Course Offers

What Social Studies Courses Does Palmer Offer?

At R.C. Palmer Secondary School, we offer a wide range of Social Studies courses with a variety of content, application of skills, and engaging activities. For this article, we are going to focus on only the Grade 9 courses.

Social Studies 9 is a mandatory course separate from English 9 that students will have to take. In Grade 8, Social Studies and English combined to become Humanities 8, and serves the purpose of introducing new high schoolers to the subject. However, in Grade 9, students will take them both as individual classes, since they are significantly different in multiple areas that cannot be covered in the same course.

Social Studies 9 helps students better understand the world and become better thinkers and citizens. There are two types of this course: regular (mainstream students; standard curriculum) and Incentive. Additions to the Incentive Program are as follows:

More challenging
More depth to learning
More projects assigned
More skills required and obtained
- Questioning
- Critical thinking
- Working and cooperating
- Writing and clarity

Although there are noticeable differences in the way students in the Incentive Program learn and take in that information, the two courses are still based on the same big ideas and principles. The Incentive Program is for those who want to challenge themselves even further with enriched course content.

For the regular Social Studies course content, students will learn about

Early Canadian history
Colonialism
Indigenous Peoples
Geography
Canadian Civics
Canadian contemporary governance
Canada's political system, rights, and citizenship
Historical perspectives (revolutions, immigration, diversity within Canada)

Students in all grades will participate in readings, group work, and projects (individual or collaborative) in their Social Studies classes. Common skills that are obtained through these courses are historical thinking, in-depth research, and understanding the relationships between the people and the land for the First Nations. More generally, students are trained to have more engagement and presence in the classroom, and become a responsible citizen in a diverse society.

If you have any more questions about the Social Studies course at Palmer, please feel free to contact the school office, school counsellors, or the proper instructors at our school. Their contact information could be found on the Palmer official website.

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