Grade 8 Social Studies
6 units matched to the Newfoundland and Labrador Curriculum.
Learning focus
- Citizenship, power and governance. Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship and the origins, functions, and sources of power, authority, and governance.
- Culture and diversity. Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of culture, diversity, and world view, recognizing the similarities and differences reflected in various personal, cultural, racial, and ethnic perspectives.
- Individuals, societies and economic decisions. Students will be expected to demonstrate the ability to make responsible economic decisions as individuals and as members of society.
- Interdependence. Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the interdependent relationship among individuals, societies, and the environment—locally, nationally, and globally—and the implications for a sustainable future.
- People, place and environment. Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the interactions among people, places, and the environment.
- Time, continuity and change. Students will be expected to demonstrate an understanding of the past and how it affects the present and the future.
Units
Unit 1
Making a Living, 1800s to 1949
Grade 8 looks at how people in Newfoundland and Labrador earned a living before 1949: the salt fish trade and the credit system, the seal hunt, the railway, mines, paper mills and the fishers’ union. Ask your child why depending on one industry was risky.
Curriculum outcome: Individuals, societies and economic decisions (by Grade 9) · how the fishery, the credit system, the railway, mines and mills shaped the economy and daily life of Newfoundland and Labrador before 1949
Unit 2
Newfoundland Joins Canada
Grade 8 looks at how Newfoundland moved from responsible government to the Commission of Government, then voted in 1948 to join Canada in 1949. Ask your child which sources and points of view helped people choose.
Curriculum outcome: Time, continuity and change (by Grade 9) · how Newfoundland became a province of Canada in 1949, and the choices and perspectives behind it
Unit 3
Quality of Life Around the World
Measures such as life expectancy, literacy rate, infant mortality and access to clean water, how these connect to each other, how to compare countries, and the work of groups such as Doctors Without Borders, Right To Play and Water For People. All country data in the questions are made up.
Curriculum outcome: Interdependence (by Grade 9) · measuring quality of life, inequalities and ways of helping
Unit 4
People on the Move
Why people move (push and pull factors), the difference between forced and unforced migration, how towns and cities grew, how disease and new crops changed populations, and the effect of growing communities on land and resources.
Curriculum outcome: Time, continuity and change (by Grade 9) · migration, growing cities and changing living standards
Unit 5
Exploration & Exchange
Why Europeans sailed across oceans, what the Mexica and Inca empires were like, the Columbian Exchange of foods, animals and diseases, and the serious consequences for Indigenous peoples and for enslaved Africans.
Curriculum outcome: Time, continuity and change (by Grade 9) · voyages of exploration and the exchange of goods, ideas and people
Unit 6
Sources & Evidence
Children practise choosing and judging sources, reading artifacts and art, comparing accounts and drawing conclusions from evidence.
Curriculum outcome: Time, continuity and change (by Grade 9) · choosing and judging primary and secondary sources, comparing accounts and drawing conclusions from evidence
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