Changing families and households

Overview

In this lesson, students complete an independent research assignment from which they will gain an understanding of how Canadian families have changed. They will analyse and interpret data about changing family structures in Canada from selected editions of the Canada Year Book from 1867 to 1967. Based on their research, they will compare different parts of Canada and different periods over the century. They will come to conclusions about the effects of industrialization on Canadian society, particularly on the structure of the typical Canadian family.

Objectives

• To understand and apply the mechanics of simple statistical analysis.
• To effectively locate, analyse and interpret assigned statistics and other data from selected editions of the Canada Year Book between 1867 and 1967.
• To identify the structure of the Canadian family and its patterns of change in a given historical period.  
• To calculate percentage changes in specific data.
• To make inferences and draw conclusions based on research and analysis.
• To make assumptions about economic factors contributing to patterns and changes.
• To explain the effects of urbanization on families, focusing on economic factors and industrialization.
• To appreciate the value and application of statistics.

Suggested grade level and subject areas

Secondary
History, Family Studies, Geography

Duration

50 to 60 minutes for the introduction (steps 1 to 7)
50 to 60 minutes to complete Student worksheet 2 (step 8)

Vocabulary (as used in the context of this lesson)

Conjugal condition – marital status.  
Demographic change – change in a population with respect to patterns of births, deaths, age, gender, marital status, urban and rural residency, country of origin, mother tongue, etc.
Dwelling – a set of living quarters in which a person or a group of people resides.
Family – people living in the same dwelling and related by blood or marriage.
Household – any number of people living within the same dwelling. They did not need to be related to one another.

Materials

• copies of student worksheets 1 and 2 and of the evaluation rubric for all students
  • Student worksheet 1 (printer-friendly format)
  • Student worksheet 2 (printer-friendly format)
  • Evaluation rubric (printer-friendly format)
• computer lab

Canada Year Book resources

1916/1917 (PDF)

• Table 8: Rural and urban population of Canada, by province and by increase or decrease in the decade, 1901 and 1911, page 83.
• Table 9: Rural and urban population of Canada, by province and sex, 1911, page 84.

1927/1928 (PDF)

• Table 13: Dwellings and family households, by provinces, 1881 to 1921,  page 113.

1947 (PDF)

• Table 2: Rural and urban populations, by provinces and territories, census years 1911 to 1941, page 102.
• Table 23: Numbers of buildings, dwellings, households and families, and average numbers of persons per dwelling, per household and per family, by province, 1941, page 126.
• Table 24: Numbers of buildings, dwellings, households and families, and average numbers of persons per dwelling, per household and per family, for urban centres of 30,000 population or over, 1941, pages 126 and 127.

1957/1958 (PDF)

• Chart: Trend in urban and rural population, census years 1871 to 1956, page 121.

1967 (PDF)

• Table 4:  Land area and density of population, by province, census years 1951, 1956 and 1961, page 186.
• Table 27: Marriages and rates per 1,000 population, by province, with percentage distribution of bridegrooms and brides by nativity, 1941, 1951 and 1961 to 1964, pages 268 and 269.
• Table 30: Dissolutions of marriage (divorces), by province, 1941 to 1965, page 271.

2007

• Chapter 14, page 207.

Current statistics at http://www.statcan.gc.ca

• Learning resources > Teachers > Canada at a Glance > Demography > Table 3: Census families.

Classroom instructions

1. Present the following outline to the class:
   1. You will be working with online statistics to uncover information about Canadian families in the period from 1867 to 1967.
   2. Each of you will conduct research and write a short essay describing your findings about changes in Canadian families.
2. Have students look at some current Statistics Canada information about families in Canada. A good resource for this information is Canada at a Glance, published annually by Statistics Canada, and the current Canada Year Book 2007.
3. Have students speculate about possible family structures at the time of Confederation and changes over the next century. The challenge for students is to use information from the Canada Year Book in order to reach conclusions about changes in family size and structure and how these changes might be connected to urbanization and industrialization.
4. Hand out student worksheets 1 and 2 and the evaluation rubric.
5. Review Student worksheet 1 and outline questions students should consider when analysing and interpreting statistics from the Canada Year Book.
   
6. Clarify assignment expectations, rubrics and deadlines. This activity is designed as an independent study, but the lesson can easily be completed in pairs.
7. Review the terminology and vocabulary for the project.
8. Have students complete Student worksheet 2. Where needed, help them find assigned data in the Canada Year Book. Have them complete Part D using the previous parts of the assignment as a model structure. This will test their analytical skills.

Enrichment

Encourage students to examine data on other factors that could have influenced family structure over the 100-year period, such as trends in labour, types of production and their economies of scale, and growth of service industries.

Students may wish to investigate changes in farm and non-farm occupations and show the impact of these factors on family structure.