Lesson 3B (Internet Version):
[For Communities Over 50,000 Persons]

1. Family Income distribution
2. Male/Female Income distribution

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. Earlier lessons, in this series intended for faculty of education students, looked at female / male unemployment and labour force participation rates as well as average male / female income, and the initial lesson which looked at general socio-economic status (esp. schooling levels and family income) of the wider community. This lesson will again focus on gender relations and look at two more economic variables that impact on these relations: family income distribution, and distribution of female income.

In order to refine the use of the postal code search functions and to target specific census tracts a pairs work format may be appropriate but individual use is suggested. As seen in the last lesson, instructors can have a few examples prepared for demonstration before commencing the workshop. Each pair or individual is encouraged to bring two or more postal code addresses for schools in which they are going to teach (as long as these postal codes are within one of the 46 large urban centres in the 2001 Census 46 Large Urban Centres module in E-STAT) and a useful city map containing the symbols for schools. A few prepared postal code areas & relevant community street maps would help those not practice teaching in a large urban area. In this way the pairs / groups will have two or more census tracts to use for comparison purposes. Thus, this lesson can be accomplished by pairs at one computer as well as by one person working at her/his own station.

Participants are encouraged, after completion of this and previous lessons:

1. To take a look at other variables like post-secondary qualifications, ethnicity, Aboriginal issues (see APS module), home language, lone-parent families, mobility status and religion 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;

2. To work on other relevant aspects (ex. school financing costs, environmental issues, and health issues like AIDS) in relation to their own school catchments area.

The workshop today will use only the 2001 Census for 46 Large Urban Centres module.

Suggested Level: University; some experience with E-STAT: editing, saving and printing graphs and maps [see previous Lesson 2B].

Suggested Time: 2 hours

Learning Outcomes:

1. The user will explore specific aspects that affect the school in which she/he is to teach. Aspects for investigation in this plan are family and female income distributions within various census tracts in one of the cities in Canada having a population over 50,000 [2001]).

2. The participant will explore the usefulness of a computer program that also serves as an excellent resource for teachers interested in gender relations.

3. The user will ameliorate skills in using E-STAT:
   a. Refining search for data by using the postal code of a target area;
   b. In the "Geography" menu, selecting census tracts by community and code;
   c. Manipulating "characteristics" within the "Worksheet Manipulation" menu and
   d. Refining graphing and mapping skills.

4. The user will practice with a tool that can help her/his students learn about their local community.

Getting Started:

1. Turn on computer & monitor. Get to E-STAT.

2. Please maintain the E-STAT Main Menu screen and wait for instructions.

3. Turn to Handout #1.

Background on Geographic Levels Available:

1. Make a comparison among 3-4 census tracts in the same general area. These should contain a number of schools.

2. Choose only 2 census tracts and construct a 9 category income distribution scale that can be used in a comparative chart.

3. Make regional and provincial comparisons with female and male income data. Look into the Aboriginal Peoples Survey module for income data.

4. Note:  Elementary schools often serve an area similar to one or two census tracts. Secondary schools often take in far more census tracts. In some cases students come from throughout the whole community. Many small towns in Canada have populations that approximate a census tract population, i.e. between 2,500 and 8,000 persons.