Comparing Here and There

Suggested Activities

In this challenge, students explore the various factors that influence daily life in the students' own community and in other communities (e.g., Inuit, Acadian and prairie). (If students live in a prairie community, you may wish to compare it with another prairie community that is very different.) Introduce the activity by asking students to locate Alberta on a line map of Canada. Verify students' answers by asking a student to locate Alberta on a wall map. Help students find the approximate location of the city or town in which they live.

Introduce students to a geographical features map of Canada and review the legend. Ask individual students to use the legend to identify features they find in Alberta and features they find in the other communities. Record these features in a chart such as one suggested below. Ask students to suggest how the different features might affect the way young people live in the regions (e.g., transportation, fun activities, school). Prompt the class with questions such as "What are some winter (or summer) activities that children undertake? How are these activities influenced by climate?" (e.g., winter activities such as hockey and ice fishing are influenced by the cold climate).

After establishing that students understand the relationship between the factors and their effect on daily life, present students with pictures from the specific community they are studying. (A search of Google™ Image Search for "prairie (Canada)," "Inuit (Canada)" and "Acadia (Canada)" will produce many hundreds of colour prints for each region.) See Investigating Pictures (Modelling the Tools) for detailed suggestions on how to teach and assess the tools for interpreting the main actions in a picture. Ask students to identify how daily life might be influenced by each identified factor for each community. When a body of information has been assembled, invite students to note how the communities are similar and different. After some discussion, ask students to identify the greatest difference in daily life (e.g., causing frequent and dramatic change in how children live) between their own community and each of the other communities. Encourage students to offer reasons for their answers. You may want to adapt the chart and strategies for Comparing Differences (Support Material) to structure and assess this part of the activity.