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How do Indigenous peoples enact their rights to their cultural belongings held in museums? How are they changing museums through activism, public discourse and evolving relationships?

In this program, students will tour selected cultural belongings and artworks by Indigenous artists, exploring themes of Indigenous self-determination and ethical dimensions of museum practice. Following the tour, students will visit the MOA Learning Lab and engage in a hands-on activity of the teacher’s choosing.

Teachers can choose either:

• An art making activity where students creatively imagine the future of museums, informed by the artist and knowledge keeper perspectives shared during the tour.
• An inquiry-based activity where students investigate and think critically about works from the touchable teaching collection.

Please note a required in-class activity must be completed prior to this program. See Teachers’ Notes for activity details. 

To book this program, please submit a booking request.

Winter sports are an important part of physical literacy, and our new Summit Snowshoe course is a fun introduction to this fast-growing sport. Students learn snowshoeing basics for health and fitness, including how to prepare for a snowshoe hike, snowshoeing safety and techniques, and then test their skills with games and a hike on our snowshoe trails. This activity can be combined with tubing.

A collaboration between Sea to Sky Gondola, Mountain Research Initiative, Geo Mountains, the University of Calgary, and the Arctic Institute, our Mountain Sustainability Program is designed for learners of all ages. Students take a global view of mountains around the world and initiatives in mountain resilience, examining how mountains are created, what changes them, and the shared responsibilities of mountain stewardship. We make the most of our unique subalpine environment with hands-on activities on weather, glaciers, and biodiversity. In support of the United Nations declaration that 2022 is the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development, the program is built around the question "What do mountains mean to you?" #mountainsmatter 

Students who have already done our course, can try our new mountain sustainability case studies on wildlife counts and nature-based solutions like ecological restoration.

Drawing upon diverse primary sources, the VHEC's acclaimed teaching exhibition, Age of Influence: Youth & Nazi Propaganda, examines the Nazis’ efforts to manipulate the attitudes, experiences and aspirations of German children and teens. Youth magazines, photos, testimonies, video clips, books and posters are just some of the primary sources that students analyze to discover how the Nazi regime targeted young Germans for indoctrination in Nazi ideology. The VHEC's museum educators introduce students to core concepts of propaganda and guide them to critically evaluate messages and images. The tour includes a workshop and a small group activity which allows students to practise communication and collaboration skills while sharing their knowledge with others. The exhibition challenges viewers to look critically at both the messages and the techniques used by Nazi propagandists to influence youth. On view at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre until June 2024. Book now: https://www.vhec.org/school-programs/exhibition-tours/

Brief description of program: 

This unique field trip offers students an on-site tour of the first and only facility in North America dedicated to recovery and recycling of ocean plastic with direct traceability to ocean recovery expeditions. It includes hands-on interactive sorting of ocean plastics.

Can’t get to our facility? Be sure to check out our FREE online program, EPIC Academy at: https://www.bcfieldtrips.ca/trip/explore-issues-about-ocean-plastics-and...

We highly recommend Teacher/students register (at no cost) and review Lesson 1 of EPIC Academy content prior to attending this tour, to create increased understanding and awareness of what will be observed and discussed during the tour.  PLEASE SEE "ADDITIONAL NOTES" BELOW for important notes!

Full Trip Details: 

Ocean Legacy Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to ending the ocean plastic pollution crisis, and strengthening the plastic circular economy through our recycling program. Our work is built on a four-pillar program called EPIC, which stands for Education, Policy, Infrastructure, and Cleanup.

Education and Policy are upstream efforts that prevent plastics and other waste from reaching our oceans and waterways. Infrastructure and Cleanup are downstream initiatives that seek to remove plastics from our oceans and shorelines, and process them for reintroduction into the plastic circular economy. 

The field trip will occur primarily outdoors at our Plastic Pollution Emergency Response recycling facility located at Steveston Harbour in Richmond. Ours is the first and only facility that collects marine plastics from a wide variety of sources to recover what was considered waste and turns it back into reusable plastic. Sources include: our own cleanup expeditions on coastal waters and shorelines, the Ocean Legacy network of Ocean Plastic Depots across BC and Atlantic Canada, used marine/fishing gear, ghost gear, materials collected by other non-profit cleanup organizations and marine industrial businesses. 

