Students will focus on different aspects of gender: stereotypes, the role gender plays in everyday life, and its impact on larger global dynamics. Students will learn about the concept of positive deviance, and learn how they can promote change by identifying and supporting positive deviance in their own lives. The unit consists of five lessons.
Lesson 1 - Gender and Stereotypes
Lesson 2 - Gender in Everyday Life
Lesson 3 - Global Conversations About Gender
Lesson 4 - Identifying Positive Deviance
Lesson 5 - Project Presentation and Reflection
The unit helps students develop those skills associated with
.
If the topic of gender inequality is to be addressed by society, students must come to an appreciation of the depth and complexity of the issue. This unit contributes to that effort. The use of a guided inquiry pedagogy to help students investigate the topic has the advantage of providing a framework for that investigation, while allowing students a degree of control over their efforts.
The resource may be used within the context of those units of study that focus on human rights, particularly within the context of citizenship education and sustainable development.
The following tool will allow you to explore the relevant curriculum matches for this resource. To start, select a province listed below.
Principle | Rating | Explanation |
---|---|---|
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives | Satisfactory | The unit assumes that gender inequity and gender inequality are a reality. Students undertake their assessment of the issue by responding to a video " We Should all be Feminists" in which the speaker makes the case for gender inequality. Contrary voices are not heard but students are asked to reflect on and discuss the video in small and class settings. The second lesson poses a number of questions designed to have students investigate the presence of gender in their community, thereby allowing students to come to their own conclusions about the topic. Lesson 3 directs students to investigate the issue of gender in a world region of their choosing and again allows students to reach their own findings. Lesson 4 extends this investigation. The unit concludes with students envisioning a gender free society and challenges students to undertake an action plan that would allow for a more equitable society. The unit assumes that gender inequality exists but allows the student to determine the manner and degree to which it exists. |
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives:
| ||
Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions | Good | While not explicitly directed, students may be expected in their investigations to recognize evidence of gender inequality in the economic sphere (pay inequity, job promotion, glass ceilings); in the political sphere (number of women who occupy political office); and in the social sphere (social standing and influence, domestic abuse.) |
Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions: Effectively addresses the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the issue(s) being explored.
| ||
Respects Complexity | Very Good | Student investigation into the status of women in the local and global contexts will reveal the complexity of this issue, as will their efforts to imagine a gender-blind society and an action plan that would allow for a more equitable society. |
Respects Complexity: The complexity of the problems/issues being discussed is respected. | ||
Acting on Learning | Good | The unit concludes by challenging students to create an action plan that would allow for a more equitable society, and by conducting interviews outside class to test the merits of their action plan. |
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
| ||
Values Education | Very Good | The unit may be expected to have students consider issues of fairness, discrimination, and justice within the larger context of human rights but with specific attention to the rights of women. |
Values Education: Students are explicitly provided with opportunities to identify, clarify and express their own beliefs/values. | ||
Empathy & Respect for Humans | Very Good | The study of gender is part of the larger study of human rights and social justice. Students should emerge with greater sympathy for those who have been the victim of inequality and with a greater commitment to support the changes necessary to end that inequality. |
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 | The unit focuses on the human condition rather than the natural world. |
Personal Affinity with Earth: Encourages a personal affinity with -the natural world.
| ||
Locally-Focused Learning | Very Good | Lesson 2 is organized around a community-based research on gender dynamics and gender roles so that students may better understand how issues of gender manifest themselves in different aspects of everyday life. The collective effort by students is presented in a Community Gender profile. |
Locally-Focused Learning: Includes learning experiences that take advantage of issues/elements within the local community.
| ||
Past, Present & Future | Good | The unit has students investigate current realities with respect to gender equity both locally and globally and concludes with a final exercise in which students imagine a future that is gender blind. |
Past, Present & Future: Promotes an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future. |
Principle | Rating | Explanation |
---|---|---|
Open-Ended Instruction | Good | Each of the lessons is driven by a set of open-ended questions that students are challenged to respond to through discussion and research. The conclusions they arrive at will be shaped by their individual and collective efforts. |
Open-Ended Instruction
: Lessons are structured so that multiple/complex answers are possible; students are not steered toward one 'right' answer. | ||
Integrated Learning | Very Good | The study of gender equality is part of the larger study of human rights, which is a central theme in Social Studies curricula and in particular citizenship education and the responsibilities attached to citizenship locally and globally. The struggle for women's rights is also part of this countries historical narrative and any study of the developing world today must include the role of women in that world if we are to build a more sustainable society. Gender equality is also an issue of relevance for the Economics teacher who would want to examine the economic costs of our failure to fully take advantage of the talents of half the population and to the Political Science teacher who is examining the role of women in government. |
Integrated Learning: Learning brings together content and skills from more than one subject area
| ||
Inquiry Learning | Good | Each of the lessons in this unit is guided by a set of questions that students are charged with investigating. Student research and the subsequent discussion is intended to make the student responsible for finding the answers to those questions. |
Inquiry Learning: Learning is directed by questions, problems, or challenges that students work to address.
| ||
Differentiated Instruction | Good | There is a good range of student activities in the unit. These include interviews as part of a community research project, presentations or reports on completion of research, writing and reflecting on their findings, and small and large group discussion. A selection of videos is also included so as to introduce students to the topic and stimulate their interest. |
Differentiated Instruction: Activities address a range of student learning styles, abilities and readiness.
| ||
Experiential Learning | Very Good | Students conduct interviews in the local community to assess the role of women and report on their findings. A later lesson requires students to select a region of the world to investigate the status of women there and to identify common denominators that describe the challenges that women face both locally and globally. |
Experiential Learning: Authentic learning experiences are provided
| ||
Cooperative Learning | Good | There is considerable opportunity for students to share their research findings, to plan cooperatively and to respond to the presentations of their classmates. |
Cooperative Learning: Group and cooperative learning strategies are a priority.
| ||
Assessment & Evaluation | Good | Assessment opportunities include evaluation of student participation in class and small group discussions, the Community Gender Profile report submitted by students, and the final piece of student work in which they write a blog about the people or projects they discovered in their individual study. |
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 | Good | Different lessons require students to discuss their thoughts in small groups, share their community gender profiles with classmates, present a report on their findings on the status of women in another country, and create a class blog on the topic of gender equality. |
Peer Teaching: Provides opportunities for students to actively present their knowledge and skills to peers and/or act as teachers and mentors.
| ||
Case Studies | Good | Students gain an appreciation of the challenges faced by women by conducting local interviews with an individual women or organization and come to a larger understanding of the global situation by investigating the role of women in a country of their choosing. |
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 | Good | The unit of study establishes a framework within which students are to investigate questions about gender inequality. Students have considerable choice in pursuing their investigations. In investigating the situation at the local level, students select an individual or organization to be interviewed about the role of women in the community. At the global level, they select a country to investigate the status of women in that country. The collective efforts of the students provides both a local and global picture of gender equality or inequality. |
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. |