Canada at a Glance – Assessing quality of life

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Overview

This exercise encourages students to identify and infer possible trends indicated by data. High school students will learn to locate and compare quality of life indicators. They will also improve their data analysis skills.

Contributor: Julia E.W. Hengstler, Gulf Islands Secondary School, British Columbia

Objectives

• To locate and compare domestic quality of life indicators—life expectancy at birth and infant mortality rate—for different years
• To identify possible trends indicated by the data
• To infer possible causes of indicated trends
• To identify, from international comparisons, three countries with the highest and lowest quality of life

Suggested grade level and subject areas

Secondary
Mathematics, Business Studies and Economics, Computer Science, Social Studies

Outcomes

Students will

• locate and compare international quality of life indicators, such as infant mortality rate;
• rank the listed countries according to quality of life, from highest to lowest;
• make inferences and convincing arguments that are based on data analysis.

Materials

• Canada at a Glance booklet: print or online version
• Student worksheet
• Computers with Internet access, (if using online version)

Vocabulary

Gross domestic product (GDP) — the unduplicated value of current production of goods and services originating within the boundaries of a country.

Life expectancy — the average years of life remaining for a person at a specified age, if the current age-specific mortality rates prevail for the remainder of that person’s life.

GDP per capita — GDP divided by the population. It usually masks the extremes of poverty and wealth as it is an average measure.

Unemployment rate — number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force.

Infant mortality — the number of deaths of liveborn children under one year of age divided by the number of live births. It is usually expressed as a rate per 1,000 live births.

Quality of life indicators — a concept of standard of living that includes material and non-material well-being.

Classroom instruction

1. Introduce the list of vocabulary terms to the class.
2. Have students form working groups of two to three to define the meanings of the terms and then share with the class.
3. Fill in any gaps in their definitions.
4. Distribute the worksheets and have students complete the definition segment based on the class discussion.
5. Have students complete the rest of the worksheet using data from Canada at a Glance.
6. Have students share their observations with the class.

Evaluation

1. Individual worksheets can be collected for marking.
2. Marks can be awarded for participation in class.
3. Students could e-mail definitions/comments to a discussion group.

Please e-mail comments or examples of how you used this exercise in your class.

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