Students evaluate the importance of various factors in determining the quality of life of people living in various regions of North America. Students rank these factors, considering the perspectives of people living in various regions of North America, or factors unique to First Nations Métis, Inuit or Francophone communities in Canada.
A. Rank the three most important factors that impact the quality of life of someone living in a particular region of North America or in a First Nations, Métis, Inuit or Francophone community in Canada.
Identify factors for assessing the quality of life
As an ice breaker, ask the students to think about their quality of life by assessing how well they think their families live and what changes would make the biggest impact on improving their current quality of life.
Because students may reveal sensitive information, ask them to reflect privately on their quality of life.
Remind students that there is an important difference between standard of living, which is a measure of economic well-being, and quality of life, which includes standard of living as well as other factors, such as health, happiness and security. Encourage the students to provide examples from their community to support their answers. Also encourage them to go beyond superficial factors, such as a lot of money and nice clothes. Students may suggest the following factors:
- nutritious food to eat
- freedom to act on one's beliefs
- access to education
- family life
- freedom to live and work in one of Canada's official languages
- sense of hope
- emotional security
- freedom to practice one's chosen religion/spirituality
- strong connections to one's community (may include culture, place, language)
- opportunities for recreation and leisure activities
- healthy environment
- participation in a democracy
- respect for individual and collective identity.
Alternatively, you may want to provide students with a list of factors that affect quality of life. For information on quality of life factors, review the Quality of Life Indicators Project (see References).
Encourage the students to choose the three factors that have the greatest impact on their quality of life. Possible criteria for identifying the most significant factors include the following:
- short-term impact
- long-term impact
- extent or degree of impact.
Research the three most significant factors of quality of life in a specific region or community
Ask students to join with a partner to study a community that is representative of a particular region in North America or a First Nations, Métis, Inuit or Francophone community. Ask students to use a geographic tool to create a digital map of the assigned region or community (see References). Instruct students to gather research on the daily life of a person living in the specified region or community.
Encourage students to record important information and ideas regarding the three selected factors. Students may underline evidence that the person being profiled enjoys a good quality of life, or probably will in the future, and they may circle evidence that the quality of life of the profiled person is poor or mediocre and will probably remain poor or mediocre in the future.
To structure this activity, you may wish to refer to Looking for Evidence (Lesson Material).
As students collect information, consider using a Pairs Read strategy in which students work with a partner to complete a reading. Students take turns reading a paragraph or portion of reference material; while one student reads, the other student takes notes on the evidence that suggests a good or mediocre quality of life, now or in the future. Students take turns reading and taking notes after each portion is read.
Remind students of the criteria for effective note-taking:
- concise—in their own words
- relevant—directly provides important information on the issue being considered.
Ask students to share their ideas with the whole class. Remind the students to be open-minded and to learn from their classmates by listening for arguments they had not considered and to think about the connections made by others. Encourage the students to provide support for arguments about the significant factors that affect the quality of life. Remind students to rethink their positions if they hear convincing arguments that are backed up with solid evidence.
B. Determine a change that would have the greatest impact on improving the quality of life for a person living in a region in North America or in a First Nations, Métis, Inuit or Francophone community in Canada.
Write a persuasive response
After the discussion, suggest that the students consolidate what they have learned by writing a convincing persuasive response, e.g., paragraph, editorial, speech or essay, arguing in favour of one change that would make the greatest contribution to improving the quality of life for people in the region or community studied.