Grade 8 - Unit 1 Topics

· Know that Canada is a democracy, and explain what effect this has had on the cultures of the country.

Know that all cultures organize ways for making decisions, settling conflicts and governing themselves . (COM)

· Contribute relevant comments during group discussion.

· Conduct research to gather specific data.

Canada's Democracy:

The BNA Act of 1867 made the Canadian government a federal system. A federal system is one in which powers are divided between a central government and other local and provincial/territorial governments. In a federal system, levels of government have their powers and responsibilities outlined in the constitution. For example, the federal level has responsibility for such areas as taxation, defence, postal service, criminal law, currency, banking, air navigation, unemployment insurance, immigration and broadcasting. The provincial level has responsibility for such areas as civil law, direct taxation, hospitals, education, natural resources, provincial courts and prisons, and social security. Municipal levels of government make decisions about streets and local roads, garbage collection, libraries, fire fighting, recreation facilities, police service, property taxes, local parks, snow removal, bus transportation, etc.

· Assess students' abilities to focus while viewing.

· Assess students' abilities to collect appropriate data and to draw relevant conclusions from the data collected.

· Keep anecdotal notes regarding students' attitudes and efforts to work successfully in group situations.

Instruction Suggestions

· Ask students to recall the characteristics of the forms of government that they studied in the grade 7 Power Unit. They should recall authoritarian forms: autocracy and oligarchy; and democratic forms: direct and representative democracy. Discuss the characteristics of each.

· Discuss the elements of a representative democracy so that students understand that citizens have their say in the governing of the country through the elections and voting processes.

· Have students view the video Political Organization . Provide them with a viewing guide to help them focus on main points and gather relevant data.

For the Extended Learning activity in this lesson, students may require information about developing interview questions and conducting an interview. This information is provided on page 360 of the curriculum guide.

· As a group, have students complete the political section of "Student Handout #2: Patterns of Culture."

· Provide student groups with time to research the political patterns of their chosen cultures. Instruct them to record their findings on "Student Handout #3: Exploring Cultures." 

· Instruct each group to prepare notes for a brief oral presentation (1-2 minutes) in which members describe the form of governing and decision making used by their chosen cultures. Instruct students to compose a statement explaining how they believe that form of government might affect the culture of its people.

· Provide time for each group to make a brief informal oral presentation about its findings and speculations.

Extended Learning: Invite a local politician to visit the classroom, or have students, in small groups, compose interview questions and prepare for the visit as much as possible.

Kinship patterns describe the ways in which a cultural group organizes the roles and duties of the family members.

A nuclear family is a two-generation family of parents and their children .

An extended family includes people of several generations, often living as one unit.

Using Current Events:

See page 351 in this curriculum guide for information about informal debates.

Other extended family cultures include the Baoule or Tarahumara. See the resource list for this unit for videos about these cultural groups.

· Assess students' abilities to think critically as they draw conclusions and make comparisons.

Instruction Suggestions

· Explain that all cultures have family or kinship structures to meet needs that vary from culture to culture.

· Discuss the term kinship and complete the appropriate section of "Student Handout #2: Patterns of Culture."

· Give each student a copy of "Student Handout #4: The Pokot People of Africa."

· Read aloud the information as students follow on their copies. Instruct students to highlight or underline, during reading, words and phrases that describe the kinship patterns of the Pokot people.

· Discuss the Pokot people's communal and extended-family kinship patterns. Have students read the quotes they have underlined to support their statements about those kinship patterns.

· Have students consider questions such as:

· Are male and female roles more defined or less defined in an extended family culture than in a nuclear family culture, and why might this be so? 

· What are the roles of the children in the Pokot extended family?

· How are decisions made in the Pokot extended family? Who is the leader? How do you know?

· Provide time for student groups to conduct research regarding the kinship patterns of their chosen cultures. Instruct them to record their findings on "Student Handout #3: Exploring Cultures."

· View the first 10-15 minutes of the video Kinship and Descent Part I, and discuss what is meant by patrilineal and matrilineal descent groups. Discuss the comparison made in the video with North American culture, which tends to value independence more than dependence. How does that affect the kind of kinship groups of North Americans?

· Provide each student with a copy of "Student Handout #5: Traditional Iroquois Kinship Patterns. " Have them read it silently.

· Have students work in pairs or small groups to respond to the following questions: If your family was structured according to the same kinship patterns as the traditional Iroquois society:

· What would you call your mother?