The tour offers an opportunity to see the process used to convert recovered marine plastic back into high-grade 100% post-consumer processed plastic pellets for use in the manufacturing of durable products as part of the circular economy. Ultimately, the goal of the field trip is to foster understanding of the plastic pollution crisis and circular economy principles: what is considered waste, how much of what consumers use daily is actually recyclable/recoverable, and to provide students with hands-on interaction with marine debris. Students develop awareness of their own plastic consumption habits, and ways they can take direct action to become part of the solution. Students will see the transformation of ocean plastic waste into new resources that have economic value.

Knowledge gained in this field trip can be enhanced when paired with EPIC Academy, Ocean Legacy's 10 lessons of no-cost/fully-funded online ocean plastics education. This LMS platform offers access to both individual online learners and also has downloadable materials for classroom educators. Includes classroom PowerPoint presentations, fully developed lesson plans, reflective activities and quizzes/answers sheets.

Fieldtrip structure:

• Walk the facility perimeter to see the equipment and portions of the recovery process
• Watch ocean plastics recycling in action
• Identify resin codes
• Sort items you see and use at home: a large bag of ocean-recovered plastic materials will be emptied to engage all students in an interactive sorting activity that demonstrates what types of commonly used plastics end up in the ocean. This prompts students to consider their consumption habits and connects cause and effect of reduced consumption and proper disposal
• See benches and lumber made from ocean-recovered plastic

What to bring:

• Work gloves for sorting
• Closed-toe shoes are required for safety
• Snacks 
• Water bottle (can be refilled with filtered water on-site if needed)

One single stall/private washroom is available on site.

FREE PARKING - is available on Chatham street; pay parking is also available in the lot directly in front of our facility.

PLEASE SEE "ADDITIONAL NOTES" BELOW for important notes!

As a distinctive neighbourhood filled with cultural monuments and historic sites, Chinatown’s public places are a precious and integral part of the city. Yet the neighbourhood is evolving quickly and many heritage sites are starting to disappear. How might we imagine a future Chinatown that honours and protects its heritage while welcoming new ideas and communities? We’ll survey Chinatown’s past and present sites of cultural significance and invite students to imagine the neighbourhood’s next phase of growth and revitalization with a creative “vision board” activity.

Total length: 1 - 2 hours
Grade levels: 9 - 12
Cost per student: $8 (1 adult chaperone per 10 students may visit for free)

Connections to the BC Social Studies Big Ideas

Grade 9

• Collective identity is constructed and can change over time.
• Emerging ideas and ideologies profoundly influence societies and events.
• The physical environment influences the nature of political, social, and economic change.

Grade 10 

• Historical and contemporary injustices challenge the narrative and identity of Canada as an inclusive, multicultural society. 

Grade 11

• Decision making in urban and regional planning requires balancing political, economic, social, and environmental factors.

Grade 12

• Social justice initiatives can transform individuals and systems.

Looking for a new and exciting way to connect kids with Parliament? Sign your class up for The Parliamentary Play and Tour for Schools, an interactive new program that includes a guided tour of the parliament buildings and a travelling historical play on the grounds. 

The program runs from May 22 to the end of June, 2023.

Program Information:

The Parliamentary Play and Tour for Schools begins at the rear library steps. From there, the group will join a performance of My Place in Politics. This interactive, child-friendly travelling play that whisks audiences back in time, to 1947. They will meet suffragists, students, and the participants of the Chocolate Bar strike, who will teach them about different ways that Canadians have advocated for change in the past. Then, the group will enter the buildings for a guided tour that focuses on how change is made at the Parliament Buildings today. 

While The Parliamentary Play and Tour for Schools is fun for all grades, it has been designed with the Grade 5 and 6 social studies curricula in mind. The play focuses on participation and representation in Canada's systems of government and how groups developed a plan of action to address issues like discrimination, inequality, and the fight for human rights. It can also be modified to fit the Grade 10 Social Studies Curriculum.