This course explores various perspectives on issues in Canadian and world politics. Students will explore political decision making and ways in which various parties address domestic and international issues.
Courses Type: University Preparation
Prerequisite: Any Grade 11 or 12 university (U) or university/college (M) preparation course in Social Sciences and Humanities, English, or Canadian and World Studies.
This course allows students to investigate political issues, events, and developments of both national and international importance, developing and communicating informed opinions about them. They will explore political decision-making and the ways in which various individuals, groups, and institutions address political issues both within Canada and internationally.
CPW4U Online Course Outline and Timeline
Below is the suggested sequence of course unit delivery as well as the recommended number of hours to complete the respective unit. For complete details of targeted expectations within each unit and activity, please see each Unit Overview found in the CPW4U course profile.
| Unit Order | Unit Name | Suggested Time |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Introduction to Politics | 25 Hours |
| Unit 2 | Government and the Political Process | 25 Hours |
| MID SEMESTER POINT | ||
| Unit 3 | Canada and the International Political System | 25 Hours |
| Unit 4 | Issues and Answers: National and International Politics in Practice | 25 Hours |
| Unit 5 | Independent Study Project ISU Research Report (ongoing) | 10 Hours |
| Total | 110 Hours |
Please note, as per Ministry guidelines, OVS has a mandatory 14 day minimum requirement for student enrollment to be eligible for a midterm report card and 28 days enrollment to be eligible for a final report card.
Fundamental Concepts Covered in Grade 12 Politics Online Course
Effective learning in all subjects of the social sciences and humanities curriculum depends on the development of skills and understanding in four areas:
- Disciplined Inquiry and Critical Literacy: Social sciences and humanities courses focus on the use of disciplined, structured inquiry to understand human beings, human behaviour, and human nature. These courses promote the use of reason as part of the structured inquiry process, while also recognizing the limitations of reason as a way of learning, knowing, and understanding. They encourage students to identify and question assumptions and values that underlie individual behaviour and family and social/cultural life. Developing their critical literacy skills enables students to challenge texts, reading “underneath, behind, and beyond” texts and questioning how they influence us and others and whose interests they serve.
- Problem Solving: Social sciences and humanities courses require students to engage actively in solving problems confronted by individuals, families, diverse groups, institutions, and societies. The problems that students confront in these courses vary from the abstract and theoretical to the everyday and concrete. These problems are often morally and politically complex, with solutions that are sometimes controversial because they affect diverse individuals and groups differently.
- Understanding of Self and Others: Students in social sciences and humanities courses are provided with rich opportunities to enhance their self-understanding and understanding of others through an examination of their personal belief systems and also of the foundations and implications of different viewpoints and lived experiences of others. Through a juxtaposition of their own perceptions, attitudes, values, and beliefs with those of others, students develop an understanding and appreciation of the contexts through which their own and others’ world views are formed.
- Local and Global Mindedness: Social sciences and humanities courses develop students’ awareness that people do not live in isolation; each person affects and is affected by his or her social, cultural, economic, and environmental context. Students examine the norms underlying different familial, societal, institutional, and cultural practices. Students are encouraged to be mindful of their responsibilities with respect to the environment and of the importance of making morally and ethically responsible decisions. Students explore how theories and concepts can influence social action, and how such action can affect the well-being of individuals, families, and communities throughout the world.