About the course
This course explores, within the context of families, some of the fundamental challenges people face: how to meet basic needs, how to relate to others, how to manage resources, and how to become responsible members of society. Students will explore adolescent development and will have opportunities to develop interpersonal, decision-making, and practical skills related to daily life. They will learn about the diverse ways in which families function in Canada and will use research skills as they explore topics related to individual and family needs and resources.
Exploring Family Studies
Course Credit
1
Course Price
$ 550.00
Course Developer
My Learning Oasis
Prerequisite(s) (Text)
None
Course Code
Department Head & Contact Information
HIF1O/2O
Ravi Sharma(ravi@mylearningoasis.com)
Course Type
Open
Grade Level
Grade 9 or 10
Course Development Date
June 10th, 2021
Course Outline
Research and Inquiry Skills
This unit exposes the student to techniques used in investigating important issues that may arise in life. For instance, how would you approach an investigation of an anti-bullying program? They will look at information gathering techniques that may include information on the source. In all instances, they will look at ways to decipher if the source of the information may have a potential bias and how to detect such biases. In the event that different sources give different accounts, how do they determine which is the most reliable? They will examine ways to rank the sources in terms of accuracy, reliability, and biases. They will also evaluate their own biases in the questions or information they communicate to the sources.
Expected Hours of Instruction: 27 Hours
Self and Others
In this unit students will explore the development of adolescence, cognitively and physically. They will examine how needs, wants, values, and goals change from age to age but with an emphasis on adolescence. They will look at how these needs, wants, values, and goals change from one region to another, from one culture to another, and from one era to another. Students will examine the tenets of a healthy relationship and explore how to recognize an unhealthy one. They will explore ways to recognize the changeable and unchangeable elements of an unhealthy relationship and strategies to resolve conflicts. Students will explore socially acceptable and socially unacceptable behaviors and communication techniques/strategies. Students will examine the difference between families from different cultures, different lifestyles, different values and other differences. They will explore strategies to accommodate such families, including blended families.
Expected Hours of Instruction: 27 Hours
Daily Living Skills
In this unit students will explore effective strategies for good decision making. They will look at such decision-making and best practices to manage familial resources like finances. They will explore ways to manage time, meet family goals, individual goals, health goals, caring for the younger ones, safety, sewing and household chores, and assist others with their goals. They will explore ways to meet each one's needs and wants. And most importantly, they will examine ways in which to make their living space safe now and in the future.
Expected Hours of Instruction: 27 Hours
Exercising Responsibility
In this unit students will examine the difference between personal responsibility and familial responsibility. They will explore the “gray” area between the two. Students will explore how their responsibility can impact the family as a whole and how not carrying out their individual familial responsibility can impact everyone. They will be introduced to prioritization in terms of personal versus familial responsibilities. They will explore the interdependence between familial and personal responsibility. These discussions will extrapolate to include members from different cultures and different backgrounds. They will look at how their choices and needs can impact the environment.
Expected Hours of Instruction: 27 Hours
Final Exam
This is a proctored exam worth 30% of your final grade, which may include a 15% project and presentation.
Expected Hours of Instruction: 2 Hours
Total: 110 Hours
Resources
The course material (class notes and necessary handouts) will be provided by the teacher.
The students will be required to have:
● Access to a library or the Internet to do research
● Access to internet as well as electronic devices for note taking and communication for those taking the class online
Overall Curriculum Expectations
A. RESEARCH AND INQUIRY SKILLS
A1: explore topics related to individual and family needs and resources, and formulate questions to guide their research;
A2: create research plans, and locate and select information relevant to their chosen topics, using appropriate research and inquiry methods;
A3: assess, record, analyze, and synthesize information gathered through research and inquiry;
A4: communicate the results of their research and inquiry clearly and effectively, and reflect on and evaluate their research, inquiry, and communication skills.
B.SELF AND OTHERS
B1: describe important changes that are associated with adolescent development, and explain their influence on the behavior and needs of young people;
B2: demonstrate an understanding of various types of relationships and of skills and strategies for developing and maintaining healthy relationships;
B3: describe lifestyles in diverse families and the impact of a range of factors, including social and cultural factors, on these lifestyles.
C. DAILY LIVING SKILLS
C1: demonstrate the ability to apply decision-making and problem-solving strategies and skills, particularly within a family context;
C2: demonstrate an understanding of strategies and skills that can be used to manage resources to meet the needs of the family and its individual members;
C3: demonstrate an understanding of practical skills and knowledge needed to safely and effectively perform day-to-day tasks that help meet their needs and those of the family.
D. EXERCISING RESPONSIBILITY
D1: demonstrate an understanding of their responsibilities related to their personal well-being and that of their family, and of how they can maintain their health and well-being;
D2: describe the functions and responsibilities of families and the diverse ways in which families fulfil them;
D3: describe and demonstrate responsible consumer practices.
Special Accommodations
Only Some students are able, with accommodations, to be part of a regular course curriculum and to demonstrate independent learning. These accommodations allow access to the course without any dilution of the knowledge and skills the student is expected to demonstrate.
These required accommodations to facilitate the student’s learning will be identified in his or her IEP (see IEP Standards, 2000, page 11*). It is likely that IEP for many or all courses will reflect the same accommodations.
