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LES /
Learning and Evaluation Situations
Secondary Cycle 2
NOTE 1: LEARN login may be required to access these LES.
Request more information
here
.
These learning situations are
being developed by
LEARN staff, and by
practicing teachers and school board consultants, for the
Secondary Cycle 2 History and Citizenship programs. Most were initially designed for
projected online courses to be offered by LEARN's e-learning division and are being shared here in
the hope of receiving
feedback and in order to contribute to the larger community effort to provide
support for Quebec teachers.
NOTE 2: THESE ARE NOT THE ONLY LESs available through
LEARN.
Other suggested approaches are available in the public sections of the
Geography and
History
areas. The MELS government sites listed in
Program
Info. section contain LESs and ESs. And our
Elementary Social Sciences
area also contains relevant resources including LESs that could be useful at all levels.
Finally, consider browsing the various sections of the french
RECITUS web site which supports teachers
working in French! (SAEs, Ressources, mais aussi les Associations comme AQEUS!)
Cycle 2 Year 1 |
Cycle 2 Year 2 |
Contemporary World
Cycle 2 YEAR 1
LES 1 - First Peoples - Traditions and world-views shaping
their society
Guiding Question: How did the "worldviews" of First Peoples shape the way their society was organized?
Description of Learning Situation and Learning Goals:
This Learning and Evaluation Situation asks students to examine their individual and group
worldviews, as well as those of First Nation peoples, by first focussing on key issues and areas of
conflict (use of Earth, right to land, right to travel under own passport, etc.). Through such an
engagement students will then discover spiritual, cultural and economic differences that shaped
societal structures and still shape aboriginal perspectives. Students will also become
equipped to engage in discussion through the examination of print and non-print documents. This
will promote understanding, and students' efforts to communicate that understanding will promote a
more constructive dialogue between peoples, thus constituting an exercise in citizenship.
Student Process and Products:
Preparation of final project will include finding and organizing and
interpreting oral, written and iconographic evidence of First Peoples’ worldviews presumed to exist
before European contact.
Part of the research process includes opportunities to discover similarities and differences
between diverse groups of the pre-contact eras.
Complex task:
To produce a visual-Podcast (or a commented slideshow) that collects together and orders
evidence to demonstrate the way First Peoples’ traditions and worldviews shaped their societies.
Alternative complex task:
To produce a script for a video production, which could include interviews with politically
active members of current First Nations, and interviews with those involved in First Nations media
productions.
LES 2 - New France - Programs of colonization and a new
society
Guiding Question(s):
How did programs of colonization shape the society
and territory of New France?
Was New France an autonomous colony by 1760?
Description of Learning Situation and Learning Goals:
Students will understand that governments and other organizations can shape the way a new
society develops. They can do this, for example, by enacting political policies, by
promoting religious expansion, and by offering economic incentives.
After examining a variety of these "programs of colonization" intended to expand New France between 1608 and 1760, students will explain just how those programs shaped the society and territory of New France, and also judge whether or not those programs resulted in an autonomous New France.
Student products and processes
Students will produce a series of dialogs in the form of an exchange of letters between from
a known member of early French Canadian society and an important individual who was responsible for
promoting colonization.. (Example: Between a Quebec governor and a French
Intendant.)
Dialogs would include:
- reasons for initial colonization
- examples of programs and incentives and whether they were effective or not
- reflections on the French Canadian society and culture that formed as a result of that colonization
- statement or judgement on autonomy of N.F. (whether still dependent on home country or not)
LES 3 - A Change of Empire
Description of Learning Situation and Learning Goals
Students will examine events, political and strategic contexts, before during and after the
"Conquest." But first they will reflect on the present-day, with the way a duplication
or “duality” in someservices and institutions in Quebec exist, presumably as a result of the “
Change of Empire”
Parallels between our society's experiences and that of India will
shed more light on the experience of conquest and occupation. Related discussions on American
cultural domination and "imperialism" (to begin and end the LES) could add another perspective and
suggest similar situations worldwide today.
