Census Day activities

I got my Census information in the mail last week and got right on it. In the past, I haven’t been this quick but, carpe diem. It was a very short activity and something that you have to do. (It says so on the form) I couldn’t help but think that, as a country, we’re really seizing on the pandemic by moving this online. I guess we just expect that everyone has a computer and is connected.

To be honest, I had the Census done and it actually took longer to re-read and find that there was an option to do the Census without a computer. I thought that the whole electronic process was well thought through and implemented. My congratulations to the developers.

The value doesn’t stop there by doing one’s civic duty. If you start poking around at the menus on the Census, there’s a gold mine there for educators looking for something relevant to the day and helps answer the mathematical question “Why do we need to learn mathematics?”

There is a “Resources for educators” page.

I worked my way through all of the sections and was quite impressed. While the instructions suggest downloading and printing, that’s probably not the best option these days. However, online works nicely. You get a chance to use those new found digital skills.

While May 11 is Census Day in Canada, the activity doesn’t generate any data that would have to go outside your classroom. So, it doesn’t necessarily have to be done today. I thought that the layout made a lot of sense including addressing what expectations could be addressed with the activity. Since it’s a cross-Canada activity, don’t look for the exact wording from the Ontario Curriculum.

Thinking of the bigger picture, you may wish to download all the resources and tuck them away to use in future non-Census years. The activities are really worth the effort.