In this page you will learn social science skills. We start by looking at the world around us and asking questions about why things are the way they are now.
You might want to know:
- Who lives or has lived in a place? How did they come to live there? What did life on the land look like during a specific period in time?
- What is a place used for now? How has it been used in the past? Who used it?
- What are places in my area named after? Who came up with these names, and how?
- What are the roles different people have in society today? How have these roles changed over time? Are the roles people have similar and different across societies?
- What is an object used for? Who invented it? When was it invented?
Keep reading to learn skills and tips to answer your questions!
The Intellectual Operations:
To answer your question, start by establishing facts using documents.
Establishing Facts is one of the main Intellectual Operations (or IO’s for short!). IO’s are things you can “do” with your knowledge and documents.
In Elementary, there are 8 IO’s. Click here to see infographics to help you learn more about each of the IO’s.
You can. also practice a specific IO using these IO Badge Guides!
Using Different Kinds of Documents:
You will need to establish facts from many different sources and back up your facts with evidence. You can use videos, books, images, artifacts, and more.
Getting all your information about a society or a territoryA territory is an area of land… Un territoire est une zone terrestre … from one document is kind of like only interviewing one person about a crime; you may miss a lot of important information! To get to the truth, you need more than one source!
Click here to see an infographic that shows different kinds of documents you can use.
It is usually best to use primary documents or sources. Primary sources are things that were created during the time you are studying. It is also good to use resourcesResources are anything taken from the earth or nature that people need, use, and are « valued »…. made by the society you are learning about and people with different opinions about an event.
Using many documents helps you check for biases: opinions about events or people that might not be fair or accurate.
It can help to highlight or underline facts like the 5W’s: Who, What, When, Where, and Why (and How). This information can help you use the IO’s!
You should record your sources if you, or someone else, need to recheck them. You should also make sure they are reliable or trustworthy. Here is a short MediaSmarts video with tips to help you fact-check documents.
The Aspects:
Grouping facts by aspect can help you understand changes over time or similarities and differences between societies and territories. You can learn about the aspects of society using this linked document.
You may also want to use these Competency Synthesis Placemats to record facts by aspect.
Try using words like demographics and politics to describe aspects of a society; it makes you sound like professional historians!
Check your Aspects knowledge:
The Competencies:
You will get one mark for Social Sciences on your report card, but your teacher is actually looking for three different competencies. It’s helpful to know what these are!
- Competency 1 has to do with understanding how a society is organized.
- Competency 2 has to do with how one society changes over time.
- Competency 3 has to do with how two societies that existed at the same time (but not always in the same place) are similar and different.
Check your Competency knowledge:
