Vancouver

Find out what life was like in this historic neighbourhood in the past and enjoy the traditional markets, family associations and fascinating places that still exist today. This is a unique opportunity to study Vancouver's Chinatown in place.

This is a popular, highly customizeable program and our expert facilitators are happy to work with you to acheive your learning objectives. Teachers have used this tour for supplementary learning in a range of subjects from Social Studies and English Language Arts to Urban Planning, Tourism and Asian Studies. A shorter version of this tour is available for younger students.

A popular addition to this program is our Crossing Borders program that discusses early Chinese immigration. Contact us or visit our website for more information. 

Can’t come to the museum? Book one of our award-winning Beaty Boxes; outreach kits with touchable specimens, information about UBC research scientists, and hands-on activities that explore biodiversity. Our outreach kits provide you and your students with the opportunity to connect with the Beaty Biodiversity Museum’s unique biological collections. All Beaty Boxes contain touchable specimens and other scientific objects to stimulate inquiry and discussion within the classroom, enhancing the student learning experience.

Schools, community centres, libraries, home-learners, and other groups are encouraged to book a box and share it with other classes in the school or institutions in their immediate area. This can be a cost-effective way to share resources in the community.

Formore information, please visit: https://beatymuseum.ubc.ca/learn/beaty-boxes/

Learn about the style of Chinese painting known as ink and wash painting (shuǐ-mò 水墨). This ancient practice, still alive today, is closely related to calligraphy and was one of the Four Arts practised by Chinese scholars.

Using the beauty of our Chinese Garden as inspiration, students will use special brush pens to create their own ink and wash painting to take home. 

Did you know, the very first Dragon Boat race to take place outside Asia happened in Vancouver? The roots of Dragon Boating go back thousands of years. Why not join in the fun!

Dragon Boat paddling is a fun activity that encourages teamwork and is appropriate for all skill levels.

For all Dragon Boat-only bookings, please contact Dragon Boat BC: info@dragonboatbc.ca

Land and Sea Combo: Combine this program with our Dragon Tales program to learn about the stories and traditions behind the 2000 year old Dragaon Boat festival. 

Bring the joy of discovery into your classroom with one of our brand new Education Kits! It’s all the hands-on learning you expect from the Fraser River Discovery Centre, conveniently packed into one easily transportable package. Our Kits include all the materials you’ll need, as well as detailed lesson plans, for inquiry-based learning about life right here in the Fraser River Basin. The Kits are fully sanitized between uses.

We currently have one on offer, but check-back soon, as more are in development!

138 Reasons We all know that salmon are important for people, both culturally and economically, but did you know that there are 138 other species that rely on salmon for their survival? Learn all about them through hands-on or eyes-on materials, interactive lessons, as well as a scientific experiment!

• Kit includes:
  • Detailed lesson plans
  • Salmon life-cycle refresher (video or narrated storybook available, based on age)
  • Salmon-arch building sets
  • Replica skulls of some of the 138 species
  • Water quality testing kits, including a Fraser River water sample

For more information, visit our website or email us. 

Online booking form here. 

Want something different in an outreach kit? Please fill in our educator survey to tell us what you need from an outreach kit, or email us your comments to programs@fraserriverdiscovery.org. 

Learn to shoot like Robin Hood!

Immerse your students in an archery adventure, with a lesson in your choice between the
modern take-down recurve bow, the english longbow, or the asiatic composite bow!

Archery is a fantastic special program to offer as part of your educational classes as a single
session or an ongoing series. We combine modern archery instruction with historical bows
from Europe and Asia in a way that will excite your students to learn about different cultures
and physical skills related to patience, persistence, and strength.

*This lesson can only be offered at our downtown studio.

Pretty much everyone in Metro Vancouver knows about Stanley Park. It’s world famous for its dense forest, spectacular views, seawall, beaches, and fabulous trails. The park even won the title of “World’s Greatest Park” in a TripAdvisor contest. But while the park hosts millions of people every year, very few come away from their visit with any knowledge of the park’s remarkable social history.

Stanley Park is not an untouched rainforest. It was home to local Coast Salish people for thousands of years before it became a park, and even for decades afterwards. Numerous villages dotted the shoreline, including Whoi Whoi, which hosted large potlaches and from where a delegation sailed to meet Captain George Vancouver as he explored the area in 1792.

The story of the forced eviction of indigenous people from the land that would become Stanley Park is a shocking background to the park’s creation. Some mixed race indigenous and European families were able to fight back against the City’s onslaught of lawsuits, and keep their homes in the park near Brockton Point until the 1950s. Today their memory and resilience is honoured by the statue Shore to Shore, by Salish artist Luke Marston, which we visit on the tour.

The creation of the park was also about more than creating a space for Vancouverites to enjoy afternoon strolls and picnics. The land was originally intended as a military reserve, established to protect the city should the Americans decide to invade. After it became clear that wouldn’t happen, real estate developers, the Canadian Pacific Railway, the City of Vancouver, and the Federal Government all battled for control of the land. The fact it became a park illustrates the colossal power the CPR once had in Vancouver. 

Throw into the mix the tale of Deadman’s Island, stories of true crime, smallpox pest houses, buried treasure, public art, crow shoots and poetry and you’ll find that despite its beauty, there’s a lot more to Stanley Park than meets the eye!

A unique field trip for students from Grade 5 – University:

• Duration – 2 hours
• Start and end point – Outside the Vancouver Aquarium entrance by the whale fountain at 845 Avison Way