Political Compass Activity

 

Image c/o politicalcompass.org

Attention all Social Studies and politically minded students! Check out where your politics fall along the political compass which plots you along a multi-axis spectrum based on a social and economic scale.

Watch the video and take the test here before print off your certificate to be posted in class later. Note: students have had problems printing off their posters in the past so it may be better to take a screen shot of your placement on the compass and recording your name on a post-it note to be placed on the class’ political compass later. 

If time permits, check out what politicalcompass.org has to say about the last federal Canadian election in 2015.

Take the Gapminder 2018 Test

Part 1 – Take the Test

If you’re in my Social Studies 10 class, please take the Gapminder test by clicking here. The Gapminder project, created by the late Hans Rosling, is a non-profit organization created to fight misconceptions about the way we view our world and its global development. Now that we are studying standards of living in Socials, it is important to sort through information and look at the facts! 

 
Once you have taken the test, feel free to check out the other resources available here before we reconvene as a class. 

Part 2 – New Insights on Poverty

In this clip, Hans Rosling shows participants how to use the Dollar Street tool to inform us of how poverty looks around the world. 

 

Now lets use the tool! Click here to access the dollar street site and explore the different households. Of these households, make observations of what makes the poorest poor and the richest rich; think of it as levels 1,2,3,4 of wealth. Record these observations onto the sticky notes provided and stick them to the whiteboard along the scale  at the back of the class. To be discussed in more detail.   

 

Socials 10- Living Standards


Today, we began discussing living standards and the effects of poverty throughout the world and Canada. This chapter consists of another booklet but the formal assessment this time will be a project instead of a test. Please refer to the last page for project details.

Click here for the Chapter 14 booklet

Proportional Representation: Yay or Nay?

image c/o Elections BC twitter

As we have been studying, changing BC’s voting system from first-past-the-post to proportional representation has been a hot topic for years and is being put to a referendum by postal ballot from October 22nd – November 30th, 2018.  Although we have studied this system, we haven’t really looked at the impact it may have on BC. Here is your chance to explore and make your voice heard. 

Your task is to access the link to Election BC on the referendum and read through the voter’s guide and any other materials you choose to use (this can include websites, newspapers, local news or radio) to inform your ideas. Then you will comment in a post below on: COMMENTS HAVE NOW BEEN CLOSED FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT. YOU WILL NEED TO COMPLETE IT IN CLASS ON GOAL DAY OF YOU DIDN’T COMMENT ALREADY. 

a) Which system of voting should British Columbia use in its provincial elections and why? 

AND

b) If you choose proportional representation, which (sub)system of voting should we choose and why? 

OR

b) If not proportional representation, continue your argument on why we should keep first-past-the-post.

OR

b) If not proportional representation or first-past-the-post, which voting system should BC adopt for our provincial elections and why? 

 

Your post (approximately 250 words) should be written in the persuasive style and should be proofread for errors and style. Your post must be labelled with your class period, first name and last initial (ex. Per3 Dragana M.). My recommendation is to write it as a WordDoc or GoogleDoc before posting below in case something happens. 

For an added bonus, if you send you post as a letter-to-the-editor of a local newspaper and get published, you will get some serious bonus marks.  

Check out the video below for an explanation on electoral reform. 

Welcome to the 2018/19 School Year!

Image from Eurodiaconia.

This year, I will be teaching Social Studies 10, Psychology 12, and AP Psychology. If you are wondering what this blog is for, it is for me to park some online lessons we will be doing in class, a place to post homework via twitter (check the feed to the right) and post some permanent information like class videos and course outlines which could be found on the toolbar above. I am excited to get know all of my students and for the year ahead (and I hope you are too!).

Ms. Mihic

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