Fraser River Discovery Centre

Our Trips

(K-3) Prior to European colonization, Indigenous peoples got what they needed from the land and water around them. Indigenous people have relied on salmon since the fish became abundant in the Fraser River about 5000-6000 years ago. They used native plants for food, medicine, building materials and more. This program explores the connection between Indigenous people, salmon, and the broader Fraser River Basin. Students experience the movement of salmon, storytelling and oral histories, and the many uses of native plants through an Indigenous perspective.

This program is divided into:

  • Introduction to program, centre and rules Outside (5 minutes)
  • Read aloud P'ésk'a and the First Salmon Ceremony (20 minutes)
  • Stations (20 minutes each)
    • Salmon Life Cycle and Migration (An acting game where students envision themselves as migrating salmon)
    • Build a Plant (Understand traditional Indigenous uses for local plants, and invent a possible new plant)
  • Film (Salmon origin traditional Indigenous oral stories) (20 minutes)
  • Conclusion (5 minutes)

For more information, visit our website or email us. 

Online booking form here

(Grades 6-9) Follow each step of the scientific method to conduct a water quality investigation. During this 2 hour workshop students observe and become curious about the Fraser River, do background research, construct hypotheses, test their hypotheses by doing experiments, analyze their data, draw a conclusion, and report their results. Students determine whether the current temperature, pH, and turbidity will or will not be above acceptable levels for salmon survival.

This program is divided into:

  • Introduction Outside (5 minutes)
  • Observe and Conduct Background Research
    • Observe the Fraser (outdoor observation and water sample collection 20 minutes)
    • 5-minute transfer to upstairs exhibit gallery
    • Background research (10 minutes upstairs exhibit search, 10 minutes presentations)
    • Construct hypotheses (10 minutes)
  • Stations (25 minutes each)
    • Turbidity Testing Station
    • pH Testing Station
  • Conclusion (10 minutes)

For more information, visit our website or email us. 

Online booking form here

(Grades 4-7) Explore local Indigenous People's connections to the environment by comparing traditional salmon fishing tools, and learn how Aboriginal people preserve their culture from two local elders who share oral histories through a storytelling film.

This program is divided into:

  • Introduction to program, centre and rules Outside (5 minutes)
  • Salmon Origins Storytelling Film Theatre (20 minutes)
  • Introduction in Theatre: (10 minutes)
  • 2 Stations (25 minutes)
    • Salmon Fishing Tools and Methods (Hands-on inqury of traditional Indigenous fishing tools)
    • Wind-drying Salmon (Exploration of the method used to dry salmon in the Fraser Canyon, and a workshop on sharpening traditional slate knives)
  • Conclusion Theatre (5 minutes)

For more information, visit our website or email us. 

Online booking form here

(Grades 2-5) Determine how personal choices have environmental consequences by "polluting" a model of the lower mainland and brainstorming alternatives to common pollutants. 

This program is divided into:

  • Introduction to the Centre, Program and Rules (5 minutes)
  • PowerPoint Presentation (10 minutes)
  • Activities (25 minutes each)
    • Pollution Model and Solutions to Pollution (exploration of our hands-on model of non-point source polution in the Fraser Valley)
    • Water Conservation Station (Matching game of water saving tips)
  • Video: Journey of the Blob (10 minutes)
  • Conclusion (5 minutes)

For more information, visit our website or email us. 

Online booking form here

(Grades 4-7) Explore the economic and technological exchanges between local Indigenous people and early European settlers during the fur trade and become archaeologists as they dig for artifacts that represent key events in the development of BC.

This program is divided into:

  • Introduction: PowerPoint Presentation (20 minutes)
  • Stations (20 minute stations)
    • Archeology Dig (dig in our archeology sandbox for artifacts and explore what those artifacts mean for BC)
    • Archaeologist’s Journal (sketch artifacts and make inquiries into their purposes based on archeological data)
    • FRDC Trading Post Game (consider value of objects for explorers and Indigenous people in developing BC in a Deal or No Deal inspired competition)
  • Conclusion (10 minutes)

For more information, visit our website or email us. 

Online booking form here

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