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Resources and Options for the bridging to the new BC Social Studies 10

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.  The resources on this page are intended to be a bridge for teachers during this transitional year for Social Studies 10.  Many teachers are opting to run a version of this course that highlights topics from the traditional Social Studies 10 and 11 curriculum.  Their reasoning is that Grade 10 students in 2016/17 will not take Social Studies 11 in the following year, so this is their last chance to learn about many 20th century topics with their Social Studies teachers.  These resources will assist teachers in running a hybrid or bridge course that combines the familiar with an student-centred, exploratory approach that fits a competency-based approach to Social Studies and the BC Education Plan.   For teachers moving straight on to the new version of Social Studies 10, rather than the "Bridge" version below, refer directly to the Ministry of Education site for the draft curriculum.

Sample Course Outlines

For comparison:
​Example of new SS9   |   Example of new SS10   |   Example of old SS11
Example of a hybrid "SS10/SS11" -- "bridge" curriculum for the 2016/17 year.  This includes the units listed below. SS10 Bridge Outline (word file).

Here is another example from Surrey teachers Robert Dewinetz and Rajni Gowgill. Hybrid SS10 (pdf).

Sample Units

This could be a complete list of topics for a "Bridge SS10" or some pick-and-choose to supplement a thematic or project based approach.  Many of the suggested short projects are listed on the right.  If taken as an actual unit guide and each topic as lesson, this would involve about 33 lessons. In a typical 100-hour course, each unit of 3-4 lessons, including some project and assessment time, would take 10-14 hours. Perhaps 2 hours for each lesson, and the rest of the time for projects and assessment. every teacher does it differently, but this simply indicates that it is possible to structure a course with a list of topics similar to the one below.
What is Canada
  • Perspectives on Canadian Identity
  • How we Govern Ourselves: Structure and Function
  • Political Spectrum: Canada’s Parties
  • Elections and Influencing Government
possible projects: What is Canada speech, Political Parties Webquest
The World Stage
  • Global Demographics and Change
  • Canada's Standard of Living (compared to...)
  • Global Environmental and Economic Issues
possible projects: International Demographic Profile
Birth of a Nation
  • Immigration, Settlement, and Interaction between Peoples
  • Towards Confederation: Reform, Resolutions, and Compromise
  • How we Govern Ourselves: Structure of Government
  • Colonization and Conflict in the Northwest
possible projects: New Home simulation, Confederation News
The West Coast
  • Geography of BC and the Fur Trade Era
  • Gold Rush Era in BC and 
  • Joining Confederation and the Multicultural Crossroads in BC
possible projects:  Barkerville simulation, Great Map of the Pacific Northwest
Canada in its Youth
  • Building the CPR
  • Treaty Making, Metis Conflicts, and the Indian Act
  • The Laurier Era: Challenges of Identity and Inclusion
  • Canada and the Great War 1914-1919
possible projects: Great Map of Canada, Louis Riel Trial, WWI Conflict, Letter from the Front
Feast, Famine, and Fire
  • The Roaring 20s: Aftermath of WWI, Boom and Bust Cycles
  • The Dirty 30s: Dealing with the Great Depression
  • The Fighting 40s: Canada and WWII
possible projects: Depression-Era Experience, WWII memorial project
Canada in the Postwar Era 1945-1967
  • The Cold War
  • Prosperity, Politics, and Mega-projects
  • Dief, Mike and Dealings with the USA
  • Postwar Evolution of Rights and Inclusion in Canada
possible​ projects: research essay, Residential School case study, Immigration Experience simulation
Home and Away
  • Canada's Form of Democracy
  • Global Demographics and Change
  • Canada's Standard of Living (compared to...)
  • Global Environmental and Economic Issues
possible projects: Political Parties Webquest, International Demographic Profile
Canada in the Modern Era
  • Constitutional Challenge: Quebec Nationalism, Charter, Accords
  • Indigenous Rights and Reconciliation
  • Peacekeeping and International Incidents Involving Canada
  • Politics from Trudeau to Trudeau (and everything in between)
possible projects: Echo Project (interview with elder, primary source research), UN simulation

