New SS10 Course Resources

Resources for the new BC Social Studies 9

As BC Education continues to evolve the Pacific Slope Consortium is working to provide resources that support teachers and students as they transition to the new curriculum and improve their educational practice. These resources combines the familiar with a student-centred, exploratory program that fits a competency-based approach to Social Studies and the BC Education Plan. For information on the nuts and bolts of the revised Social Studies 9, refer directly to the Ministry of Education site for the draft curriculum.

Sample Course Outlines

For comparison:
Example of new SS9

Suggestions for Lesson Elements

One of the reservations about teaching a survey-based SS9 might be that sheer volume of information that could accompany the course. The trick is to keep a good pace, slow down when needed, and keep the focus on students developing critical thinking skills (through working with content) rather than simply gathering bits of history from the a 165 year period. Keeping in mind there is no provincial exam, we recommend that teachers structure their lessons (e.g. over 2-3 classes) to include the following:

Big Picture Story: this is often the place for a mini-lecture, slideshow, or activity from the teacher. In the least, the teacher should outline the big ideas that are at play in the theme or topic under study -- throw in some good video clips to help make key points. This is a good time to introduce selected evidence that students can see, read, interpret, and think about (less is more!).
Use of Iconic Primary Sources: find a few interesting pieces of evidence to refer back to again and again during the lessons. These are "artifacts" that have a lot of punch -- useful for establishing significance, understanding bias, exploring ethical dimensions, etc.
Multiple Perspectives: survey the topic or topics with a station approach, allow the students to discover different elements of the "story" (through primary and secondary sources) -- they don't all need to look at the same things -- this gives them something to discuss.
Geographic Lens: beyond the use of maps (always good), ask questions about the role of place, about land-use decisions, control of resources, land, climate/environmental adaptations and so on -- while History provides the framework for most Social Studies courses, a more interdisciplinary approach requires other angles, and Geography provides a natural interdisciplinary lens.
Use more open-ended questions: whether around the pieces of evidence or the topics or themes of the lessons, use fewer information-gathering questions and replace them with inquiry -- provide some and have students generate others. Incidentally, this rescues the textbook from being a source of busywork and turns it into a resource that students will choose to use if it helps address their inquiry.
Relate Topics and Themes to Current Events: there isn't much in Social Studies that doesn't have relevance in current society. Issues of Canadian Identity, in particular, seem to come up almost every day. Every kind of "Social Studies" topic seems to come up around election times. Look for connections to immigration stories, treatment of Indigenous people, terrorism, environmental concerns, threats to democracy, impact of laws, etc.

Sample Source Activity

This collection of 40 sources relates to the 1858 Fraser River Gold Rush and the Fraser Canyon War. Link: Canyon War Sources pdf document. Many of these sources originated from the important work of Dr. Dan Marshall, whose research into the 1858 Fraser Canyon Conflict resulted in a documentary film Canyon War and a multiple award-winning book Claiming the Land. We are indebted to Dr. Marshall for his generous contributions to a more inclusive and accurate narrative of BC History and the evidence-rich approach to "Social Studies" that we think is such a good fit for our students.

These sources can be used in many ways:

categorized: primary vs secondary vs blended, personal perspectives, showing strong bias, background info, relevancy to topic, clear vs need more info to understand, etc.
matched up with disciplinary thinking concepts (significance, cause & consequence, ethical judgment, etc.)
used to create timeline of events related to the Canyon War
build a case for alternate arguments about the problems and solutions involved in the Canyon War
used to support the six stages of historical inquiry (contextualizing, historical questions, selecting sources, analyzing evidence, drawing conclusions, communicating findings)
divide into piles of sources and used cold to see how different groups of students imagine the story that is connected with their stories
used as props for the teacher to deliver a lesson or student to deliver a presentation
corroborate with other references such as the text, the film "Canyon War," websites, summaries (such as this one), or articles about BC in 1858 such as this one: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/1858-how-a-violent-year-created-a-province/article663220/

The pattern we are going for here is to treat sources like manipulatives -- match and Science teachers figured this out long ago and it's time for SS teacher to play catch-up!

Riel in the News

CBC news - Tory MP calls Louis Riel a 'villain'
Riel Pamphlet distributed by MP to constituents
Global News - MP's letter draws backfire
CTV News - PMO condemns MP who vilified Riel
CBC News - PM Justin Trudeau salutes Riel on holiday

Simulations

new_home_project.doc
File Size:	78 kb
File Type:	doc