Ready-to-use Curriculum Resources from Environmental & Urban Change Experts
Welcoming all secondary educators from all academic disciplines teaching from grade 9-12. Customize and construct your day based off the material you are currently teaching, the expectations and interests of your students. Depending on your availability you can select the following options:
| Topic | Grade | Course | Learning Outcomes | Curriculum Expectations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waste and Circular Economy | 10 | Introduction to Business (BB120) | Understand how current businesses respond to people’s needs, wants, values and beliefs. | Business Fundamentals |
| Demonstrate an understanding of how entrepreneurs can look at current businesses running in a linear economy. | Demonstrate an understanding of how businesses respond to needs, wants, supply and demand. | |||
| Apply critical thinking skills to create ways where current products can move to a circular economy. | Describe the impact of business on the local community. | |||
| Functions of a Business Demonstrate an understanding of the importance and role of information and communication technology in business. | ||||
| Entrepreneurship Describe and evaluate their own or an existing idea for an entrepreneurial endeavour in their school or community. Explain how innovation has affected a variety of goods and services over time. |
| Topic | Grade | Course | Learning Outcomes | Curriculum Expectations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walking in a Cars World | 9 | Issues in Canadian Geography (CGC1D) | Establish and assess connections between climate change and intersections globally | A2.2 apply in everyday contexts skills and work habits developed through geographic investigation (e.g., asking questions to deepen their understanding of an issue; listening to and considering multiple perspectives when discussing an issue; collaborating with a team to determine the criteria that need to be considered when making a decision; using quantitative data to support an idea; using spatial skills to determine best routes of travel). |
| Identify different types of intersections across the world and find similarities and differences between them | A2.3 apply the concepts of geographic thinking when analysing current events involving geographic issues (e.g., to identify locational factors that affect the importance of an issue; to identify patterns and trends that provide context for an issue; to identify interrelationships that clarify the factors involved in an issue; to understand the implications of different aspects of an issue and/or different points of view about the issue) in order to enhance their understanding of these issues and their role as informed citizens. | |||
| Explain how integral intersections are in our current society | E1.5 propose courses of action that would make a community more sustainable (e.g., improving community/neighbourhood amenities, establishing local markets, replacing individual ownership of equipment with cooperative ownership, sharing cars, introducing a rental bike network, expanding the amount of green space). | |||
| Create and design an intersection to accommodate the needs of those living within the community (i.e., bike lines, raised curbs, speed bumps) | E1.5 propose courses of action that would make a community more sustainable (e.g., improving community/neighbourhood amenities, establishing local markets, replacing individual ownership of equipment with cooperative ownership, sharing cars, introducing a rental bike | |||
| Natural Disasters | 11 | Forces of Nature: Physical Processes & Disasters (CGF3M) | Analyse impact, damage and discuss solutions to natural disasters | B1.1 analyze the characteristics of different types of weather and climatic hazards (e.g., hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, droughts), and explain the role of atmospheric conditions and processes in their occurrence (e.g., temperature, pressure, and humidity contrasts; heat transfer through convection and condensation; sea surface temperatures; blocking; wind shear). |
| Explain the profound interrelationships between physical processes and human activities | B1.3 analyze the characteristics of different types of hydrological hazards (e.g., storm surges, avalanches, flooding), and explain the role of geological and atmospheric processes in their occurrence. | |||
| Use geographic thinking concepts when creating possible solutions to natural disasters for individual and local communities | C3.2 analyze the costs and benefits of various natural phenomena from a human perspective (e.g., volcanic eruptions pose a danger to human settlement but produce fertile soil; monsoon rains lead to flooding of the land but are vital to crop production; subduction at tectonic plate boundaries causes earthquakes and volcanoes but also forms concentrations of minerals). | |||
| E1.2 compare, from a geographic perspective, the impacts of selected natural and human disasters (e.g., Hurricane Sandy and Hurricane Katrina; earthquakes in Haiti in 2010 and in Kobe, Japan, in 1995; recent droughts in the Sahel and the dust bowl in North America during the 1930s; the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the grounding of the Exxon Valdez in 1989). | ||||
| E2.2 assess the role of various adaptation and response measures in reducing the human impacts of natural disasters (e.g., research, monitoring, communication, geo-engineering, levees, dams, building codes, windbreaks, cloud seeding, avalanche control). | ||||
| The Cost of Fast Fashion | 12 | World Issues: A Geographic Analysis (CGW4U) | Identify and make connections between their actions and how their actions create consequences somewhere else. | D2.3 assess the responsibility of consumers for moderating economic, social, and environmental impacts associated with globalization and describe ways in which this could be done. |
