Page 532 - THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 11 AND 12 | Canadian and World Studies

Grade 12, University Preparation
A1. Political Inquiry: use the political inquiry process and the concepts of political thinking when investigating issues, events, and developments of national and international political importance;
A2. Developing Transferable Skills: apply in everyday contexts skills developed through investigations related to politics, and identify various careers in which a background in political studies might be an asset.
THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 11 AND 12 | Canadian and World Studies
OVERALL EXPECTATIONS Throughout this course, students will:
SPECIFIC EXPECTATIONS
A1. Political Inquiry
Throughout this course, students will:
A1.1 formulate different types of questions to guide investigations into issues, events, and/or developments of national and international political importance (e.g., factual questions: Which ideologies are on the extremes on the political spectrum?; comparative questions: What are the main similarities and differences between the structures of government in Canada and Great Britain?; causal questions: What impact did the 9/11 attacks have on domestic political policy in the United States?)
A1.2 select and organize relevant evidence, data, and information about issues, events, and/or developments of national and international political importance from a variety of primary and secondary sources (e.g., primary: interviews, legislation, photographs, policy statements, speeches, statistics, surveys, treaties and other international agreements; secondary: articles, documentaries and other films, news stories, political cartoons, textbooks, websites), ensuring that their sources reflect multiple perspectives
Sample questions: “Which government documents might be relevant to this issue? Where might you find them? What other sources might you use to supplement these documents?” “Which type of information might you find on the websites of groups or institutions that are lobbying governments on or otherwise address- ing this issue?” “How can you ensure that your sources reflect a variety of perspectives?”
A1.3 assess the credibility of sources relevant
to their investigations (e.g., the reliability of the evidence presented in a source; the purpose, intended audience, and context of a source; the bias, values, and expertise of the speaker/author)
Sample questions: “What information do you need to help you determine which sources are most credible?” “What types of biases can be easily detected in a source? What types of biases might be more difficult to detect?” “Whose voice is reflected in this source? Whose voices have been omitted or misrepresented? What are the implications of the omission of these voices?”
A1.4 interpret and analyse evidence, data, and information relevant to their investigations, using various tools, strategies, and approaches that are appropriate for political inquiry (e.g., use a cross-classification chart to help them analyse information they have gathered about different countries’ responses to the same issue; use a web chart when comparing the points of view of different politicians; assess the validity and rank the importance of various points made in their sources; discuss, clarify, and compare positions on an issue with their peers)
Sample questions: “What criteria might you use to rank the significance of the impact of a change in political policy? How might the rank- ing change if you adopted different criteria?”
A1.5 use the concepts of political thinking (i.e., political significance, objectives and results, stability and change, political perspective) when analysing and evaluating evidence, data, and
A. POLITICAL INQUIRY AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT
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