Rick Hudson - travel writer and author

Island Parent
February 2003
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Getting out of the classroom

Natural science writer Rick Hudson looks ar four educational resources on Sidney's waterfront, and finds a thriving focus for school field trips.

Wendy is nine years old, and about to touch her first sea cucumber. There are giggles from surrounding classmates as she reaches cautiously down into the tank. The ring of faces freezes, watching as her fingers get closer … and closer … and then ... contact!

"It's soft," she says, almost in surprise.
"Is it slimy?" asks a friend. All eyes are on her.
"No, not really."
"Let me!"
"I want to!"

Marine Ecology Station.

Seconds later, everyone is dipping into the tank, caressing the orange and brown creature. Facilitator Madeline Southern smiles, another hurdle over. In the background, sea stars and octopuses glide across the wall of aquariums.

The Marine Ecology Station (655-1555) started a decade ago in Cowichan Bay, but moved to the Sidney waterfront in 2000. Under the direction of Bill Austin (Stanford PhD and sponge specialist extraordinaire), this floating teaching lab offers a suite of programs, from kindergarten to university level. There are facilities for drop-ins too. In the summer, when the marina is crowded with boats, the Station is full of visiting families. In the quieter months, it's the schools who pack the place.

Inside the building, pumps murmur and seawater spills into drains from a dozen tanks. Binocular microscopes crowd the worktables. A large TV screen fills one corner. Space is at a premium inside the 100 square metre building, and with 20 students in there right now, it's humming.

Two minutes walk away, there's considerably more space. In the cavernous main hall of the Sidney Marine Museum (656-1322), the light is a cool green, suggesting a feeling of being underwater. Life-size paintings of whales, manatees and seals are frozen in motion on the ceilings above. Down at floor level, there are whalebones, baleen fronds, and mammal displays that beg you to reach out and feel them. Gulf Island trips
PANTERRA Sea Life Learning Lab.

"Touching is what it's all about," says museum director Peter Garnham. "If a child can touch an exhibit, it's so much better than just looking through a sheet of glass."

Each year, dozens of schools visit this, the only whale museum in western Canada, to enjoy the displays. They also attend a variety of courses such as 'Mammals and pollution' and 'Baleen, blubber and bones'. There are lots more.

Close by, earth sciences are front and centre at the Scratch Patch (655-4367), which offers programs for all school grades. Children participate in the rock and mineral identification segments of the lesson, but the perennial favourite is hunting for (and keeping) gemstones, found in the outdoor garden, known simply as 'the Patch'. The importance of touching and learning is stressed time and again. A new program for the senior grades has students working their way round the interactive exhibits of the Interpretive Centre. There's a switch, lever or button on everything.

Manager Anne Maguire is teaching a young group to gold pan. "You can't get rich without getting dirty!" she says with conviction. Judging by the amount of gravel flying about, there'll be a lot of millionaires soon.

"I found one!" shouts someone.
"No," says a more experienced buddy, "that's just fool's gold."

In a nearby building overlooking the marina, P.E.C.T.S. Sea Life Learning Lab (656-0633) has arrived recently. Dry specimens, collected on many field trips, cram every shelf and drawer. Shark's teeth, coral, fish bones and a multitude of other forms of marine life are part of what director Lela Sankeralli calls "the backbone of our course, literally!"

For 16 years, P.E.C.T.S. has brought students, notably from Alberta, down to the coast to experience 4- and 5-day marine science cruises, both here in Georgia Strait, and in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. Aimed at the grade 7-12 grades, the courses are certified by the Alberta Board of Education, and have introduced many 'prairie kids' to the wonders of the shoreline.

Coming together.
Over the past year, the teaching arms of these four organisations have teamed up to develop new curricula. And with the rising costs of bus transportation, teachers welcome the chance to visit two or even three facilities for the same carrier cost.

Schools on the Lower Mainland are being lured across the straits to attend one-day natural sciences courses. For many Vancouver participants, it's their first time on the ferries. Once on the Island, public transit whisks them into Sidney from Swartz Bay, and the rest of the day is theirs to learn and enjoy.

This spring, the consortium is launching its most ambitious program - a 2-day field trip, which includes four natural science programs, a dockside nightlight event, and a sleepover in the Sidney Marine Museum. Imagine dreaming below a whale!

It looks like educational field trips just got a whole lot more fun!

For further information:
Check out the Sidney Natural Sciences Consortium joint website at http://www.scratchpatch.com/sidney/, or call the individual organisations for details.