The instructions and accommodations are geared to meet the diverse needs of learners. The three types of accommodations that are going to be used are:
i) Instructional accommodations - changes in teaching/learning strategies facilitated by different styles of presentation; methods of organization; the use of technology and multimedia.
ii) Environmental accommodations - Certain classroom settings and preferential seating may benefit these students.
iii) Assessment: assessment procedures that enable the student to demonstrate his or her learning, such as Multiple Intelligence Theory, giving more time to complete tasks (see page 29 of the IEP Resource Guide, 2004, for more examples).
For students who require accommodations for only the mathematics courses, the assessment and evaluation of their achievement will be based on the appropriate course curriculum expectations and the achievement levels outlined in this document. The IEP box on the students’ Provincial Report Cards will not be checked, and no information on the provision of accommodations will be included.
* Taken form: Ministry of Education, Ontario. Extracted from The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 to 12: Social Sciences and Humanities, 2013;( Pg 35-38) Date of extraction: Sunday, March 14, 2021.
Program Considerations For English Language Learners
Students from a variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. For many of these students, English is not their spoken language. They may be coming from highly sophisticated educational systems, while others may have come from regions where access to formal schooling was limited. These students offer a rich addition to the classroom experience by way of their background knowledge and experience. All teachers will assist with their English- language development. In mathematics the teachers will include appropriate adaptations and strategies in their instructions and assessments to facilitate the success of the English language learners in their classrooms. Some of these strategies and adaptations are: modification of some or all of the course expectations so that they are challenging but attainable for the learner at his or her present level of English proficiency, given the necessary support from the teacher.
Teaching/Learning Strategy
The key learning strategy at My Learning Oasis Elite Private School is Constructivism. This format facilitates learning by many techniques, most or all of which will be adopted in the classroom. The most dominant of these is group learning. The facilitator places students of different backgrounds in the same group so that they can feed off each other. Each may bring to the table a different reasoning strategy to facilitate problem-solving. Now, each student becomes a learner and a teacher at the same time, as he/she has to communicate his/her solution. This builds the students' knowledge base and by default, increases their confidence to speak in a crowd, albeit a small group at the beginning. The famous educationalist, Vygotsky, proved that by placing students in a group they function at the upper level of their zone of proximal development, each one scaffolding the other.
This strategy is further enhanced by the teacher asking leading questions as opposed to giving the answer outright, then allowing for group discussion. The students are encouraged to make connections between what they have learnt and their life experiences, then share with the group. The effect of this strategy is intrinsic motivation and learning.
Each student develops an expanded appreciation of the topic at hand by seeing how it applies in different settings around the world by way of listening to their group members. This Constructivist approach will be further accentuated by implementing “fish-bowling”. There are many ways to implement this technique. The one that will mostly be used will be by dividing up the larger problem (technical, mathematics, science, or otherwise) into smaller bits and have each student thoughtfully master one part. That student then teaches the group and facilitates a discussion reflection about the strategy (computational or otherwise) used in the solution.
Each student in turn does this. The above techniques enable students to reflect on the material learnt, make real life connections, and develop problem solving skills. One important by-product of the technique of Constructivism is that each student develops an appreciation of each other’s culture. This cultivates healthy people’s skill, which is not only important for the professional world but for life itself. Constructivism lends itself well to students whose first language is not the language of instruction and who is new to the class. While other strategies will be used for students having difficulty with the English Language, this technique will definitely be used to enhance their English skill.
Assessment And Evaluation
At My Learning Oasis, course facilitators do not wait for a quiz or exam to determine how well a student is doing. Here, evaluation is an on-going exercise. The pedagogical techniques (refer to Teaching and Learning Strategies) used at My learning Oasis are perhaps the best techniques suited for on-going assessment, hence, they being an integral part of our delivery methodologies. Concrete assessments are made through projects and assignments. However, the evaluation is based on “our flavor” of the Mastery Teaching technique. This ensures that the emphasis is on the quality of learning and NOT grading. Students' projects and homework will continuously be evaluated and re-evaluated with appropriate guidance to meet the school’s and Ministry’s expectations.
At My Learning Oasis, we will work with the students until the projects meet a minimum of a B-grade, unless in extreme circumstances where the willful negligence of the students force lower grades. While this is a lot more taxing on the facilitator, it does not matter because My Learning Oasis is a Learner-centered institution NOT a Grade-Centered nor a Teacher-Centered institution.
Four categories of knowledge and skills are outlined in the achievement chart - knowledge and understanding, thinking, communication, and application. Student’s work is assessed and evaluated with respect to these categories, and that achievement of particular expectations is considered within the appropriate categories. A final grade will then be recorded for this course and if that grade is 50% or higher, a credit is granted to the student and recorded for this course. The final grade for this course will be determined as follows:
● For material evaluated throughout the course, seventy percent of the grade will be assigned. This portion of the grade should reflect the student's consistency in his/her level of achievement throughout the course, although special consideration should be given to more recent evidence of achievement.
● Thirty percent of the grade will be based on a final evaluation, which is administered towards the end of the course
Final Exam: 30%
Grading for all course work, projects, presentation, participation, interim quizzes and exams: 70%
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