Inspire the next generation of changemakers and learn more about what Brock University’s Faculty of Social Sciences has to offer through our local high school visits. Our introductory sessions give students the opportunity to explore career paths in the social sciences, get a taste of the university experience, learn how to think critically about important local and global issues, and participate in interactive activities led by current faculty members.
Who it's for
How it works
Review the offerings below from our different departments to find the session(s) of interest to your group. Sessions are designed to be 60 minutes. If you would like to request a shorter or longer session, please indicate this in your initial outreach.
While our faculty and staff will do everything they can to accommodate high school visit requests, please note that we do not guarantee session availability.
Reach out to the lead contact for the session(s) that you would like to schedule at your high school. When discussing availability, please note that preferred time slots are posted below with lead contact information.
If you are interested in booking sessions from multiple departments for your group, they may need to happen on different days depending on faculty member availability.
A designated faculty member will arrive for their scheduled visit at your high school to deliver their session. In some cases, students or staff will join them.
Please note that presenters will bring brochures and swag on behalf of Brock University that high school students are free to take.
Shortly after our high school visit, we will follow up with you to see how your session went and send a short feedback form for you to complete.
Your valuable feedback will help us improve our high school programming for future students!
Session details
Communication Sciences & Disorders – A Crash Course!
Presented by the Department of Applied Linguistics
Learn how language is represented in the brain, discover the impact of stroke on language, practice using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), watch x-ray videos of how people swallow and see what it looks like when they can’t, listen to how sounds are distorted by hearing loss, explore the challenges of learning to read, and examine early language milestones. All this and more in our interactive crash course!
This session may be a good fit for classes related to Health Care, Human Growth and Development.
Smells Like Teen Spirit? Unpacking the power of being young
Presented by the Department of Child and Youth Studies
This session will engage the class in definitions and stereotypes of childhood, youth, and adulthood. We will explore how power flows among these categories, shaping young people’s experiences, choices, and identities socially and culturally. Drawing on your students’ experiences, we will discuss how they feel about their place in the world as teenagers and how adult perceptions do or don’t mesh with how they see themselves.
Media clip that will be used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og637tBf91s (Misunderstood: Apply iPhone commercial)
This session may be a good fit for classes related to Psychology and Sociology.
Do You Know Your Rights at Work? An Introduction to Labour Studies
Presented by the Department of Labour Studies
Work affects everyone and everything — our work determines how we spend many of our waking hours and shapes our position in society, our health and economic well-being, and our self-image. This interactive presentation will introduce the academic field labour studies by examining workers’ rights in Ontario. How well do you know your rights?
This session may be a good fit for co-op students and classes related to Designing Your Future, Business, Career Studies, and Social Justice.
Baldur’s Gate 3…And Politics?
Presented by the Department of Political Science
The popular video game Baldur’s Gate 3 is based on the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, but gaming isn’t just for fun — role-playing simulations also help us to understand the world of politics. Play a brief simulation with us, The Starship Game, to see how political scientists use games to understand elections, justice, and war and peace. Hopefully Orin the Red doesn’t show up while we’re playing…but we can’t promise she won’t.
This session may be a good fit for classes related to History, Civics and Law.
America, Are You OK?
Presented by the Department of Political Science
Donald Trump was a candidate unlike any other in American history, and his presidency presents challenges to Canada’s existence that we have not faced in generations. How did Trump, a convicted felon who fomented insurrection in 2021, manage to regain power and actually win a majority of the popular vote? How is he reshaping the fundamental norms and institutions that used to make up American democracy? And what does his authoritarian presidency mean for Canadian sovereignty? We answer these questions, and many more, in this “explainer” session with Brock’s specialists on American and international politics.
This session may be a good fit for classes related to History, Civics and Law.
The Last Straw! A Board Game on Social Disparities in Health and Wellness
Presented by the Department of Sociology and Criminology
The Last Straw is a simulation game designed to introduce a sociological analysis of health and wellness. This session is serious fun! In small groups, each player creates a character who strives to live in good health to a ripe old age. Players soon discover that they are not fully in control of their fate. How does social environment, social policy and community connection matter to the game? Why does it feel unfair? How could we even the playing field?
Content disclaimer: This session contains discussion of sensitive subject matter in relation to health, including family violence, smoking and drug use, illness, and death.
This session may be a good fit for classes related to Health Care or Introduction to Anthropology, Psychology and Sociology.
Slicing the Wealth Pie
Presented by the Department of Sociology and Criminology
Working in model ‘think tanks,’ students explore ways to illustrate the distribution of wealth in Canadian society. They compare their assumptions about population patterns with classmates’ ideas and with recent data from the Parliamentary Budget Office. Students learn concepts such as household wealth (vs income) and basic population statistics (percentiles, deciles, distributions). The activity leads into a lively discussion of perennial topics in Sociology, such as economic and social inequalities, social policy, and social change.
This session may be a good fit for classes related to Introduction to Anthropology, Psychology and Sociology.
Stop the Hate: Anti-trans messaging in the Manosphere
Presented by Women’s and Gender Studies
The manosphere is all around us – online, in politics, even in schools. Most of us think it’s about hate and violence against women. That’s true – but there’s more: it also pushes anti-trans and racist messaging, online and off. In this hands-on session, you’ll watch a short film, decode real images and stories, then leave able to name how these messages work and how to push back.
Content disclaimer: This session may contain sensitive subject matter that you can discuss in advance with the session facilitator.
This session may be a good fit for classes related to Gender Studies, Social Justice, Politics, and Civics.
Read the Feed: A Crash Course in Gender and Media
Presented by Women’s and Gender Studies
Your feed isn’t neutral – it’s teaching you something about gender every time you scroll. In this hands-on session, you’ll get the same tools researchers use to read media critically, then put them to work on real examples pulled from sport, advertising, and social media. Bring your own questions about what you’re seeing online; we’ll dig into them together.
This session may be a good fit for classes related to Media, Gender Studies, Social Justice, Politics, and Civics.