Learning Resources bulletin - August 2008

Dear teachers:
Welcome back and good luck in this coming school year! This regular bulletin presents free information and teaching materials available on Statistics Canada's Learning Resources website.

In this issue:

• Back to school…by the numbers
• Census at School starts again September 8 (elementary-secondary)
• Québec, 1608-2008: 400 years of censuses (intermediate-secondary)
• History resources: now updated and easier to use (intermediate-secondary)
• Environment: articles from EnviroStats (secondary)
• Math lessons: two more types of functions to model (secondary)
• Health: Kids participation in sports; latest Health Reports (secondary)
• Food and agriculture (secondary)
• New in E-STAT (intermediate-secondary)
• Regional support

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Back to school….by the numbers

Learn quick facts about education in our 'Back to school' feature: enrolment, spending, graduation rates and much more!

Find it at Teachers > Feature.

Note: This article refers to the CANSIM database being available to journalists at a nominal fee. However, CANSIM is free for students and teachers through the E-STAT interactive tool for schools. (See below.)

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Census at School starts again September 8 (elementary-secondary)

Plan to have your students learn about statistical inquiry through this exciting class survey project. This year's Census at School survey begins September 8, 2008, and runs until June 19, 2009. We will be posting last year's summary results in early September.

Thanks to the 270 teachers who responded to our survey on Census at School. Your comments on the challenges and rewards involved in doing this project will help us make it better. Those teachers who asked for assistance or materials will be contacted this fall by their regional Statistics Canada representative.

Try the new lesson: "Canada recycles! Do you?" (Grades 4 to 8).

Students compare their class data about environmental practices with data from a survey of Canadian households. Using worksheets, they construct bar graphs and draw conclusions from the data.

In the Census at School site, look under Learning activities > Grades 4 to 8.

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Québec, 1608-2008: 400 years of censuses (intermediate-secondary)

To commemorate the 400^th anniversary of Québec City's founding, this multi-media resource relates the story of the city's population, from the very first census conducted in 1665-1666 by Jean Talon until the most recent census in 2006. You'll find:

• an article relating what was uncovered by the censuses
• an engaging 4-minute-long Flash presentation, illustrated with archival pictures
• animated population pyramids for different periods
• an animated map of Québec City's population change over 135 years

Find it at History > Key resources: Animations.

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History resources: now updated and easier to use (intermediate-secondary)

Our updated history resources section offers lots of ideas for Canadian History and Social Science classes. This section is now divided into three tabs:

• Lessons: curriculum-relevant lessons helping to explore Statistics Canada's rich sources of historical information
• Key resources: including delightful animations (using Flash) that bring our history to life!
• Data: listing sources of statistical tables that describe our nation's past in numbers

Find them at History.

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Environment: articles from EnviroStats (secondary)

EnviroStats is a great source of short, relevant articles on current environmental issues. In the Summer 2008 issue, see

• "Which households drink bottled water?"
• "Canadian industry's expenditures to reduce greenhouse gases": These expenditures declined by 25% from 2002 to 2004.
• "Canada's ecozones and population change, 1981 to 2006": Calculating population change and population density for each ecozone shows the link between people and the ecological system that supports them.

Find it at Environment > Key resources > Articles: EnviroStats.

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Math lessons: two more types of functions to model! (secondary)

Your students can model exponential and sinusoidal functions using these new lessons. They'll import data from E-STAT into a spreadsheet or dynamic statistical software program to gain a better understanding of the properties of these types of functions.

• Exponential modelling of the farm value of potatoes
• Sinusoidal modelling of Canada's youth cohorts

Find them at Functions, relations and modelling.

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Health: Kids' participation in sports; Latest Health Reports (secondary)  

"Kids' sports" in the June 2008 issue of Canadian Social Trends: Boys are more likely than girls to participate in organized sports, but this gender gap is narrowing. Factors that influence sports participation of children include household income, parental education and involvement of parents in sports. Children living in small cities and towns are the most likely to be sports participants.

Find it at Quick links: Canadian Social Trends > Articles by subject > Children and Youth.

Latest Health Reports: See a report summary on teen behaviour in The Daily of August 20, 2008 and the full study in the August 20, 2008 issue of Health Reports.

Find it at Health and physical education > Key resources > Articles: Health Reports.

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Food and agriculture (secondary)

"Canadian Agriculture at a Glance 2006" has released several snappy and intriguing articles that shed light on Canada's agri-food system. Check the table of contents to find the following articles:

• "Fork in the road: Canadian agriculture and food on the move" – about the global supermarket, agricultural imports and exports and approaches to eating locally
• "Organic: From niche to mainstream" – explaining organic products and their certification
• "That beet is sweet!"– about growing and processing sugar beets in Canada in the context of the global sugar cane industry
• "Bison on the comeback trail" – a look at the history, life cycle and production of the bison

Find it at Quick links: Canadian Agriculture at a Glance.

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New in E-STAT (intermediate-secondary)

Annual update of CANSIM:

The CANSIM socio-economic database in E-STAT lets you track trends in virtually every aspect of Canadian life. CANSIM is updated in E-STAT each summer, adding new data that were produced during the previous year. As of July 2008, approximately 2,800 tables accounting for over 38 million time series have been updated.

E-STAT is an interactive research tool free to schools.

Students can retrieve data on virtually every aspect of Canada's economy and society. Data can be displayed in tables, graphs or maps and downloaded for use in other software applications.

To see if your school is registered and allowed access, click on "Educational institutions registered with E-STAT".

If you are assigning homework that requires students to use E-STAT, remember to give them your school's username and password.

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Regional support

For help using our resources in the classroom, contact the Statistics Canada education representative in your region.