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Description: The Sunshine Coast Museum School is modeled on the innovative and award-winning Open Minds program in Calgary, Alberta. Local elementary teachers have the opportunity to move their classrooms to the Sunshine Coast Museum for an entire week. The goal is to enhance student learning by immersion in a rich community location with exposure to the resources and expertise at the site. Unlike regular field trips, this program puts the teacher “in the driver’s seat” and each week is tailor-made to the needs of the teacher. The program is a collaboration of business, community and education partners.
Location: The Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives, in the heart of Gibsons Landing. Theren are two floors of exhibits, a resource room, a reference library, and extensive archives with over 9,000 photographs & documents.
Preparation: Pre-visit learning with the classroom teacher will focus on the skills of descriptive writing and observational drawing to help students slow down and contemplate the objects in the museum during their week at the site. They will also study museum content areas that are related to classroom curriculum during their week here. The site coordinator will support the teacher with finding resources and providing teaching ideas.
Immersion: The class will come each day for a full week. There will be a space in the Museum that can serve as their base for discussions, sharing, and for lunch in rainy weather. On Monday the students will have the opportunity to explore their surroundings and there will be an introduction and behind the scenes tour with the Curator. Each day the Museum will provide a program that connects to the classroom teacher’s plans. For instance there might be a session with a retired logger who will explain how technology has changed in the forest industry, or there might be a session on how people obtained food during the early days before grocery stores were commonplace. Another session might be about transportation to and from Vancouver and how that has changed. The teacher may do sessions involving water colour painting, poetry, writing, music or drama. There may be specific activities for learning math skills, or science concepts. Each week will be tailor-made for the needs of each teacher and his/her class. Parent volunteers will accompany the class and will work with a group of students. At some point each day, the students will have the opportunity to observe, journal, and sketch. This might be looking carefully at an object that they have noticed in the Museum or it may mean a session outdoors, perhaps on the wharf observing the activity there.
Post-Visit Learning: Student learning will continue with students doing further research on their topic back in the classroom. They may complete a culminating action project, like a poster or a presentation to showcase their learning.
Coordination: Designated museum staff will act as a facilitator for the teacher and the students. They will support the teacher by providing appropriate resources and will assist the teacher in planning the week at the site.
Costs: The fee for the week-long program is $350. This does not cover the cost of transportation or class supplies.
For more information:
Go to the Beyond the Classroom website.
For a look at the video documentary of the pilot program that took place here at the Museum in 2008:
Beyond the Classroom – Part 1
Beyond the Classroom – Part 2
Description: The Sunshine Coast Museum School is modeled on the innovative and award-winning Open Minds program in Calgary, Alberta. Local elementary teachers have the opportunity to move their classrooms to the Sunshine Coast Museum for an entire week. The goal is to enhance student learning by immersion in a rich community location with exposure to the resources and expertise at the site. Unlike regular field trips, this program puts the teacher “in the driver’s seat” and each week is tailor-made to the needs of the teacher. The program is a collaboration of business, community and education partners.
Location: The Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives, in the heart of Gibsons Landing. Theren are two floors of exhibits, a resource room, a reference library, and extensive archives with over 9,000 photographs & documents.
Preparation: Pre-visit learning with the classroom teacher will focus on the skills of descriptive writing and observational drawing to help students slow down and contemplate the objects in the museum during their week at the site. They will also study museum content areas that are related to classroom curriculum during their week here. The site coordinator will support the teacher with finding resources and providing teaching ideas.
Immersion: The class will come each day for a full week. There will be a space in the Museum that can serve as their base for discussions, sharing, and for lunch in rainy weather. On Monday the students will have the opportunity to explore their surroundings and there will be an introduction and behind the scenes tour with the Curator. Each day the Museum will provide a program that connects to the classroom teacher’s plans. For instance there might be a session with a retired logger who will explain how technology has changed in the forest industry, or there might be a session on how people obtained food during the early days before grocery stores were commonplace. Another session might be about transportation to and from Vancouver and how that has changed. The teacher may do sessions involving water colour painting, poetry, writing, music or drama. There may be specific activities for learning math skills, or science concepts. Each week will be tailor-made for the needs of each teacher and his/her class. Parent volunteers will accompany the class and will work with a group of students. At some point each day, the students will have the opportunity to observe, journal, and sketch. This might be looking carefully at an object that they have noticed in the Museum or it may mean a session outdoors, perhaps on the wharf observing the activity there.
Post-Visit Learning: Student learning will continue with students doing further research on their topic back in the classroom. They may complete a culminating action project, like a poster or a presentation to showcase their learning.
Coordination: Designated museum staff will act as a facilitator for the teacher and the students. They will support the teacher by providing appropriate resources and will assist the teacher in planning the week at the site.
Costs: The fee for the week-long program is $350. This does not cover the cost of transportation or class supplies.
For more information:
Go to the Beyond the Classroom website.
For a look at the video documentary of the pilot program that took place here at the Museum in 2008:
Beyond the Classroom – Part 1
Beyond the Classroom – Part 2