| D2.4 assess the responsibilities of governments and business for managing economic, environmental, and social impacts associated with globalization, and describe ways in which this could be done. | ||||
| E2.2 analyze the influence of mass media, including the Internet, on social and political change and the protection of human rights. | ||||
| Topic | Grade | Course | Learning Outcomes | Curriculum Expectations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakes and Climate Change | 9 | De-Streamed Science (SNC1W) | Assess the connections between climate change and changes in lakes. | A1.1 apply a scientific research process and associated skills to conduct investigations, connecting their research and the scientific concepts they are learning. |
| Identify the relationship between lakes and the communities that surround them. | A2.3 analyze how the development and application of science is economically, culturally, and socially contextualized by investigating real-world issues. | |||
| Explain how lakes are also storytellers (leads into the pedagogy of Indigenous Knowledge Systems). | B2.6 identify and use various indicators of climate change to describe the impacts of climate change on local and global ecosystems and analyse how human activities contribute to climate change. | |||
| Make real-world connections between the lakes discussed and lakes near you. | C2.1 investigate properties, changes, and interactions of matter that are important for the dynamic equilibrium of ecosystems and their sustainability. | |||
| C2.2 research the role of experimental evidence in developing various atomic models and compare and contrast different models of the atom. | ||||
| Impacts of Urban Beehives on Wild Bees | 10 | Science (SNC2D) | Assess connections between honeybees, wild bees, and native and non-native pollinators. | A1.1 formulate scientific questions about observed relationships, ideas, problems, and/or issues; make predictions and/or formulate hypotheses to focus inquiries or research. |
| Identify Ontario pollinators. | D1.1 analyse current and/or potential effects, both positive and negative, of climate change on human activity and natural systems. | |||
| Explain how important bees are as the most efficient pollinators in Ontario. | D1.2 assess, based on research, the effectiveness of some current individual, regional, national, or international initiatives that address the issue of climate change and propose a further course of action related to one of these initiatives. | |||
| Make real-world connections between our current cities' design and how they hinder our pollinators. | D2.4 investigate a popular hypothesis on a cause-and-effect relationship having to do with climate change, using simulations and/or time-trend data that model climate profiles. | |||
| D3.8 identify and describe indicators of global climate change. |
| Topic | Grade | Course | Learning Outcomes | Curriculum Expectation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indigenous Sovereignty in Settler Colonial Food Bureaucracies | 10 | Food and Nutrition (HFN20) | Assess the connections between Indigenous peoples and the Canadian Government | A1.1 explore various topics related to food and nutrition (e.g., Canadian food regulations, food safety, school food regulations) to identify topics for research and inquiry. |
| Identify the relationship between Canada’s past and current versions of colonization on Indigenous Peoples through food sovereignty. | A1.2 identify key concepts (e.g., through discussion, brainstorming, use of visual organizers) related to their selected topics. | |||
| Explain how Indigenous Food Sovereignty means decolonizing and upholding the Treaties. | C1.1 describe factors that affect people’s food needs (e.g., food preferences, dietary and health needs, busy schedules, major life changes). | |||
| Make connections between our lives as settlers on the land and what we can do to assist Indigenous Peoples in the fight for food sovereignty. |
| Topic | Grade | Course | Learning Outcomes | Curriculum Expectation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheelchair User's Perspectives on Transportation Services in Uber and Lyft | 11 | Politics in Actions: Making Change (CPC30) | Make real-world connections between their city and how essential accessibility is for Transportation Network companies | A1.6 evaluate and synthesize their findings to formulate conclusions and/or make informed judgements or predictions about the issues they are investigating. |
| Demonstrate an understanding of how entrepreneurs can look at current Transporation Network companies to make them more accessible | C3.3 analyse a current political issue to identify factors that could facilitate or obstruct efforts to reach a solution. | |||
| Expresses how their potential policy change will aid wheelchair users for TNC's while adding stability and positive change | D2.2 identify several possible courses of action that could be used to address the issue and achieve their goal. | |||
| Analyze the current policies and recommendations in effect today to see the change needed for a just and sustainable future |
| Topic | Grade | Course | Learning Outcomes | Curriculum Expectation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indigenous Influence on Environmental Justice | 12 | Canadian and International Law (CLN4U) | Assess the connections between various forms of resistance and legal action. | A1.2 Select and organize relevant evidence and information from primary and secondary sources. |
| Identify the relationships between environmental justice, Indigenous rights to self-determination, and conservation efforts historically and in the present day. | B1.2 Explain how various non-legal influences have affected and/or continue to affect laws, legal thinking, and judgements. | |||
