquiry Unit

While completing this course, I engaged in a group inquiry project that required us to create an inquiry Social Studies Unit based on a grade and specific focus of our choice. In a group a five, we decided to explore the topic of Sustainability within the grade eight Geography Ontario Curriculum.  It was our goal to create a unit that focused on the interrelationship between human settlement and sustainability. Using this as our guiding question, or “Big Idea” we centered our entire unit on this focus.

While creating the unit, we used a Backwards Design approach by starting with the culminating task and then deciding on the lead up lessons. By using this strategy, we ensured that all of our lessons connected and contributed to the skills and main concepts expected of the culminating task. We identified what we wanted our students to be able to do and what they needed to know, and carefully designed lessons that would guarantee this success.

Using the Backwards Design approach proved to be the best method to ensure our lessons were cohesive and focusing on the same end goal. Working with five educators on one unit can be challenging, as everyone has their own opinions and ideas. However, our group had a strong focus on the importance of sustainability and a better earth. Our group was built on respect and collaboration. Overall, we worked extremely well together as we all collectively contributed to the unit. All of our ideas and thoughts, though altered at times, ended up contributed to a unit that focuses on the importance of human responsibility and human action on the environment for the needs of the present and future.

In my previous block, I had the opportunity to implement some of the lessons from this unit in a grade eight classroom. Students responded to the material extremely well. They explored topics and engaged in complex discussion that enhanced their understanding of the relation between human settlement and sustainability. Based on this experience, our group was able to make the changes necessary and add more lessons and a complex culminating task in order to increase overall understanding of sustainability and increased ownership and responsibility among our students. 

View our eBook for more details on our Sustainability unit!
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Elementary Social Studies: Chapters 1-3

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SOCIAL STUDIES BOOK TALK

     For the Book Talk in Social Studies for Junior Intermediate students, our group did a summary of chapters one through three from the "Elementary Social Studies: A Practical Approach to Teaching and Learning" textbook. These chapters emphasized the importance of taking a “child-centered” or progressive approach to education through the ideologies of John Dewey. Not only should students be engaged in their learning, but they should be responsible for their own learning by making decisions the teacher can prompt in the classroom. To increase engagement, teachers should not only create a classroom that fosters safe, collective learning but also incorporates a variety of current, applicable events. Using the “Expanding Horizons Model” students should explore topics by starting with relatable information, and traveling outward to gain a family, community, provincial, country and later a world perspective. By using this approach, students are able to understand and contextualize the new information at an increased rate which therefore, creates higher-order thinking in the classroom. Something to consider that was also important in this chapter was the concept of nationalism and diversity. The demographic of Canada is ever-changing and as teacher, we must adapt to these changes. Topics that we discuss should reflect the issues that our students could be exposed to from various cultures around the world as our national make-up is highly composed of these cultures. The biggest take away message from these chapters was to create social studies curricula that reflect the needs of the students as well as the events that are occurring in our lives every day. Content needs to be current, relatable and enjoyable in order for students to gain a sufficient understanding.  

Photo from: Elementary Social Studies: A Practical Approach to Teaching & Learning by Wright and Hutchison

Integrating Social Justice Issues with Social Studies

                

Photo from: http://www.uwosh.edu

           Our Group Inquiry Project is focused on the theme of sustainability. As outlined, we aim to educate our students on the various components of sustainability in order to encourage sustainable choices in their own lives. With this being said, the focus of sustainability can also encompass a variety of other subtopics, and cross-curricular integration. The remainder of this blog post will discuss how the sustainability theme can correlate with themes within Social Injustice by integrating the Language, Art and Science curriculum documents.

According to the Pachamama Alliance, Social Injustice Issues can be broken down into two categories, inter-social treatment (which includes racism, heterosexism, sexism etc.) and unequal government regulation (which includes access to healthcare, access to education, environmental right etc.). When incorporating a Social Injustice Issues into a Sustainability unit, poverty or access to education could easily be integrated. Once students have gathered an understanding of sustainability from a communal perspective, we can begin to look at sustainability from a national, then international level. By first introducing students to the new topic at the community level, we are allowing them to relate a new topic to something familiar and relatable. From this point, we can build on their knowledge until they are able to apply their knowledge of sustainability to a global perspective. This method follows the Expanding Horizons Model (see below). 

