Prince George Study

Prince George, 1953, from the Wally West Collection

We have a great little collection of local history resources in our D.P. Todd library. Take a look through and find a topic that you find interesting. Maybe it relates to where your street name came from (and how most streets in town are named), or where the old ski jump used to be (and what that says about early recreational opportunities), or how the city developed as separate communities before becoming Prince George (and why this was controversial). Perhaps you can look at the transfer of lands that resulted in the Grand Trunk Pacific taking over the Aboriginal Reserve in what is now downtown Prince George, or how most of the early education in the area took place in one-rooms schoolhouses, or the process that led to the establishment of UNBC.

After you'd had a look and found a topic, develop an inquiry question that the resources can help answer. Try to find additional sources, print or online, to support your inquiry. Refer back to your "What is Social Studies" document that outline historical and geographic thinking. Use the 6 concepts to help develop your inquiry.  Is there anything significant about your topic? What use can you make of evidence and how reliable is it? Has the situation you're looking at changed over the years or remained the same? What led to this situation, and what resulted?  What are some varying perspectives on this topic from the time period? What are some ways we judge the situation now -- has the perspective changed with time.

Finish up with a two-part response:

1. Record your inquiry question here as a comment on the blog post.
2. Prepare your response to you inquiry question (including leading questions based on the 6 thinking concepts) as a "one pager" to hand in.  Include references and a small photo or image if you like. The format can be any way you like -- written, web, boxes of info that relate to the 6 concepts, a visual representation, even a sculpture or constructed art piece.

Human Experience at D.P. Todd

Task: go out and take some photos that relate to the human experience at D.P. Todd Secondary. Make a note of where they are taken on a map of the school. You can develop your own criteria for "human experience," but here are some ones we developed together in class:

• safety features & processes
• natural light vs artificial light
• meetings places
• high traffic areas
• places to eat
• food service
• programs in operation
• sound and music
• state of technology
• use of tables and seating
• state of repair & equipment
• accessibility (e.g. inclusive of disabilities)
• private vs public places
• connection to nature
• doorway & entrance experience
• noise levels & places to make noise
• evidence of celebration
• temperature or climate control
• communication systems
• fun/happy vs sad/depressing
• evidence of history/tradition
• student-centered creations