Prescribed Learning Outcomes
This section identifies learning objectives and matches them with Beyond the Map vignettes. The teaching outcomes are mandated education goals from the British Columbia (Canada) Ministry of Education. However, the correlations are consistent with the expectations of educational jurisdictions throughout North America and around the Western World. Teachers who utilize Beyond the Map as a classroom resource can be confident that their students are acquiring valuable information and achieving essential learning goals.
Teaching Notes
This web site addresses British Columbia high school learning objectives in the following subjects:
- Grade 8 Social Studies
- Grade 9 Social Studies
- Grade 10 Social Studies
- Information Technology 8 to 10
- Grade 11 Social Studies
- Civilizations 12
- History 12
- Geography 12
- BC First Nations Studies 12
- Information Technology 11 and 12
Grade Eight
British Columbia Grade Eight students acquire an understanding of western development through the studies of world cultures from 500 to 1600. By examining Beyond the Map, students will understand the economic and social consequences of the material they studied in Grade Eight. Beyond the Map answers the question “where did all this lead?” In particular, the impact of the early fur trade is detailed in the vignettes listed for Politics and Law: Civilizations from 500 to 1600 – assess the importance of contact, conflict, and conquest on civilizations.
Grade Nine
Beyond the Map closely parallels the learning outcomes for Grade Nine Social Studies. The course focuses on Europe and North America from 1500 to 1815, and the vignettes are relevant to understanding the social, cultural, economic, and political forces at play on the Pacific coast. In particular, the contact between Europeans and First Nations peoples along the western North American coast are carefully explored. Beyond the Map should be an integral learning component of the Grade Nine Social Studies course.
Grade Ten
Grade Ten focuses on the development of North America well beyond the time period of this web site. However, Beyond the Map provides critical information for the assessment of the interaction between Aboriginal people and Europeans.
Grade Eleven
The Grade Eleven Social Studies course requires strong analytical and critical thinking skills. Students determine what it means to be Canadian from an historical perspective. Beyond the Map vignettes contribute to an understanding of the social, cultural, political, legal, environmental, and economic issues that make Canada the nation it is today.
Information Technology 8 to 10 and 11 and 12
Beyond the Map offers a valuable exemplar of how leading edge technology serves educational goals. The content notwithstanding, the process and format of this web site offer technology students insight into the framework of a contemporary, first-class technology project.
BC First Nations Studies 12
Beyond the Map should be a prerequisite for BC First Nations studies. The individual vignettes are relevant to the complete cross-section of learning outcomes from the abstract and theoretical, to the concrete and factual. Vignettes 73-81 – First Nations and New Arrivals are particularly important.
History 12
Beyond the Map offers senior students the opportunity to analyze historical evidence as a foundation for understanding 20th Century Canada.
Comparative Civilizations 12
Beyond the Map encourages the study of a specific culture within the larger understanding of world civilizations. The history of the west coast of British Columbia is a comparative study for understanding the foundations of civilization and particularly culture, art, and values.
Geography 12
Geography 12 is a technical course; however, Beyond the Map provides background information for examining the geographic themes of location, place, and movement.
General Note
Beyond the specific learning outcomes identified for each Grade and Subject, two generic comments are in order.
The study of world cultures, international expansionism, North American and Canadian early history, and British Columbia exploration and settlement would be incomplete without a serious examination of the life style and extensive travels of BC First Nations peoples. In this regard, vignettes 123-127 are relevant across grades and across courses for an in-depth understanding of each and all learning outcomes. To quote vignette 123: “A proper understanding of exploration in the Pacific Northwest includes the stories of the First Nations peoples who paddled their canoes past the breakers and into the ocean beyond.”
Vignettes on individual explorers Captain Cook 83-87, Captains Bering and Chirikov 93-97, Captain Malaspina 98-102, Captain Quadra 103-107, Captains Galiano and Valdés 108-112, and Alexander Mackenzie 113-117 fit well within all the sub-headings of Grade Nine Social Studies: Europe and North America from 1500 to 1815.
Each of the explorers discussed contributes to an understanding of the learning outcomes not only in Grade Nine but also:
- Grade Eight Social Studies: Application of Social Studies
- Grade Ten Social Studies: Application of Social Studies
- Grade Eleven Social Studies: Skills and Processes I and II and Cultural Issues
- BC First Nations Studies 12: Contact, Colonialism, and Resistance I and Cultural Expression, Oral Traditions, and Literature.
- History 12: The Study of History, and Geography 12: The Nature of Geography (Themes)
The “Did You Know” section on each explorer will also touch the imagination of young teens!
- Captain Cook is perhaps best known for his explorations in the Pacific region, but he was no stranger to Canada. He served with the Royal Navy in the Seven Years War. His capabilities as a mariner were matched by his competency in navigation. As stated in vignette 86, “Cook’s expedition was able to provide the British, and later the other European maritime powers, with working charts of the Pacific Northwest.”
- Captain Bering died during his Pacific expedition in 1742. In 1991, Bering’s remains were exhumed and a forensic reconstruction of his face was completed based on his skeleton. For Grade 12 History students examining historical evidence to understand the past, it doesn’t get any more specific than this!
- Mackenzie was only 14 years old when he took his first job in the fur trading business. Mackenzie covered enormous areas in record time: the full length of the Mackenzie River in two weeks, and to the Pacific in 108 days covering an amazing 3700 kilometres.
- Captain Malaspina was a man of significant social conscience for which he paid dearly. Vignette 102 points out, “Malaspina condemned the Spanish system of colonies that forced local peoples into slavery, working fields on behalf of Spanish owners.” He warned against revolt in Spanish colonies based on the experience of the French Revolution. He ended up stripped of his titles and served several years in jail.
- Captain Bodega y Quadra was a Spanish gentleman and diplomat. He performed his nation’s duties, including the resolution of the Nootka Crisis, in a manner of civility and comradeship with the English Captain Vancouver. Despite language difficulties and the delicacy of contrasting claims in the Pacific Northwest, both men socialized and assisted each other’s crews.
- Captains Galiano and Valdés concluded that Vancouver Island was an island and not a peninsula, and added evidence to the confirmation that the entrance to the elusive Northwest Passage was not to be found in the Pacific Northwest. It is an interesting footnote that both men fought on the Spanish side at the Battle of Trafalgar in which Valdés survived but Galiano died from an enemy cannon blast aboard his ship the Bahama.
Suggested Learning Frameworks
It is not the intent of this document to usurp the responsibilities and professionalism of classroom teachers. Each learning and teaching situation is unique, and we respect the ability of educators to select and utilize Beyond the Map in their individual classrooms. However, we offer the following frameworks for consideration:
- Mapping – the data contained in the vignettes lend themselves to a visual representation of First Nations settlements and international expansionism. Mapping, including the use of GPS systems, might help students conceptualize the scope of historical development.
- Comparisons – the vignettes are well suited to a compare and contrast format. Teachers can encourage students to compare the development of the BC Coast with similar settlement in Australia and/or the overland treks of Alexander Mackenzie in Canada and Lewis and Clark in the United States.
- Extension Activities – readings of the vignettes will inspire students to explore and present material in different formats as varied as drama, art, and more contemporary possibilities such as creating a set of “instant messaging” scripts between explorers.
- Companions – the imaginary stories present the content of Beyond the Map in an integrated narrative form. It is hoped that the variety of presentation sources will provide a learning structure for all learners.