Student products and processes
Students will list on a timeline, then produce a schematic map illustrating the military
events of the conquest and the groups of people involved. Students will then Investigate the
political and territorial, and the social and cultural consequences of conquest.
Students will also research and trace the history of at least 3 institutions in their community that can be (arguably) traced to events during the time of conquest. Students will interview community members (3 to 5) as to their knowledge of the history and the evolution of those 3 institutions, cultural differences, etc.
Culminating Task: Students will produce a newspaper-style report on their own communities, based on gathered research, interpretive conclusions and the results of community interviews. Students will comment on what the community knows of and thinks of local and provincial "duplicated" services, and also of whether they perceive them as a result of the original Conquest.
Web version with online resources | Visit supporting links collection
LES 4 - Demands and struggles: Liberalism and democratic ideas in colony of Quebec
Description of Learning Situation and Learning Goals
Students will examine present-day notions of nationhood. Then, after reviewing liberal philosophies and revolutionary events such as the American Revolution, students will consider the way liberalism contributed to Canadian struggles for democracy and in turn towards our evolving national identity.
Student products and processes:
Students will create a documentary-style portrait of 3 key individuals somehow involved in the struggle and the evolution of democracy in Canada. They will show how they and the events they were involved in contributed to our identity as a Nation. Students will also consider how their changing identity, their philosophical position against injustice, and their actions constitute an exercise in citizenship (Competency 3)
The final culminating task will take the form of a series of mock interviews or a third-person biographical report.
Web version with online resources | Visit supporting links collection
LES 5 - Industrialization and the Formation of the Canadian
Confederation:
An environmental perspective
Guiding Question(s):
H
ow did
(economic, social and political) transformations during the time
of Confederation affect the environment?
Description of Learning Situation and Learning Goals:
Students begin by reflecting on the way economic transformations and political changes can
affect the environment. In this way students are introduced to the suggested "lens" through which
students might view the time of Confederation in this LES, namely through the Broad Area of
Learning "Environmental Awareness and Consumer Rights and Responsibilities."
After reviewing short summary documents and films on early Industrialization in Canada and on
general changes at the time of Confederation, students form hypotheses around the problem posed in
the guiding question:
How did transformations during the time of Confederation affect
the environment?
Students then begin to gather and examine other documents on the
economic changes of the times. They examine
political changes that eventually resulted in Confederation
and various associated territorial changes. Students also consider the way Canadian
society evolved during this process, and throughout they include an environmentalist's perspective
on "The relationship between industrialization and social, territorial and political change," the
designated focus of this learning situation.
The students produce:
A press release warning of early environmental risks and problems surrounding
Industrialization.
A graphical sketch illustrating territorial and political changes before and after
confederation.
A short radio news report on a social issue of the time.
Culminating Task:
To respond to the guiding question and to explore the designated focus, students are asked to
research and interpret selected social phenomena and economic, social and territorial changes after
confederation and up to 1929. To demonstrate their interpretation of these changes (Competency 2),
and to strengthen their role as active citizens (Competency 3), they will produce a campaign ad for
an imaginary or real political party running in Canadian elections about 10 years after
Confederation. (i.e. the ad campaign can look on the years surrounding Confederation but also
make predictions about the turn of century!).
It is presently only available via a forum thread in the the Social Sciences PLC or by request.
You can also visit the supporting resource collections for this period here
LES 6 Modernization of Quebec society, and the role of the State
Description of Learning Situation and Learning Goals
Students will explore various changes in mentality and world-view caused by transformations associated with modernization, then interpret the dynamic between those changes and the role of the state. A (optional) focus on Media Literacy will encourage students to consider mass media’s role in that dynamic.
Student products and processes
Complex tasks include organizing events along timelines. Timelines will be both theme-based (organizing events by aspect) and causal (organizing events to support an argument).
Culminating task will be to produce an argumentative media tour or visual podcast-type presentation, which incorporates (and critiques) media elements amongst event selections, and which responds to guiding question.
Web version with links | Visit supporting links collection
LES 7 - Managing issues: Quebec Society since 1980
Description of Learning Situation and Learning Goals
A public space exists in which we can debate and act on issues. Past historical realities have contributed to the development of that public space. The issues we face today can be seen in light of those past realities, and they are also often inter-connected and multi-dimensional in nature (environmental, societal, economic, and political).
In this learning situation students will first explore the issue of Public Health Care, making connections to previous learning, exploring the actors involved, their methods, etc. Students will discover ways people debate and act on issues in today's public space.
Finally, taking advantage of that same public space, students will take a position on an issue of their own choice, thereby exercising their own citizenship.Student products and processes
The proposed culminating task for this LES involves the creation of a party platform or a lobby group campaign strategy.
The culminating task should also involve an outline of the philosophy of the proposed lobby or pressure group and include descriptions of the historical context out of which this group was created. It should include a statement indicating that lobby group's position on at least one key issue, and its position relative to other lobby groups, other political party stances, other philosophies, etc.
An oral speech, web site, poster or television ad could compliment this product . The position paper and presentation components should also reflect course content and past historical issues.
Web version with links | Visit supporting links collection (coming soon)
Cycle 2 Year 1 | Cycle 2 Year 2 | Contemporary World
Cycle 2 YEAR 2
LES 1 Year 2 - Population – Factors affecting population and
settlement
Guiding Question: What factors affect the way populations change and settlements develop?
Students will examine several time periods where the population and settlement patterns in Canada showed significant change. They will examine the different contexts for those changes, the different players involved, and ultimately come to grasp the different reasons for such change. They examine the factors that "push" people out of one territory and those that "pull" them towards another.
By examining different contexts, students will develop their ability to examine similar present-day phenomena "in light of the past," and to look at those phenomena "in their complexity." The complex task, an Academic Controversy, will permit students to demonstrate these abilities, as they examine a number of documents, consider and argue two points of view, and then attempt to reach a consensus on the question of whether or not the Canadian dream was myth or reality.
Student products and processes:
Student will examine different contexts for population change by
examining statistical documents on their own community and later on new France, by working with
websites on Native migrations, the Loyalists, World War 2 refugees and others, and by writing from
the point of view of various actors on the historical stage. They will be required to
interpret original documents, images, and maps. While exploring the contexts and
the complexity of each situation, students will have a organizer tool to record the "push/pull"
factors in play and the particular consequences associated with the changes in population and
settlement at various times. The learning activities will also allow students to form
opinions regarding those factors and consequences, and to amass sufficient knowledge to be able to
effectively engage in the final complex task.
Students will perform an "Academic Controversy" questioning the myth of the Canadian Dream.
LES 2 Year 2 Economy and Development - Effects on territory
and society
Guiding Question (s):
How has Quebec territory and society been affected by economic development?
And, has economic development occurred independently of what other countries were
doing?
Description of Learning Situation and Learning
Goals:
This LES begins by examining present-day trends in economic
development, and how various regions are affected today.
Students will analyze texts, images, movie clips and will give their opinions on various topics related to the economy.
[Additional alternative strategy: Students could demonstrate their understanding of various periods and act as citizens through an ongoing dialogue with students in China or elsewhere through the online workspace and community provided at Taking It Global. ]
Student products and processes:
Students will examine the Quebec economy today by discussing
dynamics of exports and various concepts, by listing economic sectors and industries, and by
considering the complicated relationship between economic activity and regional and cultural
development. Students will form questions as to changes in regions, hypothesizing around
effects of economic development.
Students will illustrate concepts in poster form, use maps, images, tables and texts to illustrate the economic shift that occurred as BNA shifted to a lumber-based economy.
Students will analyze images (editorial cartoons) and compare them to texts by creating a McCord web folder collection. They will understand the effects of resource exploitation, industrial expansion, and urbanization on people of a territory, by “reporting” on a representative social protest movement during the modern industrial era.
Culminating task:
Students will create a brochure that includes an historical portrait of Quebec’s economic development.
