Communities in Canada, Past and Present

For our inquiry unit plan, we chose to cover grade 6, strand A: Communities in Canada, Past and Present by asking the question: 

What does it mean to be Canadian? 

To say the least; it's a daunting question. 

Summary

Our inquiry cycle will be delivered in a loop; we will start with a similar assessment task to the one we finish with. Our assessment tasks require students to answer complex questions about Canadian identity. By the end of the unit, students will be expected to synthesise everything they’ve learned in the unit to answer similar questions to the ones from the beginning of the unit. Each lesson will be addressing a topic that is asked in the final assessment. 

Each lesson addresses one of the following aspects of Canadian identity: 

• immigration, 
• physical geography, 
• canadian identity through art, 
• multiculturalism, 
• legalities of immigration, 
• perspectives of immigration, 
• inclusivity in education, 
• canadian cuisine, 
• development and the environment, 
• stereotypes and prejudice, 
• global perception of Canada, and 
• Canada in the media. 

By exploring these aspects of Canadian identity, we hope to answer the question ‘What does it mean Canadian’ on a personal, regional, and national level, as well as fulfilling Strand A of the Social Studies curriculum ‘Heritage and Identity: Communities in Canada, Past and Present.’