CGW4U
Canadian and World Issues, Grade 12
Prerequisite: Any university or university/college preparation course in Canadian and world studies, English, or social sciences and humanities.
Course Outline
Module 1 Overview: One World, Our World
Guiding Question:
How can I address some of the global issues we face?
For this module you will be looking at the world. The world is a complex, fascinating, frightening place and over the next few lessons you will understand the world better using the ideas of globalization and sustainability as organizing principles. You will examine the keywords and terminology to help you become a successful geographer. As the course progresses you will learn about Canada and World Issues and how they relate back to Canada. You will learn about globalization and sustainability, learning how to extract information from case studies to help improve your knowledge of the world. And you will be learning how to look at the world in different ways, by grouping countries.
Module 2 Overview: Population Pressure
Guiding Question:
What demographic trends are taking place in the world?
For this module you will be exploring world population issues and how they relate to Canada. You will examine the keywords and terminology to help you become a successful geographer as well as learning the tools of demography. As the course progresses the tools you will have learned will help you when investigating world wide population trends, patters of world population growth, projections of population and policies on population. Following on from looking at population you will then look at migration and how it has risen in recent years, why migration happens, how it impacts the world and what issues arise from it. Finally you will then investigate distribution and why people choose to move to certain areas, looking specifically at urbanization and megacities.
Module 3 Overview: Economic Issues
Guiding Question:
Why are some countries barely surviving but others are thriving?
For this module you will be looking at issues involving money across the world. You will be learning about food and agricultural issues and how they tie together. If there are problems with agriculture, then it is almost certain there will be problems with food. We will also look at how some areas of the world have very little to eat but others have plenty. You will also look at transnational corporations and the impact they have on the world, as well as looking at why some countries have a lot more than others. Finally you will research the International Debt Crisis and what it means for Canada and the rest of the world.
Module 4 Overview: The Earth in Balance
Guiding Question:
Are we part of the problem, or part of the solution?
For this module, you will be looking at issues involving land, forests, resources and climate change. You will be learning about how land is eroded and the impacts it has. You will also be looking at forests, how they’re used and what the effects on the world from cutting down trees and how it affects. Then we will move on to resources like water and energy and what impact they have on climate change. This module of World Studies is more about the physical world we live in, the previous modules were all human led. We will also be learning about how we can be more sustainable in our resource usage, and what will happen if we are not careful.
Module 5 Overview: Conflict and Cooperation
Guiding Question:
What is conflict?
This module is centered around conflict within countries and with other countries. You will be looking at what causes conflict, why wars happen and what the outcome is during and after conflict. You will be learning about the costs of conflict in terms of the economy, socially and politically. As well as conflict, you’ll be looking into terrorism and geo-terrorism, which will then lead us to the changing global power structures. We will finish the module off by looking at building a better world together, helping each other through conflict and treaty agreements to ensure conflict does not happen again.
Module 6 Overview: Quality of Life
Guiding Question:
What does quality of life mean to you?
For your final module, you are going to be looking at quality of life and how it varies across the world. You will be looking at what influences a persons quality of life and how it can be improved. Part of this module is looking at infectious diseases such as HIV and AIDS, as well as lifestyle diseases like obesity. You will then move on to human rights, what they are and how they are implemented throughout society. Then you will move on to empowering people that are in disadvantaged parts of the world, through globalization.
