Grade 7 - Understanding Culture and Society

This sub-organizer contains the following sections:
Prescribed Learning Outcomes
Suggested Instructional Strategies
Suggested Assessment Strategies
Recommended Learning Resources

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will:

demonstrate an understanding of the basic characteristics of Japanese daily life
demonstrate an understanding of similarities between Japanese culture and their own cultures

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Understanding Culture and Society in other grades click on an icon below.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

Students should have opportunities in class to explore aspects of family and community traditions that they share with Japanese and other cultures. They should be encouraged to discover and appreciate Japanese cultural contributions to Canada.

Invite students in small groups to research various aspects of Japanese culture (e.g., currency, family structures and gender roles, cuisine, school systems, methods of transportation, trade), emphasizing the similarities between customs in Japan and in Canada. Ask students to share this information in class presentations.
Have students, working in groups, create spaces equal to six tatami mats (the average living room size in Japan). Ask students to research and depict the type of furnishings that would likely be found in that space. Then have them determine how many tatami mats would be required to fill their own living rooms. Suggest that students survey their classmates about their living-room sizes and create charts showing the information. The charts could be displayed in the classroom.
Ask students to work with partners to chart the time they spend travelling to school and their methods of transit during a normal week. Have them compare this information with average daily transit times and methods for people in Japan, adding the Japanese data to their charts.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

Students now demonstrate a growing awareness and understanding of the traditions and culture of Japan. Assessment focusses on their knowledge about daily life in Japan, and their identification of similarities between Japanese and their own cultures.

As students participate in activities and discussions about culture, observe and note the extent to which they:
- are willing to share information about their own cultures
- identify similarities between Japanese culture and theirs
When students compare the time they spend in transit with that of people in Japan, look for evidence that they:
- organize the data in a way that is clear and easy to understand
- indicate the forms of transportation used by both groups
- create representations that highlight comparisons between their own and Japanese transit times and forms
- suggest plausible hypotheses for the differences
- are able to generalize their findings to large North American cities such as Vancouver, Toronto, and Los Angeles
After students have researched and discussed aspects of Japanese culture and daily life, ask them to respond to prompts such as:
- I think the most important thing I learned was _____________ .
- I was surprised that _____________ .
- I would like to learn more about _____________ .