Teachers brainstorm field trip plans at the Canadian Museum of Nature

About 60 teachers from the Ottawa area enjoyed wine and cheese at the Canadian Museum of Nature on Jan. 15 during a discussion about encouraging more field trips and student programming at the Centretown institution.

“We work hard to make sure there are curriculum links in the exhibits and student workshops,” said Gilles Proulx, who co-ordinates school programming at the museum. He explained the museum is still looking for ways to ensure teachers will continue to bring classes and use their resources. 

“That is the point of the evening,” he said.

At the event, teachers took a tour of the Arctic Voices exhibit that opened in December 2014. Students will come face to face with a life size polar bear replica and travel through a video with scientists as they catch Arctic whales in the exhibit.

Proulx says he hopes Arctic Voices will attract teachers because it is interactive and displays Canada’s northern environment, people and wildlife. 

“You are our clients,” Proulx told the teachers during a roundtable discussion, “so tell me what you need.” 

Many teachers from various schools said expenses were the reason they cut down on fieldtrips. 

“A frequent user program or membership would be good so we could come more often,” said Paul Graham, a Grade 8 teacher at Glashan Pubic School. Graham said he brings his class to the museum as often as he can because they are in walking distance.

 “I think it’s incredible that the museum wants to hear our voices because this is really, really rare,” said Shauna Pollock, a teacher at Churchill Alternative School in Westboro. Pollock said she also finds the museum expensive and that she doesn’t seem to get “the same bang for your buck” that she used to.

“It used to feel so nostalgic and magical to bring students here,” she said, “but now it feels more clinical and less immersive.” Pollock said she brings her students here as often as possible but she wishes the museum offered less expensive, more hands-on workshops for students.

“We keep things as inexpensive as possible,” Proulx said in response. Proulx said the museum is updating their social media uses so teachers will be able to access information, videos and other teaching tools for free via the Internet.

“Tonight helped me figure out exactly what we can do to encourage teachers to come back to us,” Proulx said as the event came to an end. 

He said the museum will try to create funding options and rentable teaching resources for teachers and schools that are concerned with expenses.

“You never know what will inspire students,” Pollock said at the end of the evening as the moon shone through the floor to ceiling windows. “This museum,” she said, looking 30 feet up at the ceiling, “could be their inspiration for becoming a geographer or an explorer.”