The Tikkun Project
About this unit
Students learn about different features of community spaces that make them accessible to all people by conducting accessibility audits in the neighbourhood. In conversation with experts, students learn ways that communities can design essential spaces to help eliminate barriers to accessibility. Informed by the concept of Hachnasat Orechim, Welcoming Others, students apply their learning by conducting a second accessibility audit in and around the school itself to shape a research-informed proposal to make the school community more accessible for more people. Proposals will be presented using appropriate strategies to ensure that the information can be understood by all. The unit begins with students documenting and labelling the places and spaces (buildings, parks, streets, homes, or stores) in the community on a large mural-sized map of the neighbourhood, and keeping a Thought-book of images, notes, and questions to help them think about the extent to which people can participate in important activities in each place.
critical challenge
Students will create an effective proposal to make the community more accessible and inclusive.
critical challenge Criteria
- • An effective proposal is presented to the appropriate audience in a way that is persuasive and inclusive to all people
• An effective proposal is feasible to implement
• An effective proposal is supported with evidence
Unit Goals
Curriculum Connections
- What does it mean to participate fully in the community?
In this line of inquiry, students consider how to define community and then investigate the activities people do, and the places where these activities happen. Developing a deep understanding of what happens in a community will equip students to think more critically about what full participation
might look like.
How can communities make spaces more welcoming for everyone?
Students learn from real community experts and adaptive tools to understand the specific physical, sensory, and social design choices that remove barriers to participation, building a toolkit of realistic solutions for their own school.
How welcoming and inclusive are our school and neighbourhood?
Students conduct structured accessibility audits — first in the wider community, then at their own school — comparing their initial assumptions against physical evidence to identify specific, addressable obstacles.