GLOBAL GOAL COMMUNITY INQUIRY

This is a unit that focuses on the Grade 6 Social Studies Curriclum Strand B. People and Environments: Canada’s Interactions with the Global Community. It explores several global issues through the United Nations (UN) Global Goals for Action. I generally do this all of term 2, after spending all of Term 1 on Strand A about Canadian identity and Culture (i.e. stereotypes, symbollism, statistics, population breakdown, personal identity, etc.)

We focus on reading and listening comprehension in French. I like that we use real French texts instead of simplified textes. Students generally have a very good understanding of what is going on in their chosen Global Issue.

1) INTRO TO READING COMPREHENSION (ASSESSMENT FOR): Scaffold reading comprehension using Global Goals explanation and Goal 11 about Sustainability. Use the reading comprehension strategies to identify main ideas, understand details, and make connections. Provide feedback about their comprehension to ready them for their reading evaluation.

2) POSTER (ASSESSMENT AS): Assign each student a Global Goal. Students will use the overview page, read and summarize the ideas in a poster. They must outline 3 problems and 3 proposed solutions from the text. (See examples).

3) INDIVIDUAL READING COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY (EVALUATION): Using the same assigned Global Goals, students will read the detailed pages about the goal and fill in the comprehension sheets. An optional assessment prior to this is to have all students read the detailed sheet for Global Goal 11 (sustainability), in groups or individually, and take it up as a class so they are comfortable with the format. Rubric included.

4) STUDENTS RESEARCH THE WARD: Divide students into groups of 3-5. Each group will choose a Global Goal to focus on. Students research their community using Census data, arial maps, road maps, community walks and observation, etc. Students are trying to identify problems related to their Global Goal in their community (i.e. aquatic life problems include litter that makes its way into our sewers and lake system). Students track their research in the attached Google Doc.

5) RESEARCH SOLUTIONS: Research what solutions are available. Dream what could be! Track learning on the Google Doc. Students also write and analyse a survey that is taken by the core French classes to gather more community data that may not be answered in the Census data.

6) REPRESENT DATA: Students create digital infographics to show all the information they learned. Several good ones available online for free (with some limitations).

6) REDESIGN THEIR COMMUNITY: Each grourp incorporates their solutions for their Goal into a community redesign. Each group redesigns their community space (no limitations except the natural features like topography and water bodies) and each student creates one community space model (ex: an outdoor public activity space for Healthy Living, a Greenspace). Each group creates a map, and one model and infographic per student. We present all of the work at a Social Justice Fair, and invite our local MPs, and other Dignitaries with voice and power.