Grade 8 Social Studies: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 8 social studies in the Ontario Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- History A1 Application – Peoples in the New Nation: Assess the impact of some key social, economic, and political factors, including social, economic, and/or political inequalities, on various groups and communities, including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities, and on the creation and expansion of the Dominion of Canada, between 1850 and 1890
- History A2 Inquiry – Perspectives in the New Nation: Use the historical inquiry process to investigate perspectives of different groups and communities, including First Nations, Métis, and/or Inuit communities, on some significant events, developments, and/or issues that affected Canada and/or people in Canada between 1850 and 1890
- History A3 Understanding Historical Context – Events and Their Consequences: Describe various significant people, events, and developments in Canada between 1850 and 1890, including the Indian Act, treaties between Indigenous nations and the Crown, and the residential school system, and explain their impact
- History B1 Application – Canada – Past and Present: Analyse key similarities and differences between Canada in 1890–1914 and in the present day, with reference to the experiences of, major challenges facing, and actions taken by various individuals, groups, and/or communities, including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit individuals and/or communities
- History B2 Inquiry – Perspectives on a Changing Society: Use the historical inquiry process to investigate perspectives of different groups and communities, including First Nations, Métis, and/or Inuit communities, on some significant events, developments, and/or issues that affected Canada and/or people in Canada between 1890 and 1914
- History B3 Understanding Historical Context – Events and Their Consequences: Describe various significant people, issues, events, and developments in Canada between 1890 and 1914, including the residential school system, and explain their impact
- Geography A1 Application – Interrelationships between Settlement and the Environment: Analyse some significant interrelationships between Earth’s physical features and processes and human settlement patterns, and some ways in which the physical environment and issues of sustainability may affect settlement in the future
- Geography A2 Inquiry – Human Settlements and Sustainability: Use the geographic inquiry process to investigate issues related to the interrelationship between human settlement and sustainability from a geographic perspective
- Geography A3 Understanding Geographic Context – Settlement Patterns and Trends: Demonstrate an understanding of significant patterns and trends related to human settlement and of ways in which human settlement affects the environment
- Geography B1 Application – Global Inequalities in Quality of Life: Analyse some interrelationships among factors that contribute to global inequalities, with a focus on inequalities in quality of life, and assess various responses to these inequalities
- Geography B2 Inquiry – Development and Quality of Life Issues: Use the geographic inquiry process to investigate issues related to global development and quality of life from a geographic perspective
- Geography B3 Understanding Geographic Context – Global Economic Development and Quality of Life: Demonstrate an understanding of significant patterns in and factors affecting economic development and quality of life in different regions of the world
Easy ways to practise social studies at home
- Follow a current event together and ask who is affected and why people see it differently.
- Build a timeline of a family event or a historical topic they are studying.
- Use an atlas or online map to trace a trade or travel route.
- Ask “Whose voice is missing from this story?” when reading about the past.
What each unit covers
Think Like a Historian
The historical inquiry process: asking good questions, telling primary from secondary sources, judging credibility and bias, comparing perspectives, using maps and timelines, and building conclusions from evidence.
Making a Country
The conferences and the British North America Act, the reasons the colonies joined (railways, trade, defence and political deadlock), who could vote, why some people opposed Confederation, and how Manitoba, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island joined.
Railway & the West
Why Canada built the Canadian Pacific Railway, what the National Policy was, who built the railway, how the Prairies were opened to settlement and what that meant for Indigenous peoples, and early labour action such as the Toronto printers' strike of 1872.
Treaties & the Indian Act
What treaties are and why First Nations and the Crown often understood them differently, the Robinson and Numbered Treaties, what the Indian Act did, and how First Nations leaders acted to protect their people. This unit needs review with First Nations partners before launch.
The Métis & the Resistances
Who the Métis are, why the Red River Métis formed a Provisional Government, what the Manitoba Act promised, why the Métis and some Cree leaders acted in 1885 and what happened to them, and why the words historians choose matter. This unit needs review with Métis partners before launch.
Residential Schools & Truth
A careful, age-appropriate introduction to the residential school system: why the government and churches set it up, how it harmed children, families and communities, the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and ways Canadians can respond. The questions do not describe abuse in detail. Please talk with your child about this unit, and note that it needs review with survivors and First Nations, Métis and Inuit partners before launch.
Black Communities in Canada
The Underground Railroad and the end of slavery in British North America, the communities, newspapers and leaders that Black Canadians built in Canada West and beyond, the racism they still faced, and later migration to the Prairies.
Newcomers, Rights & Restrictions
Why Canada wanted settlers for the Prairies, how some groups were kept out or taxed (the Chinese head tax, the Komagata Maru), who could and could not vote, the women's suffrage movement, and how communities responded and later received apologies.
Canada, 1890–1914
The Laurier era, the Klondike Gold Rush and its effects on the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in, the Boer War and the Naval Service Act, the new Prairie provinces, treaty making in northern Ontario, important people of the time, and the start of the First World War.
Work, Cities & Reform
How factories, mining and new technology changed work and cities, what working life was like for many families, how unions, reformers and suffragists pushed for change, and how life in 1900 compares with today.
Where People Live
Linear, clustered and scattered settlement patterns, how to calculate population density, how climate, landforms and water shape where people live, and trends such as urbanization and sprawl.
Sustainable Communities
How settlements affect the environment, why land-use conflicts happen (including treaty rights and land claims), how natural hazards and rising seas affect cities, and what features a sustainable community of the future might have.
Maps, Graphs & Data
Reading map scales and legends, choropleth maps, scatter graphs and correlation (and why correlation does not prove cause), and what population pyramids say about a country's age and growth. The data in the questions are made up for practice.
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.
Economies & Development
Traditional, command, market and mixed economies, the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary sectors, and the factors that help or hold back a country's development, such as resources, trade, colonial legacy, debt, stability and corruption.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Level 1
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Level 2
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Level 3
- Has it! Level 3 is the provincial standard. Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Level 4
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the Ontario report card guide.
Common questions
How can I help my Grade 8 child with social studies?
Follow a current event together and ask who is affected and why people see it differently. Build a timeline of a family event or a historical topic they are studying. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
What does my child learn in Grade 8 social studies in Ontario?
The Ontario Curriculum Grade 8 social studies units include think like a historian, making a country, railway & the west, treaties & the indian act, the métis & the resistances, residential schools & truth.
Free printable Grade 8 social studies practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.