Working with Multiple Courses

Frequently, students who are enrolled in Knowledge and Employability Social Studies 10-4 are in the same class as students who are enrolled in Social Studies 10-2. Although there are similar themes in the two courses, there are differences in the learning outcomes. This will affect decisions that you must make in order to differentiate for students in the two courses. A full comparison of the outcomes from Social Studies 10-4, 10-2 and 10-1 can be found in Programs of Study Outcome Correlations for Social Studies 10-4, 10-2 and 10-1 .

A key difference between Social Studies 10-4 and 10-2 is in the examples provided with the outcomes. In Social Studies 10-4, all examples are indicated as "e.g.'s"; this means that they are intended to be illustrative, not mandatory, and do not have to be explored. In Social Studies 10-2, the examples in parentheses must be explored to some extent. Another key difference is the presence, in Social Studies 10-4, of Guiding Questions. These are not present in Social Studies 10-2. Guiding Questions highlight the big ideas in each Related Issue and can be used to support exploration of outcomes.

In Related Issue 1, students are asked to address the impacts of globalization on their lives in Canada, including understanding globalization, expressing identities, appreciating alternative viewpoints, exploring the impact of media and promoting languages and cultures. In Social Studies 10-4, students examine basic understandings of globalization and the opportunities and challenges presented by globalization to the lives (identities and cultures) of peoples in Canada, including themselves, considering acculturation, accommodation, cultural revitalization, affirmation of identity, assimilation and homogenization as possible examples. In Social Studies 10-2, greater depth is required regarding understandings and dimensions of globalization (politically, economically and socially) and regarding opportunities and challenges. In 10-2, all of the examples of opportunities and challenges need to be explored in some way, including integration and marginalization which are not examples explored or summatively assessed in 10-4.  

There are similarities in the Skills and Processes outcomes for both courses; however, differences exist in the complexity of the skills that students are required to demonstrate. When designing assessment tasks, it is essential to focus on the verb of the outcome to ensure that the assessment task is true to the level of cognition embedded within the outcome. When adapting 10-4 materials for a 10-2 class, it may be necessary to increase the complexity of the assessment task to align with a higher level skill.

Samples of how this adaptation plays out in an actual classroom context are provided in the Instructional Example.