· What would you call your mother's sister?

· What would you call your mother's other children?

· What would you call the children of your mother's sister?

· Who is the person who would be head of the family?

· Who are all of your "mothers"?

· Who are all of your "brothers" and "sisters"?

· Who would be part of your long house family?

· Have students work in groups to brainstorm the advantages and disadvantages of the nuclear family and extended family structures. 

Extended Learning: Engage students in an informal debate about the advantages and disadvantages of living in an extended family or in a nuclear family.

· Know that the kind of art created by a culture depends upon the available resources, or the money to purchase the required resources.

· Know that often art serves practical purposes.

See page 332 for information about providing viewing-to-learn experiences for students.

It is important that students understand that the artistic patterns of a culture include its music, dance, literature, drama and visual art.

See page 342 in this curriculum guide for information about the Circle Learning activity, and page 394 for information about Talking Circles.

· Assess students' abilities to using viewing skills to gather relevant data.

Instruction Suggestions

· Have students engage in a Circle Learning or Talking Circle activity to discuss the question: What is art? Explore what students believe to be the purposes of art for individuals, and within a culture. Some purposes include: passing on traditions, symbolizing religious beliefs, capturing the beauty of nature, and expressing feelings and ideas. In many cultures art is functional (e.g., quilts, pottery). However, even functional work can be significant in playing a traditional or spiritual role (e.g., through decorative symbols).

· Have students view the video The Arts that explores the role of the arts in various world cultures. Introduce the video by explaining that the arts are used by all cultures to explore life and the meaning of human existence, among other reasons.

· Provide three or four focus questions for student use during viewing. Discuss students' responses following the viewing.

· Have students complete the appropriate section of "Student Handout #2: Patterns of Culture."

· Have student groups gather information about the nature and purpose of art in their chosen cultures and record their findings on "Student Handout #3: Exploring Cultures."

· Involve the class in an informal discussion about the relationship between various art forms and the culture as a whole. Discuss such questions as: What materials are used to create the art in each culture? How are musical instruments made? Who are the culture's artists? Are the works of art created for practical purposes, or simply for enjoyment? Is the art a reflection of the culture's technological and other developments? (Consider film, video art, recorded music and other art forms based on technology.)

· Ask students to speculate about the way that new technologies affect the art produced by a culture (e.g., consider technologies such as steel tools, mining equipment used to extract different resources for use in the production of art, computer graphics technology, photocopiers that produce camera-quality prints). New technology can also affect subject mater (industrial themes in contemporary dance, for example).

Extending Learning: Invite local artists into the classroom to discuss their work (e.g., musician, dancer, actor, writer, painter, sculptor, or traditional Elder storyteller). Have the artist(s) address the question, "What is the significance of what you do in your society or culture in general?" After the visit, have students further discuss the role of the arts within cultures.

· Present information orally or in written form.

· Accept that different cultures may have different beliefs, ceremonies, rituals and traditions.

Sample templates for assessing group work are included in this curriculum guide on page 413, 414 and 417.

Students may suggest ideas such as: to explain good and evil; to explain the seasons, the stars, the sun, the moon, and the days and nights; to create a common bond between people; to explain life and death; and to feel comforted that a higher force is caring for them.

Some religions that the students will likely encounter are: Islam, traditional Indian faiths, Christianity (Protestant and/or Catholic), Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Muslim, Sikhism, Shintoism, Confucianism and Taoism.

Assessment Suggestions

Instruction Suggestions

· Explain to students that the concept of religion refers to a culture's entire repertoire of beliefs, ceremonies, rituals and traditions.

· Have students brainstorm the function or purpose of religion in any culture. Record their suggestions on the chalkboard.

· Instruct students to work in pairs to respond to the following questions: What does religion do for the individual and for his/her culture? What is the purpose of religion in any culture?

· During a large group discussion, have students complete the appropriate section of "Student Handout #2: Patterns of Culture."

· Have students meet in their groups to research the religious patterns of their chosen cultures and record the information on "Student Handout #3: Exploring Cultures."

· Have groups prepare a presentation on the following: deity's names, places of worship, ways of worship, major beliefs, holy days (including why and how the day is

celebrated), and who participates in the religious ceremonies. They should also record the meaning of rituals, symbols and sacred objects, and the birth, marriage and death rituals of the culture, as well as others that are significant to their chosen culture.