Expanding Horizons Model, Elementary Social Studies 7th ed. 

In groups, or individually, students can investigate the various sustainability initiatives Canada has implemented. Following this, students can again, individually or in groups, research a country of their choice and identify the various sustainability features within that country. Based on their findings, they can begin to explore other aspects of the social studies unit, such as population density, population distribution and economics. However, this would also be a great way to introduce social justice issues. If students find that their country does not have sustainable features implemented, we can begin to have them critically examine why this may be the case, do they not have equal access to education? Is there insufficient funding throughout the country? By looking at the sustainability, students are able to look deeper into other issues. Working backwards from this point, students can then begin to look at the social issue they have chosen and its relation to Canada. Does this issue occur in Canada? Does it occur in our community? As a culminating activity, students can write a report and present a project that highlights their country and the social injustice issue they have explored based on their initial research. We are introducing a social issue with a familiar topic, sustainability, and then providing students with the opportunity to develop a national and community perspective through inquiry-based learning.

Photo from: http://maonoyachini.com

When looking at social injustice through a broad social studies lens, teachers can easily integrate topics in both geography and history. Though some social injustice issues have developed over the last century, many started centuries ago, allowing students to see the progression, or digression of the issue. Allowing students to explore these topics provides them with ownership over their own learning as they are motivated and interested in the topic. Moreover, the information they are learning is applicable to current issues, and often, issues that are occurring in our own communities that students may not be aware of. Something to keep in mind, though it is important to allow students to choose their own topics, it is also important be prepare yourself as the teacher to answer difficult questions or controversial viewpoints as every student offers a different perspective based on their knowledge and prior experiences. It is important for teachers to prepare for this in order to be effective in managing these issues if they occur in the classroom.

For ideas, and more information about integrating social injustice issues into the classroom, visit these links:  

Pachamama Alliance

Teaching Tolerance

Edutopia

University of Missouri

Grade 8 Geography: Sustainability

(Photo from: http://www.temenos.ac.uk/temenos-going-global-2013-conference-and-large-person-centred-groups/) 

CREATING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: Relating the Ontario Curriculum to Relevant Topics
    

     The Ontario Social Studies Curriculum Document allows teachers to incorporate a variety of “Big Ideas” or Themes into their teaching practice that can be easily built on throughout elementary and secondary school. These themes can not only be relevant to the expectations within the document itself, but can also be relevant to the interest of students themselves and current issues occurring. This blog will focus specifically on the Grade Eight curriculum expectations for Geography and History, providing various lesson ideas and resources as I process through this course. To begin, I will focus the remainder of this post on the theme of Sustainability. 

     Sustainability is a new addition to the Social Studies Curriculum Document. However, there is a lot of interaction that can be done with this theme as well as integration with other subject areas. For example, students can learn about the various renewable energy sources, which connects to the Grade 8 Science Curriculum as one of the overall expectations in the Understanding Structures and Mechanisms strand is, “Assess the personal, social, and/or environmental impacts of a system, and evaluate improvements to a system and/or alternative ways of meeting the same needs” (2007, pg. 143). Moreover, renewable energy can be easily integrated with the Math curriculum through investigation of word problems based on power generation, wind speeds etc. The most important aspect of Sustainability, however, is its relevancy. Students from all over the province should be able to relate to this topic in one way or another, whether they have seen a renewable resource, or they use alternative modes of travel that are better for the environment, i.e. a bicycle. Moreover, environmental education is becoming more and more popular in the school systems, and students are becoming more aware of their geological footprints and the implications pollution has on the environment. Sustainability is a topic students will learn about and built on for the rest of their lives. National Geographic has great articles and videos that outline the importance of creating a sustainable community.  

(Photo from: http://www.fermeng.ie/services/renewable-energy/)