Culturescope.ca - 10 Year Benchmark Study - What Do Young Adults Know About Canadian History?

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"Over the last decade a major push has been made by public institutions, private foundations and advocacy groups such as the Dominion Institute to educate young people about Canadian history. Noteworthy initiatives include the CBC’s A People’s History, The Historica Foundation’s 'Heritage Minutes' and the construction of new Canadian War Museum at the cost of $134 million. With the support of the Aurea Foundation, the Dominion Institute and Ipsos-Reid have undertaken a national survey of 18 to 24 year olds to discover whether or not the last ten years of significant and ongoing investments in history education in Canada have translated into greater levels of knowledge among young people. To do this, the Institute and Ipsos-Reid asked, by telephone, a nationally representative sample of 18 to 24 year olds thirty basic questions about Canada’s past. These questions were identical to those that the Institute used to survey the same age group ten years ago in 1997.

Highlights of our study summarised in this factum include the following:

Eighteen percent (18%) of Canadians scored a grade of at least 16 out of 30 on a basic Canadian history quiz, which is one point less (19%) than passed ten years ago.
There appears to be a decline of knowledge in political history over the past ten years. For example, in 1997, 36% of Canadians knew the year of confederation compared to just 26% in 2007. Similarly, ten years ago, 54% knew the name of Canada’s first Prime Minister, while just 46% now know that John A Macdonald held this position.
Knowledge in military history has, however, increased. While in 1997, 31% of Canadians knew that the Battle of Vimy Ridge was fought in WWI, 37% now know that it was fought in WWI. Similarly, 37% now know that November 11th marked the end of WWI, compared to 33% who knew this ten years ago.
Despite the low scores, just 5% offered that the quiz, overall, was too difficult."


Format	Other
Creator(s)	Ipsos-Reid and The Dominion Institute
Source Location	Canada
Publisher	Ipsos-Reid and The Dominion Institute
Date Published	2007-11-08
Time Period Covered	From 2007-09-06 to 2007-10-25
Frequency of Publication	Variable
Language	English
URL	http://www.ipsos-na ...
Copyright Holder	Ipsos-Reid and The Dominion Institute
Le texte suivant provient d'un organisme qui n'est pas assujetti à la Loi sur les langues officielles et il est mis à la disposition du public dans la langue d'origine. The following material originates with an organization not subject to the Official Languages Act and is available on this site in the language in which it was written.

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