Introductory Lesson:

1. Socio-economic Status
2. Immigration

Teachers can over or underestimate the social forces at play in their own or another community. This is often the case in relation to the area(s) from which schools draw their students. The initial demonstration of E-STAT will look at some of the ways in which the program can be used by teachers to look at issues from local to country-wide perspectives. The workshop is intended to help teachers discover more about their own school communities as well as their province & country. Socio-economic and ethnicity variables are demonstrated in this workshop. For the connection between schooling levels and income participants are asked to refer to A. Rashid's Families and Income in Canada (Statistics Canada).

E-STAT is also useful to discover other social aspects relevant to schooling. For example, for families in your community you can take a look at the mobility status (movers) and family patterns, and other aspects like school financing costs, environmental issues too can be explored in numerous ways using E-STAT. The workshop today will use both the 1991 Census module and the CANSIM module.

Suggested Level: University

Suggested Time: 2 hours

Learning Outcomes:

1. The user will explore specific aspects (esp. Socio-economic status / social class [SES] & immigration patterns [Canada-wide]) that affect the school in which she/he is to teach.
2. The participant will explore the usefulness of a computer program that also serves as an excellent resource for teachers.
3. The user will interrogate some of the uses of graphing and mapping social data.
4. The user will practice with a tool that can help his/her students learn about their community, province and country.

Materials:

1. E-STAT installed on a DOS (or MAC) compatible micro-computer with a CD-ROM reader.
2. Copies of Handout #1: "Investigating My Practicum Location" [Activity Instructions]
3. Copies of Handout #2: Question Sheet.
4. Pencil or pen.
5. The name of 1 or 2 geographic areas (municipalities or townships) in Canada to be used for activity.

1. Turn on computer & monitor. Logon to the computer network.
2. Click on the E-STAT '97 icon (check in Start Menu).
3. Please maintain E-STAT main screen and wait for instructions.