· Have groups pair up to compare the religious patterns of their two cultures. Have them complete a comparison chart such as the one on page 398 of this curriculum guide.

Extending Learning: If time and interest permit, show students one of the videos: How Beliefs and Values Define a Culture; Religion and Magic; or Asmat of New Guinea: A Case Study in Religion and Magic.

· Participate in large group discussions.

See pages 342-343 in this curriculum guide for information about teaching classification skills, and page 409 for a sample assessment template.

Encourage students to include in their lists things that they have learned both inside and outside of school (e.g., to walk, to tell the truth, to ride a bike, to play piano, to speak a language(s), to skate, to fish, to use a telephone, to attend church, to practise certain traditions, to work hard, to care for the environment). It might be useful for the teacher to prepare a few examples from his/her own lifetime of learning.

Assessment Suggestions

Instruction Suggestions

· Discuss with students that education is a lifelong process of acquiring knowledge, skills and values from a variety of different teachers and experiences, some formal (e.g., in school), some informal (e.g., at home, while talking or working with a family member). Provide students with examples, from your own life if possible, to demonstrate that a person's education or learning never ends.

· Have students return to their three-column charts and place an I or an F across from each item to indicate if they learned it through informal or formal education.

· Ask students to explain what they believe is the difference between informal and formal education or learning, and discuss the values and purposes of each form of learning. Establish that, whether we learn something informally or formally, we are learning the ways of the culture in which we live.

· Have students complete the appropriate section of "Student Handout #2: Patterns of Culture."

· Have student groups discuss and respond to the statement on "Student Handout #7: A Guide for Critical Thinking."

Culture and Language:

Knowing the language of a culture allows individuals to participate more fully in that culture.

Knowing the language of a culture is a key factor in learning about that culture and becoming part of it. Many cultural traditions, symbols and ways of relating to others and the environment are embodied in language. Language is more than basic communication. Its nuances are connected closely to the ways and values of the culture.

· Ask students to imagine moving to live in another culture, (the one their group is exploring, for example). Have each group decide on the one thing they believe they would most need to know in order to live in and understand the way of life of that culture.

· Have students share their responses. If students identify language as the key factor in learning more about the culture, request reasons for their decision. If they do not identify language, lead them in a discussion of why the language is an important factor in learning, becoming part of, and maintaining the way of life of any culture, including their own.

Conclusion:

· Following either activity, help students to conclude that when a culture is no longer permitted or able to speak its language, that culture is often lost or diminished (e.g., Aboriginal peoples of the Americas). However, when a culture takes steps to revive and use its language, that culture often begins to thrive again. Explain that it is through language that culture is passed on to the next generation.

· Discuss the language laws in Quebec and why they are considered a way to maintain Francophone culture.

· Have each group conduct research to add to its information on "Student Handout #3: Exploring Cultures."

· Instruct groups to compare the patterns of education in the cultures that they are exploring with the patterns of education in Saskatchewan and the students' own experience.

Extended Learning: Show students the video Language and Communication. Prepare a viewing guide, and help students set purposes for viewing.

· Explain ways that a change in one pattern of culture affects other patterns of culture. (COM, CCT)

· Respect and accept others' opinions and viewpoints. (PSVS)

By talking and writing, students clarify and extend their understanding about each pattern of culture, and the interrelationships among the patterns.

The education of the people within a culture depends on the economy , which determines the amount of money that the government has to spend on schools, resources and teachers' wages. The political system is important in deciding what priority will be placed on education and how much money will be spent on it.

· Have students submit "Student Handouts #2 and #3" for assessment according to previously given criteria.

· The "Finding the Connections" activity could be used as a review, as well as an assessment tool (e.g., have students review in groups, then engage in the activity independently for assessment purposes).

Instruction Suggestions

· Instruct each group to empty its envelopes on the centre of the tables, and arrange the squares randomly, three across and three down.

· Explain that they are to create one or two sentences to explain the connections between each of the patterns of culture that appear across, down and from corner to corner (there are eight possibilities each time the squares are rearranged). Tell students that, if the square says "Blank," it is up to the group to decide which of the patterns of culture it chooses for that square.

· Instruct the group to discuss the interrelationships among the patterns. Explain that each member is expected to contribute to the development of the sentences, and that members should take turns writing the sentences.

· Debrief by having groups share examples they have created, or have groups exchange sentences to read and discuss what other groups have done.