All children have the basic human right to learn and yet millions of girls are being denied an education due to barriers such as poverty. This lesson engages students in active discussions about the social and economic benefits of educating both genders and raises awareness of challenges facing girls in developing countries with the following learning activities:
This resource explores Social Studies concepts such as children’s rights and poverty in relation to access to education. Citizen engagement and oral communication skills are also encouraged through a guided inquiry process that features open-ended questions and peer discussions.
A classroom project that extends the learning could have students organize a community walk that highlights the distance some girls must travel to get to school. The walk might include stations with information about the associated perils of unsafe transport such as assault. This activity could also be a fundraiser that enables a class to sponsor a student by providing funds for education.
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Principle | Rating | Explanation |
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Consideration of Alternative Perspectives | Good | Students will recognize that even though significant progress has been made in policies related to human rights, girls still face cultural challenges such as the high cost of education, early marriage and inadequate sanitation facilities. Girls are also expected to assist with household chores such as obtaining a daily water supply. |
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives:
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Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions | Good | This resource highlights the economic and social benefits of keeping girls in school. Educated women in developing countries are more likely to start their own businesses and re-invest in their community. They are also less vulnerable to exploitation and can act as role models. |
Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions: Effectively addresses the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the issue(s) being explored.
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Respects Complexity | Satisfactory | Students develop an awareness that attitudes towards boys and girls are an important component of this issue. Boys often hold higher value in the family as they are considered more likely to provide financial support. Students could examine this ideology in more detail by comparing cultural beliefs in a developing country to social values in Canada. |
Respects Complexity: The complexity of the problems/issues being discussed is respected. | ||
Acting on Learning | Poor/Not considered | There are no action strategies in this resource but the topic could foster action projects such as developing a public awareness campaign about gender inequality in education. |
Acting on Learning: Learning moves from understanding issues to working towards positive change — in personal lifestyle, in school, in the community, or for the planet
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Values Education | Good | Students are challenged to explore their feelings about socioeconomic barriers like poverty, discrimination and inequality. |
Values Education: Students are explicitly provided with opportunities to identify, clarify and express their own beliefs/values. | ||
Empathy & Respect for Humans | Good | The case studies and film build connections to individual girls that will create compassion for their struggles and appreciation for their triumphs over adversity. |
Empathy & Respect for Humans: Empathy and respect are fostered for diverse groups of humans (including different genders, ethnic groups, sexual preferences, etc.). | ||
Personal Affinity with Earth | Poor/Not considered | |
Personal Affinity with Earth: Encourages a personal affinity with -the natural world.
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Locally-Focused Learning | Satisfactory | This lesson is focused on the high prevalence of gender inequality in developing countries, but students could expand the discussion to include examples within Canada, such as the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women. |
Locally-Focused Learning: Includes learning experiences that take advantage of issues/elements within the local community.
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Past, Present & Future | Poor/Not considered | The resource does introduce students to the UN Sustainable Development Goal that has a target to ensure all girls and boys have equal access to quality education by 2030. Students could research how much progress has been made towards achieving this objective. |
Past, Present & Future: Promotes an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future. |
Principle | Rating | Explanation |
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Open-Ended Instruction | Good | The instructional approach uses self-expression as the basis for learning, thus encouraging peer dialogue and a critical examination of the content. |
Open-Ended Instruction
: Lessons are structured so that multiple/complex answers are possible; students are not steered toward one 'right' answer. | ||
Integrated Learning | Satisfactory | This resource includes strong connections to Social Studies concepts surrounding equality and access to resources. Students also participate in communication exercises including responding to information through writing, participating in open discussions and expressing their opinions. |
Integrated Learning: Learning brings together content and skills from more than one subject area
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Inquiry Learning | Satisfactory | Although much of the learning is teacher directed there is a great deal of peer to peer interaction which facilitates questioning and encourages inquiry. |
Inquiry Learning: Learning is directed by questions, problems, or challenges that students work to address.
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Differentiated Instruction | Satisfactory | This resource does include some general strategies for differentiation such as providing sentence starters to support writing. |
Differentiated Instruction: Activities address a range of student learning styles, abilities and readiness.
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Experiential Learning | Satisfactory | The experiential nature of this resource could be enhanced by inviting a community member who has experienced gender discrimination to participate in an open discussion with the class. |
Experiential Learning: Authentic learning experiences are provided
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Cooperative Learning | Poor/Not considered | |
Cooperative Learning: Group and cooperative learning strategies are a priority.
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Assessment & Evaluation | Poor/Not considered | This resource does not include any evaluation tools but the open-ended questions could aid in formative evaluation of learning. |
Assessment & Evaluation: Tools are provided that help students and teachers to capture formative and summative information about students' learning and performance. These tools may include reflection questions, checklists, rubrics, etc. | ||
Peer Teaching | Poor/Not considered | |
Peer Teaching: Provides opportunities for students to actively present their knowledge and skills to peers and/or act as teachers and mentors.
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Case Studies | Good | The case studies used in this resource are genuine stories from young girls who have been supported in obtaining an education. The video "Sisters" also presents the true story of siblings who have very different school experiences so students are able to observe how education helps girls escape poverty. |
Case Studies: Relevant case studies are included. Case studies are thorough descriptions of real events from real situations that students use to explore concepts in an authentic context. | ||
Locus of Control | Poor/Not considered | |
Locus of Control: Meaningful opportunities are provided for students to choose elements of program content, the medium in which they wish to work, and/or to go deeper into a chosen issue. |