The target audience is Chinese (or other foreign) investors!
Web version with online resources | Visit supporting links collection
LES 3 Year 2 Currents of Thought and Cultural
Expression:
Art imitating life: Currents of thought and Cultural expressions
How does art imitate
life?
or
How do cultural
expressions express the ideas and currents of thought of the times?
LES Overview:
Students consider what makes art different from culture, and then
examine a contemporary artwork in order to make conclusions about the current of thought and ideas
it represents. In separate groups student then research key currents of thought in the 20th
century and relate them to cultural expression and to other events. The notion of an
evolving current of thought is introduced first through a cultural representation during British
Rule, then through a larger multi-media essay that investigates the evolution of Imperialism.
Students then immitate both the style of the ebook/essay's presentation and the conviction of its
position-taking by writing an essay that responds to one of several essay questions on a current of
thought that existed through various periods of Canadian history.
Student Tasks:
Examine a contemporary current of thought that includes cultural expressions, by researching it then presenting key events on a timeline.
Interpret an eBook-style essay on the evolution of Imperialism.
Create an essay in the form of an eBook that traces the evolution of
a current of thought throughout Canadian history. The essay must identify, and insert into
the ebook format, examples of related cultural expressions in a variety of forms (images, sounds,
videos, etc.). The essay must also make connections between the current of thought and events
related to Population and Settlement, Economic Development, and Power Relations.
LES 4 Year 2 Power Relations (Official vs. Counterveiling)
Does the presence of "countervailing powers" contribute to a better society?
Learning Situation Overview:
This Learning and Evaluation Situation begins with a discussion around the meaning and implications of Power, followed by an examination of types of official vs. countervailing power struggles. Reasons for power struggles are examined with consideration for each group interests, their means of influence, and finally the "common good." Then, to help answer the guiding question students examine specific struggles for power throughout Canadian history, in order to determine more specifically whether power struggles in Quebec have contributed to a better society.
Scenario Suggestion for LES or just for Final Complex Task:
You all work for an educational publisher. The editor wishes to create supplemental features or chapters to an existing electronic textbook on Power Relations. These features (sold separately as in the model pictured at left from Inkling) will state a supported opinion on the good of power relations in general. Each group must produce a self-contained mini-history or portrait of a long-standing lobby group or philosophical or political movement that somehow acted (and still acts!) as a countervailing power to the official power of the State. (i.e. Could be long-lived groups such as the St. Jean Baptiste society, or movements with complex historical roots such as Feminism. Could be a political party or a political trend in politics as well.)
Complex Tasks:
Students will write an interpretation and opinion essay on the the way the French Colonial Administrators interacted with three different interest groups of the times.
Students will produce a Podcast-format interview of a major figure during the British Regime, interpreting their group’s demands and means of influence. They will also state an opinion on the guiding question in this specific context.
Culminating Complex Task:
Students will produce a mini-history or portrait of a countervailing power or interest group, showing their origins, their evolution, and the effects they had on Canadian society.
Quick menu to sections:
Cycle 2 Year 1 | Cycle 2 Year 2 | Contemporary World
Cycle 2 Year 3: Contemporary World
Note that several LESs are still in progress, both in and out of LEARN. And remember, others like the Tensions and Conflict: Behind and Beyond the Oil Barrel LES produced by EMSB and Littoral SB consultants is available via new CW site.You may also want to check what people have shared in folders and forum discussions on the SS PLC
The following are LEARN-produced LESs:
Wealth: Distribution of Wealth and Emerging Economies
Balancing social justice with economic development
How can emerging economies generate wealth in a socially just way?
Overview:
Students will consider whether wealth can be generated in countries with emerging economies, in a way that is socially just? Students will also consider our own actions as consumers of products from emerging economies. In the process, students will understand and apply select concepts/knowledge, consider multiple perspectives, and then form an opinion on a world issue in line with the guiding question.
