Program Overview & Courses

This interdisciplinary, skills-focused course parallels the other component courses of the full-time Academic Bridging Program, supplementing those courses and helping students integrate their entire Academic Bridging experience, while providing intensive, workshop-style training in the fundamental skills needed for success in further university studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The course will also provide academic advising and planning, to help students understand and navigate university culture.

This interdisciplinary, skills-focused course parallels the other component courses of the full-time ABP Science Option, supplementing those courses and helping students integrate their entire Academic Bridging experience, while providing intensive, workshop-style training in the fundamental skills needed for success in further university studies in Mathematics and the Sciences. The course will also provide academic advising and planning, to help students understand and navigate university culture.

Despite its image as a multicultural nation, non-dominant groups have often experienced discrimination and injustice within Canada. The course examines experiences of injustice in Canada from diverse perspectives, amplifying voices of marginalized communities (e.g., Indigenous and other racialized peoples, LGBTQ2S+) and providing a more nuanced and critical view of diversity in Canada, historically and in the present. The course will also highlight the ways diverse communities have resisted injustices and have worked towards the creation of more just futures in Canada.

This course introduces students to the study of literature through an exploration of the conventional to the cutting edge, in terms of literary content, genre, and form. Students will learn to identify and challenge literary conventions and structures while exploring new formats and media.

This interdisciplinary course introduces the major issues regarding the sustainability of the global environment in the face of human development by integrating humanities and social science with the fundamental concept of environmental science. It examines major environmental problems, such as rapid climate change and land degradation as well as the role and impact of government, economics, and ethics on environmental issues.

This course provides an interdisciplinary focus on key topics relevant to Indigenous communities, historically and in the present. Students will be introduced to diverse cultures, communities, and worldviews of Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island (particularly Canada) and how they have been affected by colonialism. Emphasis will be placed on the ways Indigenous peoples are resisting social, economic, political, and environmental injustices, while revitalizing their identities, knowledges, and communities and creating space for the expression of Indigenous voices.

Storytelling that prioritizes the perspectives and worldviews of Indigenous peoples will guide students’ learning about course topics, issues, and concepts. Students will be encouraged to connect their own storied identities and perspectives to course themes and issues. Classes will involve a mix of interactive lectures, class discussion, student-led learning opportunities, and field trips. Class time and assignments will also be devoted to helping students build their critical thinking, reading, and writing skills towards the completion of a research-based essay due at the end of the year.

This interdisciplinary course provides an introduction to the cultural and social impacts of present-day popular mass media. Themes explored include the economic and political forces that shape the media world, the role of technology, and issues of representation, gender, and social justice. The course examines a wide range of texts, emphasizing popular culture produced in Canada, and students will have the opportunity to draw extensively on their own interactions with popular media.

This course focuses on mathematical concepts and skills needed for success in First Year university Math and Science courses. Students will develop quantitative reasoning abilities required to critique arguments and make decisions, and will gain a deep understanding of functions modeling relationships. The course highlights multiple representations of each topic, emphasizing connections, and workshop-style sessions enable students to strengthen the skills they learn.

This course covers the fundamental knowledge and skills needed for success in First Year university Chemistry and other Sciences such as Biology. Topics include atoms, elements, and compounds; the chemical and physical properties of gases, liquids, and solids; chemical reactions; and the importance of chemistry in understanding the world around us, with attention to how it can address issues in medicine, the environment, and sustainability.

This course explores diverse, under-acknowledged narratives of people, such as Indigenous and racialized peoples, within the territories currently known as Canada to challenge monolithic, linear, and uncritical representations of this country's past and future. Archival materials, maps, place names, art, literature, film, and other texts will be approached from interdisciplinary perspectives to reveal different orientations to historical events, social injustices, and futures of this territory.