Suggestions for Assessment

Using the Unit Examples above, teachers could use eight short assessments to gauge student learning.  Rather than the traditional test (tons of multiple choice questions, sometimes with a written section), these assessments could feature just a few of the primary sources or other evidence used to teach during the unit.  Students should respond with some basic questions about each source, especially around significance.  This could be in the form of notes, writing or diagrams, and could be take-home (assignment style) or test format.  Evaluation could be informal (self, group, teacher) and used as formative assessment, or marked by the teacher for summative assessment.  We use a 5-point rubric to score each collection of questions around a source.  While this may seem like a lot of work, it goes quickly and the teacher will soon recognize that they are gathering very accurate information about what their students know, do, and understand.  Other tests, exams, and so on will not be needed, although these performance-based assessments can be blended with projects marks.

Projects, Activities, and Simulations

assessing_significance_vimy_ridge.pdf
File Size: 765 kb
File Type: pdf
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political_party_webquest.pdf
File Size: 83 kb
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demography_assignment.pdf
File Size: 91 kb
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life_in_the_trenches_letter_assignment.pdf
File Size: 221 kb
File Type: pdf
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constructing_canada.doc
File Size: 46 kb
File Type: doc
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new_home_project.doc
File Size: 78 kb
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new_home_role_cards.doc
File Size: 3304 kb
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new_home_teachers_instructions.pdf
File Size: 98 kb
File Type: pdf
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confederation_colony_perspective.doc
File Size: 40 kb
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great_map_of_the_northwest_instructions.doc
File Size: 352 kb
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great_map_northwest.doc
File Size: 1031 kb
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confederation_news.doc
File Size: 153 kb
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great_map_canada_instructions.doc
File Size: 340 kb
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great_map_canada.doc
File Size: 81 kb
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world_war_one_technology.docx
File Size: 491 kb
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wwi_conflict_and_home_front.docx
File Size: 247 kb
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wwi_conflict.docx
File Size: 299 kb
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wwi_resources.docx
File Size: 1514 kb
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research_poster_–_pms_of_canada___1_.doc
File Size: 27 kb
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intro_to_canada_essay.docx
File Size: 11 kb
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battle_notes__1_.docx
File Size: 13 kb
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poster_notes__1_.docx
File Size: 69 kb
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ww_i_scrapbook_questions__1_.doc
File Size: 29 kb
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canadian_women_in_the_1920s_and_the_1930s__1_.doc
File Size: 29 kb
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depression_review_-_people_parties_events.docx
File Size: 63 kb
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the_depression_mind_map_activity_-_notes__1_.docx
File Size: 17 kb
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mapping_the_war_in_europe_11x17__1_.doc
File Size: 90 kb
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review_timeline__1_.doc
File Size: 29 kb
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the_canadian_images_and_letters_project_.docx
File Size: 15 kb
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world_war_ii_heritage_project__1_.doc
File Size: 28 kb
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group_work_-_critical_thinking__1_.docx
File Size: 13 kb
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world_takes_sides__1_.doc
File Size: 33 kb
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world_takes_sides_map__1_.doc
File Size: 59 kb
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government_scavenger_hunt__1_.doc
File Size: 29 kb
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political_protest_campaign.docx
File Size: 13 kb
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what_do_you_know_about_govt.docx
File Size: 38 kb
File Type: docx
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charter_for_dummies.docx
File Size: 11 kb
File Type: docx
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charter_of_rights_and_freedoms.pdf
File Size: 98 kb
File Type: pdf
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Suggestions for Lesson Elements

One of the reservations about teaching a hybrid of the old SS10 and SS11 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 last 200 years. 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. 
  • 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.
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