National Adult Literacy Database

Series: Workbooks – HRSDC

Authors: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)

Collection: Learning Materials

: This workbook can be used by an individual to help him identify the Essential Skills he is strong in and the ones that may need improvement. It includes exercises based on the Essential Skills of reading, document use, numeracy, and writing, and provides examples of how those skills are used in the skilled trades.

The workbook contains space for writing responses, and an answer guide where the user can check his responses.

The exercises are based on the kinds of materials that would be found in a workplace. For example, the section on document use requires the respondent to examine a poster showing the hazard symbols used in the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS), then answer questions about it.

Added: 2012-07-13

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See also:

• Cahier d’exercices sur les compétences essentielles pour les métiers - avec corrigé

Series: The Lieutenant Governor’s Aboriginal Summer Reading Camps

Authors: Frontier College

Collection: Research Materials

The Lieutenant Governor’s Aboriginal Summer Reading Camps, managed by Frontier College, give young people in remote First Nations communities in northern Ontario a chance to enhance their literacy and numeracy skills in a fun setting.

This report describes the program activities for 2011, during what proved to be a very challenging summer. It was the worst forest fire season in northern Ontario in many years, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents and shortening the season for the reading camps.

However, the authors note that despite the shortened season, campers read and borrowed more than 4,800 books during the summer and recorded strong levels of participation and engagement. Band council members, parents, and educators reported that students who participated in the camps were performing better in standardized tests; demonstrating better retention of reading skills; and exhibiting positive learning habits and behaviours.

The authors note that 1,410 children and youth attended the 2011 camps and, if the fires had not led to evacuations, the camps would have been on track to serve 2,800 children, a 27 percent increase over 2010.

Frontier College is a national literacy organization that works in partnership with others to provide learning opportunities for Canadians of all ages.

Added: 2012-07-18

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Series: Learning on Demand: Numeracy - The Basics - Video Tutorials

Authors: Workplace Education Manitoba (WEM)

Collection: Learning Materials

This video tutorial gives learners a chance to practise converting measurements in the metric system.

The tutorial includes three conversion problems that can be solved by using the factor label method, which involves the application of conversion factors expressed as fractions. The problems use millimetres, centimetres and metres.

Learners are asked to pause the video while they work out the conversions on their own, then restart it to see the instructor’s solutions.

Added: 2012-06-19

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Series: Adult Aboriginal Literacy Levels and Workplace Skills

Authors: T. Scott Murray

Collection: Learning Materials

This video is the final segment of a presentation by T. Scott Murray that explores the results of an analysis, completed in 2010, of adult Aboriginal literacy levels in the Northwest Territories, and looks at how those levels affect individuals, communities, and the nation. Murray is the president of DataAngel Policy Research, which collaborated with Bow Valley College in Calgary, Alberta, to produce the video presentation.

The figures show that about 58 percent of all workers in the Northwest Territories actually have a skill shortage, meaning that their literacy skills are less than what is required to do their jobs effectively and safely.

Among Aboriginal workers, the percentage is higher, at roughly 61 percent. That means that about 8,000 out of 13,000 Aboriginal workers in the Northwest Territories have a literacy skill shortage.

The good news is that most of those workers are only slightly below the necessary literacy level and would need a relatively modest investment to raise them to an acceptable level.

If enough money was invested to solve the problem, Murray says, the result would be a rate of return of between 133 percent and 350 percent per year following the investment.

Funders:

Added: 2012-06-21

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Series: Learning on Demand: Numeracy - The Basics - Video Tutorials

Authors: Workplace Education Manitoba (WEM)

Collection: Learning Materials

This video tutorial builds on the skills required to make conversions within the metric and imperial measurement systems by showing learners how to make conversions between the two systems.

The instructor narrating the video uses the “factor label” method, which involves the application of conversion factors expressed as fractions, to solve a number of problems.

He recommends using a calculator to speed up the process.

Added: 2012-06-28

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Series: Learning on Demand: Numeracy - The Basics - Video Tutorials

Authors: Workplace Education Manitoba (WEM)

Collection: Learning Materials

Learners can use this video tutorial to practise their skills in making conversions between imperial and metric measures.

The tutorial includes three conversion problems that can be solved by using the factor label method, which involves the application of conversion factors expressed as fractions.

Learners can pause the video while they work out the problems on their own, then restart it to see the instructor’s solutions.

Added: 2012-06-28

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Series: Learning on Demand: Numeracy - The Basics - Video Tutorials

Authors: Workplace Education Manitoba (WEM)

Collection: Learning Materials

This video tutorial introduces the concept of perimeter, the distance around an object. The instructor notes that while any object has a perimeter, he is limiting this tutorial to triangles, circles and rectangles.

For the triangle and rectangle, he simply uses a ruler to measure the length of the sides, then adds those figures together to come up with the perimeter.

However, measuring the perimeter of a circle poses a challenge. The instructor explains that the perimeter of a circle is also called its circumference and can be calculated by multiplying its diameter by pi, usually given as 3.14.

Added: 2012-07-05

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Series: Learning on Demand: Numeracy - The Basics - Video Tutorials

Authors: Workplace Education Manitoba (WEM)

Collection: Learning Materials

This video introduces the concept of area, which the instructor explains is simply the amount of surface an object covers.

He focuses primarily on right-angle triangles, rectangles and circles, calculating the area for one example of each of those shapes.

He points out that in order to calculate the areas of those shapes, it is essential to know and remember the necessary equations.

Added: 2012-07-10

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Series: Learning on Demand: Numeracy - The Basics - Video Tutorials

Authors: Workplace Education Manitoba (WEM)

Collection: Learning Materials

This video tutorial provides an introduction to the concept of volume in geometry. The instructor explains that volume is the amount of space an object takes up. For example, the amount of space available for storage inside a box is the volume of that box.

Volume is always measured in cubic units and involves calculations that include the three dimensions of length, width and height.

To illustrate the concept, the instructor uses various calculations based on the hypothetical case of a manufacturer who must figure out the size of the boxes he will need to ship his products.

Added: 2012-07-16

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Series: Learning on Demand: Numeracy - The Basics - Video Tutorials

Authors: Workplace Education Manitoba (WEM)

Collection: Learning Materials

This video tutorial gives learners the chance to practise their skills at calculating the volume of rectangular solids.

It includes three problems, all based on a rectangular box. The learner is asked to pause the video, work out the problems, and then restart the video to see the instructor’s detailed solutions.

Added: 2012-07-16

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