Asian Studies 12

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Big Ideas

Grandes idées

The breadth and diversity of Asia’s physical and human resources have contributed to the development of distinct and disparate political, cultural, and economic regions in the late 20th century.

Colonialism, imperialism, and resource disparity have been the primary reasons for conflict and movement of peoples in Asia.

Ethnic, regional, and national identities, shaped in part by geography and migration, exert significant political and cultural influence in Asia.

Rapid industrialization, urbanization, and economic growth in Asia in the late 20th century have created complex environmental challenges.

Curricular Competencies

Students are expected to be able to do the following:

Use Social Studies inquiry processes and skills to ask questions; gather, interpret, and analyze ideas; and communicate findings and decisions

Key skills:
- Draw conclusions about a problem, an issue, or a topic.
- Assess and defend a variety of positions on a problem, an issue, or a topic.
- Demonstrate leadership by planning, implementing, and assessing strategies to address a problem or an issue.
- Identify and clarify a problem or issue.
- Evaluate and organize collected data (e.g., in outlines, summaries, notes, timelines, charts).
- Interpret information and data from a variety of maps, graphs, and tables.
- Interpret and present data in a variety of forms (e.g., oral, written, and graphic).
- Accurately cite sources.
- Construct graphs, tables, and maps to communicate ideas and information, demonstrating appropriate use of grids, scales, legends, and contours.

Assess the significance of people, locations, events, or developments, and compare varying perspectives on their historical significance at particular times and places, and from group to group

Key questions:
- What factors can cause people, locations, events, or developments to become more or less significant?
- What factors can make people, locations, events, or developments significant to different people?
- What criteria should be used to assess the significance of people, locations, events, or developments?
Sample activities:
- Use criteria to rank the most important people, locations, events, or developments in the current unit of study.
- Compare how different groups assess the significance of people, locations, events, or developments.

(significance)

Assess the justification for competing historical accounts after investigating points of contention, reliability of sources, and adequacy of evidence

Key questions:
- What criteria should be used to assess the reliability of a source?
- How much evidence is sufficient in order to support a conclusion?
- How much about various people, locations, events, or developments can be known and how much is unknowable?
Sample activities:
- Compare and contrast multiple accounts of the same event and evaluate their usefulness as historical sources.
- Examine what sources are available and what sources are missing, and evaluate how the available evidence shapes your perspective on the people, locations, events, or developments studied.

(evidence)

Compare and contrast continuities and changes for different groups

Key questions:
- What factors lead to changes or continuities affecting groups of people differently?
- How do gradual processes and more sudden rates of change affect people living through them? Which method of change has more of an effect on society?
- How are periods of change or continuity perceived by the people living through them? How does this compare to how they are perceived after the fact?
Sample activity:
- Compare how different groups benefited or suffered as a result of a particular change.

(continuity and change)

Assess how prevailing conditions and the actions of individuals or groups affect events, decisions, or developments

Key questions:
- What is the role of chance in particular events, decisions, or developments?
- Are there events with positive long-term consequences but negative short-term consequences, or vice versa?
Sample activities:
- Assess whether the results of a particular action were intended or unintended consequences.
- Evaluate the most important causes or consequences of various events, decisions, or developments.

(cause and consequence)

Explain different perspectives on past or present people, locations, issues, or events by considering prevailing norms, values, worldviews, and beliefs

Key questions:
- What sources of information can people today use to try to understand what people in different times and places believed?
- How much can we generalize about values and beliefs in a given society or time period?
- Is it fair to judge people of the past using modern values?
Sample activity:
- Explain how the beliefs of people on different sides of the same issue influence their opinions.

(perspective)

Make reasoned ethical judgments about actions in the past and present

Key questions:
- What is the difference between implicit and explicit values?
- Why should we consider the historical, political, and social context when making ethical judgments?
- Should people of today have any responsibility for actions taken in the past?
- Can people of the past be celebrated for great achievements if they have also done things considered unethical today?
Sample activities:
- Assess the responsibility of historical figures for an important event. Assess how much responsibility should be assigned to different people, and evaluate whether their actions were justified given the historical context.
- Examine various media sources on a topic and assess how much of the language contains implicit and explicit moral judgments.

(ethical judgment)

Content

Students are expected to know the following:

resource distribution and physiographic features

Sample topics:
- defining “Asia”
- geographic features, population density, climates, and environments of Asia
- natural borders, resource distribution, and impact of climate and physiographic features on trade, migration, and economies in Asia

demography, migration, urbanization, and environmental issues

Sample topics:
- migration within and away from Asia
- population growth and decline
- urbanization and the rise of megacities
- role of the state and markets in affecting migration patterns
- impact of climate change on livelihood
- standards of living (rural versus urban, and between regions and countries)

industrialization, globalization, economic systems, and distribution of wealth

Sample topics:
- growth, poverty, and inequality
- different standards of living and economic activities in Asian countries and regions
- pros and cons of foreign trade and investment in Asia and with Asia
- environmental sustainability and economic growth
- labour conditions and economic development
- export-led growth models
- rapid post-war economic growth and development in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan
- role of the state in economic development
- uneven development, urbanization, and growing inequality within and between countries (e.g., the move from rural to urban centres in China and Bangladesh)

development, structure, and function of political and social institutions

Sample topics:
- rise of contemporary nation-states
- China (e.g., Chinese communism under Mao versus under Deng versus today)
- Vietnam
- India
- ideologies
- health systems
- education systems

social and political movements, including human rights initiatives

Sample topics:
- aging populations in Japan and Korea
- caste system in India
- rise in economic inequality and youth unemployment
- human rights issues (e.g., Rohingya, Uighurs, Tibet, North Korea; gender discrimination; honour killings)
- contemporary social and political movements, including indigenous rights (e.g., Umbrella Protests in Hong Kong)
- Southeast Asia’s modern statehood and multi-ethnic, multi-faith, multilingual populations
- European and US colonization, and national liberation movements

local, regional, and global conflict and co-operation

Sample topics:
- impact of colonialism in South, East, and Southeast Asia
- Chinese Revolution
- Indian independence movement
- World War II in the Pacific
- India–Pakistan partition
- creation of Bangladesh
- Korean War
- Vietnam War
- Sri Lankan ethnic conflict and civil war

local, regional, and national identities

Sample topics:
- India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh after the British Raj
- linguistic groups
- China
- Vietnam and French influences

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