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Investigating My Practicum Location #2
[Communities Over 50,000 Persons]
Instructions for E-STAT Internet Version
Pairs Format Lesson:
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Unemployment and Labour Force Participation
Rates
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Female / Male Average Income
Overview:
Teachers, and beginning
teachers in particular, 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. An earlier introductory lesson in this
series, intended for Faculty
of Education students, looked at both
socio-economic status for one’s local community and at Canadian immigration
patterns. This lesson will focus on gender relations and will look at some of
the economic variables that impact on these relations. It will focus on
female-male differences (or similarities) in unemployment and labour force
participation rates, and average income.
In a pairs work format, students will learn how
to use the postal code search functions and to target specific census tracts in
a given area. Instructors might have a few examples prepared for
demonstration before commencing the workshop. Each student group is
encouraged to bring with them two or more postal codes (addresses) for schools
in which they are going to teach, as well as a city map that shows the locations
of schools. A few prepared postal code areas & relevant community street
maps would help those students who are teaching in a practicum location outside
of a major urban centre, as there are only 43 major cities in the 1996 Census
43 Large Urban Centres module in E-STAT.
Bringing more than one postal code will enable
each group to have two or more census tracts to use for comparison purposes.
Working in groups allows this lesson to be accomplished by pairs at one
computer, as well as by two or three persons working at their own stations but
conversing / dialoguing as they proceed together.
Participants are encouraged, after completion of
this lesson to:
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Take a look at employment /unemployment
differentials, family income and female income distribution (for next lesson),
male income distribution, female / male post-secondary qualifications, as well
as other variables like ethnicity and Aboriginal issues, home language,
lone-parent families, mobility status and religion. Denominational schooling,
for example, can make a significant difference in terms of the school attendees
in any one-census tract. These other variables will add a greater depth to the
kind of empirical information that can be graphed or mapped for these areas.
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Work on other relevant aspects (ex. school
financing costs, environmental issues, and health issues like AIDS) that relate
to schooling.
The workshop will use only the
1996 Census and
the 43 Large Urban Centres module.
Suggested Level:
University (Foundations in /Sociology in
Education; Graduate Education; Urban Geography/Planning; Labour Economics); some
experience with E-STAT: basic graphing and ability to use zoom function in
mapping.
Suggested Time: 2 hours
Learning Outcomes:
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The user will explore specific aspects that
affect the school in which she/he is to teach. Aspects for investigation in this
plan are unemployment and labour force participation rates as well as female
/ male average income within various census tracts in one of the cities in
Canada having a population over 50,000 [1996]).
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The participant will explore the usefulness
of a computer program that also serves as an excellent resource for teachers
interested in gender relations.
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The user will improve her/his E-STAT skills
by:
a. searching for data by using the postal code of a
target area;
b. selecting specific census tracts in
"Geography" within the "Selection Menu" menu
c. Graphing and mapping worksheet data.
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The user will practice with a tool that can
help her/his students learn about their local community.
Vocabulary:
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Census Participation Rate
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Unemployment Rate
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and Average Income
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Materials:
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A computer with internet hook-up.
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Copies of Handout #1:
"Investigating Gender Relations # 1: Female / Male Labour force Data and
Income Differentials" [Activity Instructions]
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Copies of Handout #2:
Question Sheet.
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Pencil or pen.
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A formatted 3 1/2 inch floppy disk [for saving
files].
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The name and postal code (address) of 1 or more
schools in Canada (Ontario) that can be found in the 1996 Census 43 Large Urban
Centres module.
Note:
To
find a postal code in Canada, go to the Canada Post
website.
A map of the relevant city would also be helpful in finding the exact location
of your school. Such a map can be obtained from the Statistics Canada
website at http://ww2.statcan.ca/english/profil.
Getting Started:
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Turn on computer & monitor. Log
onto computer network.
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Click on your internet browser; either Internet
Explorer, or Netscape Navigator.
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Please maintain the E-STAT Main Menu screen and
wait for instructions.
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Turn to Handout #1.
Background on Geographic Levels Available:
The 1996 web version contains data at four geographic levels: Province/Territory, Census Division, Census Subdivision, and
Census Tract data. The program also contains Postal Code searching
capabilities for the 43 cities in Canada that have populations over 50,000
persons.
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A Census Division is a county, regional
district, regional municipality or equivalent area.
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A Census Subdivision is a municipality or
equivalent area, Indian reserve, or settlement or an unorganized area.
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A Census Tract is a permanent,
small urban neighbourhood-like or rural community-like area established in large
urban-cantered regions with the help of local specialists interested in urban
and social science research. Aside from permanent and easily recognized physical
features, census tracts typically hold a population between 2,500 and 8,000
persons. For other census terms, see the definitions
in Statistics Canada. See also
Census Agglomeration (CA) and Census Metropolitan Area (CMA).
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