| Explain the significance of the Delgamuukw case to Indigenous people across Canada and environmental stewardship. | B2.1 Evaluate from a legal perspective the relative influence of various theories and perspectives on the interpretation and administration of laws and legal processes. | |||
| Make connections between resource extraction and settler-colonialism, in addition to the connections between Indigenous knowledge/oral histories and conservation/land revitalization. | B3.1 Identify some key issues and developments that have influenced legal change and explain how they promoted and/or prevented change. |
| Topic | Grade | Course | Learning Outcomes | Curriculum Expectation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Great Lakes Governance | 10 | English (ENG2D) | Identify essential aspects of a journal article. | A1.1 use appropriate terminology in their investigations when referring to Indigenous peoples, nations, traditional territories, customs, traditions, and artifacts in Canada. |
| Explain the necessity of integrating Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Traditional Ecological Knowledge to build onto their current education. | A1.2 analyse how various factors have influenced changes over time in terminology used to identify/refer to Indigenous peoples and individuals in Canada. | |||
| Make connections between how Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Traditional Education can be taken outside of the classroom. | A1.7 use the concepts of historical thinking (i.e., historical significance, cause and consequence, continuity and change, historical perspective) when analysing, evaluating evidence about, and formulating conclusions and/or judgements regarding historical issues, events, and/or developments relating to Indigenous peoples in Canada. |
Class Field Trips and SHSM Reach Ahead Days at York U
Looking for hands-on, reach ahead activities for your classes or SHSM programs? Consider a class trip to York U for a day with experts and current students in the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change. Your day can include one of our dynamic workshops or a guest lecture, exploring the Keele Campus on a Sustainable Campus Tour and much more!
| Workshop Name | Descriptions |
|---|---|
| Careers with an Environmental & Urban Degree | Do you have a passion for the environment and would like to pursue a green career? Learn more about possible green career paths you can pursue with an Environmental & Urban degree. |
| Walking in a Car’s World | Living in a bigger city can be rather difficult to navigate as a single individual. As pedestrians always have the right of way, streets and more so intersections are not based with us in mind. Join us to unpack the intersections within the city and discuss possible outcomes. |
| What is the Cost of Fast Fashion? | Have you ever considered where you purchase your clothes from? What factors do you consider when going shopping? Learn more about relevant companies and discuss possible solutions. |
| Community Arts Workshops | Social changes in the world cannot occur without at least two things: Art and Community. In the Community Arts workshop, learn about the intertwined history social issues and art share, then engage in a communal art activity to take home and display. |
| Climate Justice | Are you worried about today’s climate change catastrophes? Have you ever wondered what frameworks can help combat and change these issues from the root causes? Join us in an introduction to Climate Justice Frameworks and brainstorm possible intersectional solutions. |
| Refugees: A Canadian and Global Context | Learn more about refugees and migrants as we analyze Canadian and global contexts. Migration routes, government policies and the roles of different parties will provide a perspective of the topic as a global issue. |
| Mini lecture from an EUC Professor | Our professors are geographers, physical scientists, social scientists, humanities researchers and artists, whose innovative research seeks to advance sustainability and social justice. Their research drives action to address the world’s environmental and urban challenges. Depending on availability one of our experts could host a mini lecture for your students. Email us at EUCApply@yorku.ca for a customized lecture. |
| The Eco Epicurean | Have you ever thought about how the food you eat impacts our environment? Learn more about environmental issues caused by our food consumption habits and take on new alternatives to reduce your carbon footprint. |
Create a Sustainable Classroom & Community
Creating a sustainable classroom in a secondary school setting is an excellent way to instill environmental stewardship in students and promote eco-friendly practices. By incorporating these tips, secondary school classrooms can become models of sustainability, encouraging students to develop eco-friendly habits that they can carry forward into their lives and communities.
Dig in at Maloca Community Garden
Do you have a community garden at your school or looking to learn about urban gardening? Spend a day and dig in to our Maloca Community gardens. Special workshop sessions hosted by our Garden experts. Email us at EUCApply@yorku.ca to customize a day in our garden and prepare to get your hands dirty!
Become an EUC Student for a Day
Thinking about university and want to know what a day is really like? Register for this program to spend a day like an EUC student going to class and studying on campus. Email us at EUCApply@yorku.ca to book your day now…
Please note: PA days in all school boards fill up early. Availability is subject to course offering times.
Sustainable Campus Tour
Explore the sustainability features of the York University Keele Campus with one of our current students. Learn about all the ways we are making positive change in our own community and discover the various ecosystems in living labs on our campus.
Questions? Contact Us
Brittany Giglio | She/Her
Recruitment & Liaison Officer