Canadian Personalities Hall - Educational activities

GRADES 6–8

GRADES 9–10

GRADES 11–12

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Activity: Seeing Stars

Teacher Notes

In this activity, students will deconstruct the Canadian Museum of Civilization's Face to Face: The Canadian Personalities Hall, offer alternative selection criteria, and suggest other personalities for inclusion.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

One 45-minute period of class or homework time
Student copies of Sheet 8: What Makes a Great Canadian?
Internet access
Extension activity - Sheet 9: Top Americans

WHAT TO DO

Begin with a short discussion about what makes a Canadian "great". Is it different than being "famous"? Ask students to name some "great Canadians"?

Hand out Sheet 8: What Makes a Great Canadian?. Have students fill out the sheet, either in class or as homework. They will need Internet access to do their research.

After they have finished, go through their sheets as a class. Discussion questions could include:

Do you agree with the choices?
What do you think the selection criteria were? (Note: see below for the Canadian Museum of Civilization's selection criteria.)
If the criteria had been changed to include living Canadians, who else might have been included?
Why do you think that the Museum included the rule that "personalities" had to be "deceased for five or more years"?

Extend this Activity

Ask your students if they think Americans would do this differently. Hand out Sheet 9: Top Americans and give the students a few minutes to fill it out. Discuss their answers.

Selecting Canadians for Face to Face: The Canadian Personalities Hall.

Criteria:

The individual had to have been dead for at least five years, so that his or her lasting impact could be more accurately assessed.
The individual had to have made a significant and lasting contribution to Canada or Canadians.
There had to be artifacts relating to them.
There had to be a critical mass of documented information about them.

PDF download of activities for Grades 11-12