Something that stuck out to me in block 4 was the EY’s field trip to the exploration place in our second language class. It has a connection to my block 3 post on Barkerville because the exploration place is also somewhere I have visited many times growing up. I went on a field trip there in grade one, I had my sixth and seventh birthday parties there, I came back as a teenager, and now as an adult I have taken my friends and family from out of town there. With all of that, I have many memories of the exploration place but much like Barkerville I went to the exploration place this time with a new perspective looking at it through the lens of a teacher now. I am not just looking at the exhibits out of interest now I am thinking about what topics/subjects/units could fit in with a field trip to the exploration place and generating ideas and questions based off of that. We visited during our second language class so we had the added knowledge of looking at how the museum incorporates the lives and worldview of the Lheidli T’enneh people and the local Dakelh language.
One of the exhibits that stood out to me is one of their temporary ones that is usually only there for around 3 months. It is the Spirit Bear exhibit and throughout we were shown who Spirit Bear is, the sets from the four stop-motion films that were created, and how Spirit Bear and other children stand up for equity of First Nations children. There were resources as well with videos being played to share more information and the different Spirit Bear picture books on display. Later on, in the class, we had an inquiry presentation done on the topic of Spirit Bear that gave us even more information and ways to incorporate it into our classrooms.
The rest of the exhibits were interesting as well. It was nice to have a guided tour throughout the museum because we got more information on all of the pieces and it gave more context into what we were looking at. The Hodul’eh-a: A Place of Learning gallery was another highlight because it was a continuation of some of the things that we had been learning in our second language class. The gallery showcased what the Lheidli T’enneh did during each season and had the Dakelh dictionary accessible for us to try. It was cool because we could learn new Dakelh words and practice the ones we already knew throughout the exhibit. As I looked at everything I was starting to recognize some words in Dakelh that were commonly used in each piece.
Overall, I think the exploration place is a good option to consider when looking into field trips for our students. It is great that they offer free school field trips because it eliminates a cost barrier. Depending on where the school is, some classes could walk or take the city bus to the exploration place which would make transportation free as well. They are happy to work with teachers to explore when a good time to come in would be based on the curriculum you are currently teaching. I will keep the exploration place in mind for any future field trips.
