Big Ideas
Big Ideas
Emerging ideas and ideologies profoundly influence societies and events.
The physical environment influences the nature of political, social, and economic change.
Disparities in power alter the balance of relationships between individuals and between societies.
Collective identity is constructed and can change over time.
Content
Learning Standards
Content
political, social, economic, and technological revolutions
- Sample topics:
- American Revolution
- French Revolution
- Industrial Revolution
- Haitian Revolution
- Red River Resistance, Northwest Resistance
- advances in science and technology
- industrialization
- new methods of transportation, including the railway, steamships, cars, and aircraft
imperialism and colonialism on indigenous peoples in Canada and around the world
- Sample topics:
- impact of treaties on First Peoples (e.g., numbered treaties, Vancouver Island treaties)
- impact of the Indian Act, including reservations and the residential school system
- interactions between Europeans and First Peoples
- the Scramble for Africa
- Manifest Destiny in the United States
- Key questions:
- What were the motivations for imperialism and colonialism during this period?
- What role does imperialism and colonialism from this period have on events in present-day Canada and around the world?
global demographic shifts, including patterns of migration and population growth
- Sample topics:
- slavery
- disease, poverty, famine, and the search for land
- why immigrants (including East and South Asian immigrants) came to BC and Canada, the
- individual challenges they faced, and their contributions to BC and Canada
- influences of immigration on Canada’s identity
- historical reasons for the immigration of specific cultural groups to Canada (e.g., Irish potato famine, Chinese railway workforce, World War II refugees, underground railroad, Acadians, western settlement campaign, gold rushes)
- Key questions:
- Did immigrants benefit from emigrating to Canada?
- How did the arrival of new groups of immigrants affect Canadian identity?
nationalism and the development of modern nation-states, including Canada
- Sample topics:
- Canadian Confederation
- national projects and policies (e.g., the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Macdonald’s National Policy)
- responsible government
- Tokugawa Shogunate
- Meiji Restoration
- unifications (e.g., Italy, Germany)
- Key questions:
- Is nationalism a more positive or negative force in the world?
- To what extent does nationalism bring people together or drive them apart?
- What factors influence nationalism and national identity?
local, regional, and global conflicts
- Sample topics:
- Opium Wars
- Boxer Rebellion
- Boer War
- wars of independence in Latin America
- Armenian genocide
- Chilcotin War, Fraser Canyon War
- Fraser Canyon War
- American Civil War
- Franco-Prussian War of 1871
- Russian Revolution
- Crimean War
- Russo-Japanese War
- Chinese Rebellion of 1911
- World War I
- Sample topics:
- Head Tax and other discriminatory immigration policies against people of East and South Asian descent
- Komagata Maru
- societal attitudes toward ethnic minorities in Canada (e.g., Chinese railway workers, Sikh loggers, Eastern European farmers, Irish famine refugees, African-American slavery refugees)
- discriminatory policies toward First Peoples, such as the Indian Act, potlatch ban, residential schools
- internments
- social history
- gender issues
- suffrage
- labour history, workers’ rights
- responses to discrimination in Canada
- Asiatic Exclusion League in BC
- discrimination against German-Canadians during World War I
- Key question:
- How might specific examples of past incidents of inequality (e.g., Head Tax on Chinese immigrants, internment of Japanese-Canadians, residential schools, suffrage, discriminatory federal government labour practices related to gender and sexual orientation) be handled today under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms?
physiographic features of Canada and geological processes
- Sample topic:
- connections between Canada’s natural resources and major economic activities
- Sample activities:
- Compare and contrast physical features and natural resources in different regions of Canada
- Role-play negotiations between a wide range of stakeholders involved in the decision to build a new mine or oil pipeline
- Key questions:
- What effect has the physical geography of Canada had on Canadian and regional identity?
- What perspectives do different groups (e.g., environmental groups, people employed in the forest industry, First Peoples, urban and rural populations) have on the use of natural resources?
Curricular Competency
Learning Standards
Curricular Competency
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, places, events, or developments, and compare varying perspectives on their historical significance at particular times and places, and from group to group (significance)
- Sample activities:
- Compare and contrast the events considered by English-Canadian, French-Canadian, and First Peoples scholars to be the most significant during this period.
- Track and compare key developments in the creation of two nation-states (e.g., Japan, Germany, Canada) during this period.
- Key questions:
- To what extent do individuals determine the direction and outcome of revolutions?
- Would World War I have taken place without the actions of Gavrilo Princip?
Assess the justification for competing historical accounts after investigating points of contention, reliability of sources, and adequacy of evidence (evidence)
- Sample activities:
- Identify primary sources (e.g., original documents, political cartoons, interviews, surveys) and secondary sources (e.g., textbooks, articles, reports, summaries, historical monographs) for selected topics.
- Plan and conduct research using primary and secondary sources, including sources from a range of media types (e.g., print news, broadcast news, online sources) representing a range of perspectives.
- Assess information sources for selected topics in terms of bias and point of view.
- Key questions:
- What evidence is there that imperialism and colonialism still influence present-day relationships between countries and groups?
- What evidence is there to support John A. Macdonald’s argument that BC would be better off joining the United States if the transcontinental railwaywas not built?
Compare and contrast continuities and changes for different groups at the same time period (continuity and change)
- Key questions:
- Why did Baldwin and LaFontaine succeed where Mackenzie and Papineau failed?
- To what extent was the Scramble for Africa a time of progress or decline?
- In what ways has the colonization of Canada made life better or worse? And for whom?
Assess how prevailing conditions and the actions of individuals or groups affect events, decisions, or developments (cause and consequence)
- Sample activities:
- Make connections between events and their causes, consequences, and implications.
- Compare and contrast the origins, course, and outcomes of two different revolutions.
- Track key developments in Canadian sovereignty and statehood over time, from 1763 to 1931.
- Key questions:
- Did the 1837–38 rebellions advance the cause of political sovereignty from Britain in Upper and Lower Canada?
- To what extent does the American Civil War still cause tensions between the US southern and northern states?
- To what extent did industrial capacity determine the outcome of conflicts from 1870 to 1918?
- Do economic factors always play key roles in causing revolutions?
- What is the true date of Canadian Confederation? Explain your reasoning.
- What are the most significant reasons for colonial expansion?
- Did the French Revolution result in positive change for the French people? Explain why or why not.
- To what extent did the Russo-Japanese War signal the end of European global hegemony?
Explain and infer different perspectives on past or present people, places, issues, or events by considering prevailing norms, values, worldviews, and beliefs (perspective)
- Sample activities:
- Examine primary sources (e.g., photographs, newspaper articles, cartoons, speeches) and evaluate what these sources reveal about the worldview and beliefs of the author.
- Compare primary and secondary sources about a controversial historical person.
- Key questions:
- To what extent do sources like newspaper articles reflect the attitudes of society versus the attitudes of authors?
- What types of sources are best to consult to get a more complete understanding of a particular issue or event?
Recognize implicit and explicit ethical judgments in a variety of sources
- Key questions:
- Was Louis Riel a patriot or a rebel?
- Did the American Revolution result in freedom, liberty, and happiness for people in the colonies? Explain why or why not.
Make reasoned ethical judgments about actions in the past and present, and determine appropriate ways to remember and respond (ethical judgment)
- Key questions:
- What limits should we place on resource-extraction industries?
- Were American and Canadian/British policies toward First Peoples an example of pre–twentieth century genocide?
- Was Canada’s participation in World War I justified?
- What key factors influenced decisions about who should have the vote (e.g., why were women given the vote after World War I and First Peoples were not?)?
- Was John A. Macdonald an admirable leader? Explain the reasons for your answer.