Students first "interpret the contemporary world problem" (Competency 1) by examining different ways Disparity exists world-wide. A route to "analyzing" the problem is then suggested, whereby students interpret the basic features of Capitalism itself, the way that Industry drives Economies, and how the very generation of Wealth itself can create Social Gaps.
Students then begin to "take a position" (Competency 2) by first understanding emerging economies. Students consider the way media here is used to sell us the products they produce. Students "establish critical distance" by considering both the perspective of those who gain wealth here (shareholders in companies) and the perspective of those who live in countries where certain items are produced. (shareholders there, but also workers, local populations, etc).
Complex task:
A final complex tasks asks students to bring together the above competencies, knowledge and concepts in order to take and support a position, to situate themselves in a real world outcome. Students must create a balanced public service announcement (PSA) for the UN that responds to the guiding question.
NOTE that this LES has now been reviewed, and most tools and rubrics are now complete. The most up-to-date draft version, including several activity suggestions and many valuable resources, links, and evaluation tools, is available in to the LEARN community immediately.
Click here. Check the document date to see that you have the most current version.
Tensions and Conflict:
The Rwandan Genocide through graphic novels and interviews
Note: This Learning and Evaluation Situation (LES) has recently been updated to include separate teacher and student booklets. Some sections are still being developed, but the working copies are now available in its own site section here
Guiding Question (Draft)
Is military intervention a justified form of humanitarian intervention?
Learning Situation Overview
Crimes against humanity have been committed on unbelievably vast scales, as is evident not only from official reports and media records, but also from the stories told by those who survived. Human suffering because of those crimes has been undeniable, yet intervention into such conflicts from international organizations to prevent or limit atrocities has not always been forthcoming. This Learning and Evaluation situation asks students to examine and interpret the events surrounding the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s. It then asks them to act on their interpretation (i.e. to take a position) by entering into and extending the dialogue began by those witnesses who lived to tell the tale.
Students will first consider their own knowledge of genocide. They will then be presented with imagery and short narratives that briefly describe the Rwandan genocide. They will be put into the “situation” of continuing the story-line of Rupert Bazambanza's graphic novel entitled "Smile Through the Tears." To prepare for this task students will acquire background knowledge while developing various competencies: interpretation of historical facts and opinions, identification of actors, and critical recognition of facts related to the political, social and ethical issues that came into play. By the end of the Learning situation, students are expected to be able to effectively take a position on the political and moral issue of “humanitarian assistance” (in this case military intervention!) into areas where extreme human rights violations are occurring.
Throughout the LES the students will also consider the role of the media, as a means to enflame emotions and even to encourage acts of genocide within Rwanda, but also as a factor that could have encouraged international aid but for political and other reasons did not. Students will consider media-types such as Television, Internet videos, longer personal testimonies (Life Stories), and especially the graphic novel, as sources of information and options for taking social action. They will also consider media as a means for acting now, as the means by which the stories of victims are told and understood.
Students will also develop competencies associated with the new Ethics and Religious Culture program, including an ability to engage in dialogue, and how to reflect on the ethical issues.
Power Theme: The sovereignty of states and economic or
political associations
The case of Turkey and the European Union
Is it advantageous in today's world for sovereign states to join larger economic or political unions?
Overview description of Learning Situation and Learning Goals
The following Learning situation places students in an advisory position in Canada's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The concern of advisory board is to determine the interests of Turkey and other players involved in Turkey's application to accede to the European Union. The students' complex task will be to Write a policy recommendation to Canada’s Minister of foreign affairs and take a role in a parliamentary sub-committee..
Students will develop Competency 1 by first Interpreting the issues, players and general makeup of the European union.
Student will develop Competency 2 by then Taking a position on Turkey's application specifically. Their response will answer the guiding question: "Is it advantageous in today's world for sovereign states to join larger economic or political unions?"
Note: A first version of a final draft of this LES is now available as a Google Document. It includes rubrics for evaluation, strategies, and many resources and activity suggestions. A link to its location is provided in a "forum thread" on the teachers' SS PLC open to all Social Sciences teachers in Quebec. Or by Contacting us directly for more information