Social Studies Model Lesson

1. Lesson Focus: The Nature of the BC Economy

2. Essential Question: Where will all the jobs be for me and my kids?

  • What do past conditions and apparent trends suggest about the future of the BC economy? What will the BC economy look like in, say, fifty years? How might it be different from the present and the past? Which areas will best supply employment opportunities?

3. Instructional Objective(s): Students will identify factors that contribute to the economy of British Columbia.

4. Performance / Demonstration: Using the Encyclopedia of British Columbia, students will examine the main sectors of the BC economy and write a paragraph or point-form summary of what they think the BC economy will be like in the future, based upon current economic activity and changes in the past.

5. Lesson Preparation and Resources

  • A data gathering form with instructions for reporting findings and predictions is provided with this lesson as one possible reporting format. (See attached Worksheet 1.)
  • This lesson will require about two hours’ working time and further reporting time, depending upon how students present their research and opinions.

6. Instructional Activities

a) Making Connections with Prior Knowledge

  • Lead a class discussion in which students identify the various sectors of the BC economy.
  • In small groups, have them create a chart that compares what their parents and grandparents did for a living, with the kinds of jobs their older siblings and other young people currently do.
  • Have each group note the changes in types of work they see from one generation to the next. Debrief these changes as a whole group.
  • Encourage students to discuss in which sectors of the economy they think they will most likely find work in the future.

b) Teaching and Processing New Content:

This lesson provides an opportunity for developing learning skills, particularly researching information, synthesizing and presenting it in a summary format.

  • Using these pages of the EBC: Agriculture, Fishing, Forest industry, Mining, Tourism, High-technology industry and Economy of BC. Have students verify their list of the major industries that contribute to the BC economy. Use other information sources, including the Grade 10 core resource book, to verify the information gathered.
  • Using the agriculture industry as an example and the EBC for reference, chart the economic and technological changes that have been made in the past 100 years on the Student Sheet “Plotting The Future.”
  • Discuss what economic impact these changes have had on the agriculture industry in British Columbia. As well, discuss how agricultural practices of the past have resulted in current problems or issues in the industry.
  • Using the Student Sheet “Plotting The Future,” have small groups of students complete the “Future” section by predicting what changes will occur in the next fifty years in the agriculture industry.
  • As a whole group, discuss these predictions and the reasons for making them.

c) Using and Practising What We Know

  • Have students complete the Student Sheet “Plotting The Future” (see attached Worksheet 2) for the other major industrial sectors of the BC economy (forest industry, mining, fishing, energy, tourism and “high tech”).
  • Have them grade each industry, including agriculture, as to its potential to provide employment in the future. Give reasons why.

7. Extension Activities

  • Students can use what they have learned about the BC economy in considering the importance of the various sectors, and in considering their own career choices.
  • This lesson can be a lead-off point for a more detailed study of the BC economy as a whole, or of any of the various sectors. Or it can be used to expand an investigation of how jobs (occupations) in BC have evolved over time, and issues such as the changing roles and attitudes towards women in the workforce.


Worksheet 1: Data Gathering

Worksheet 2: Plotting the Future


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