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Our FREE Port of Vancouver Discovery Centre field trip experience is specifically designed to support grade four to six students’ curriculum guidelines, as outlined by the British Columbia Ministry of Education. Your students will learn about Canada’s largest and most diversified port through activities that encourage:

• learning through doing, touching, watching, hearing and reading
• reflection and inquiry
• thinking critically and creatively
• communicating individually and in groups through actions, words and pictures

This is a free, 90-minute interactive fieldtrip experience where students get to learn how their lives are connected to the port and see the connection by observing the working port around the Burrard inlet.

Build on your students’ awareness of the importance of trade in our lives, as well as the role that we play in facilitating trade, through activities such as:

• Connecting your port city trivia challenge: Students answer questions and test their knowledge of the port on touch-screen panels.
• Cargo match: Students work together as terminal operators and try their hand at loading various cargo types in this ‘get up and go’ activity.

Book this FREE and exciting school program at the Port of Vancouver Discovery Centre (located at Canada Place). If you have any additional questions, please contact: education@portvancouver.com.

Through place-based learning, students learn about Traditional Ecological Knowledge relating to plants used by the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh in the Indigenous Unity Garden. While listening to the traditional plant names in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Skwxwú7mesh sníchim, students are invited to reflect on how they relate and engage with nature, the importance of a healthy ecosystem, and the interconnectedness between people, place, and animals. In That Which Sustains Us, students examine how the landscape has changed overtime due to the impacts of colonization, deforestation, and global warming, and our collective action towards a kinder and more sustainable future.

Discover the many wonders of the only mammal that can fly. Find out how bats live, hunt, echolocate and adapt to their habitat using their unique bodies. Because bats are nocturnal, we will not see any live bats during the program. Instead, we will explore their habitat with unique props and activities. Bats really are beautiful; learn why in this interactive forest adventure.

Keywords: nature, park, parks, outdoor, outdoors, ecology, forest, hands-on, interactive, explore, conservation, animals, plants

Book here!

Visit the Lumberman’s Arch beach at low tide and explore the incredibly diverse and abundant life in the intertidal zone. Low tide offers us a glimpse at fascinating animals and plants that have adapted to life in and out of the sea. Hunt for crabs, sort seaweeds, and find out what else lives or eats on the seashore, while students discover important human connections to the oceans. Beach Explorers is a tide-dependent program and is available in spring between April and June. Please contact us for available dates.

Keywords: nature, park, parks, outdoor, outdoors, ecology, beach, wetland, hands-on, interactive, explore, conservation, animals, plants

Book here!

Learn what it was like to work at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery. In this interactive and fun exploration, participants will take a tour of the facilities, watch a film, visit our fish wall, and play an interactive game. This 90-minute program will introduce the people, jobs, and machinery of the cannery. 

Investigate the ways natural resources can move from local to global in Fishy Business! Communities depend on their members to be good citizens. Part of good citizenship involves understanding and managing natural resources in a sustainable manner. Tour our Canning Line to understand changes in food preservation, learn about how fish are adapted to their habitats, and play a game to see an example of how fisheries are managed. 

(Grades K-7) Assess the survival needs of white sturgeon with a special focus on evaluating human impacts on the environment. The program includes hands-on stations about sturgeon life cycle and anatomy, and a sturgeon survival game focused on the habitat needs of sturgeon in the Fraser River.

This program is divided into:

• Introduction to the Centre and Program Content (5 minutes)
• PowerPoint (15 minutes) 
• Stations (20 minutes each)
  • Anatomy and Life Cycle (Explore the life cycle stages of the river sturgeon with our life sized model and perserved samples)
  • Sturgeon Survival Game (Consider the obstacles in the different stages of a sturgeons life with this consequence judgement game)
  • Station #3 is Age Dependent
    • Felt Board Habitat (K-2) (Explore and create a narrative story around the life of sturgeon)
    • Water Testing (2-3) (Use the scientific method to test a water sample taken by the class from our boardwalk)
    • Tagging Lesson (3-7) (Role-play as marine biologists, using the math inquiry that they would to learn more about sturgeon)
• Conclusion, Theatre (10 minutes)

For more information, visit our website or email us. 

Online booking form here.