The Pacific Museum of the Earth

Guided Tours

Although the Pacific Musem of the Earth is open to the general public, we only offer guided tours to groups of at least eight people. You may arrange a tour for your group, school, or organization by calling to make an appointment.

Minimum group size: 8 people.

Maximum group size: 30. 

Tour cost: Free. We do appreciate donations, if your group can afford them. Typical donations range from $3 per person to $5 per person. However, if you can't afford to make a donation, please come visit anyway. We'd rather have you here than not.

Tour content: Tour content is flexible depending on the tour guide and the requests of the tour group. However, every tour is required to cover the following: what is a mineral?, what is a rock?, the three types of rocks, types of fossilization, some interesting fossils (specific species depend on the guide), the dinosaur, and the seismic station. These seven points account for approximately half the displays in the Museum.

**Groups should be aware that tour content includes references to deep time (i.e., the idea that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old) and evolution.**

Tour length: 1 hour.

Time can be compressed to as little as 30 minutes or expanded to as much as 2 hours by request of the group. However, such requests must be made at the time of booking.

Tour guides: Our tour guides are graduate students in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences. They are not trained interpreters. For this reason tour guides are not expected to maintain control of the group. The guides are there to provide information. We expect groups to provide their own supervision for children.

Advice to tour groups: Please allow 10 to 15 minutes extra time to find the Museum. We can be difficult to locate and because our tour guides are grad students, they are frequently fitting tours in around meetings, classes, and time booked on research equipment. This means that if your group is late, it may be necessary for us to take the time out of your tour. (i.e., a group that is 20 minutes late would only get a 40 minute tour, rather than an hour tour.) Please try to arrive on time or a little early.

If you can, allow some time for your students to explore the courtyard and the rest of the Museum. There's more to see than what is covered on the tour!

How to book a tour:
1. E-mail the curator, at pme AT eos.ubc.ca

2. Provide the following information:
- Your name
- School/organization name, s
- Size of the group
- Grade level or age range of the group
- Preferred date of the tour
- Preferred time of day for the tour, a
- Any specific topics that you would like covered or focused on
- Which language you would like the tour given in (English or French)

We also appreciate being told if your group consists of learning disabled students, advanced students, ESL students, or other students in need of special consideration.

3. Wait for a response from the curator. If you don't hear back within one week, please feel welcome to re-inquire.

4. After the curator has located an available tour guide, she will call or e-mail with confirmation that the tour is a go.

5. Two or three days prior to the tour date, the curator will contact you to confirm that the tour is still good to go. If she is unable to reach you, she will assume that everything is OK and that the tour will proceed as normal.

Rock Sorting Workshop

Sponsored by APEG

Workship Fee: No charge. Thanks to APEG for their generous support.

Minimum group size: None.

Maximum group size: 30. Please note: The room in which the workshops are held can not physically hold more than 30 participants and 2 supervisors.

Recommended Grade Level: Grade 4 to Grade 10. Both exercises currently available are fairly basic and do not go into the depth appropriate to a grade 11 or grade 12 class. Grade 11 and 12 classes are welcome to book regardless of this recommendation, but should be aware of the limited depth of the exercises.

Duration: Approximately 1 hour

Format: Participants are divided into groups and assigned to one of five rock sorting stations in the Teachers' Resource Centre. At each station are four rocks which must be sorted into into three categories: Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic. After groups have been divided and assigned to their stations, the workshop facilitator gives a general introduction to rocks, explains the use of the rock identification key to the participants, and performs an example identification for the participants. The participants then begin sorting the rocks at their assigned stations while the facilitator circulates and provides assistence. After all the groups have finished sorting their rocks the facilitator takes questions. When questions are completed, the facilitator instructs the participants as to how to fill out the rock properties web (provided) and leads the group to the Systematic Rock Display in the main museum area where they will find the answers. When the webs have been filled out, the group returns to the Teachers' Resource Centre to brainstorm and review the properties of Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic rocks, as discovered through the exercise.

Advice to workshop participants: Please allow 10 to 15 minutes extra time to find the Museum. We can be difficult to locate! Because the workshop facilitator is the curator, workshops may be scheduled around other meetings. Therefore, late arrivals may have their workshop abbreviated or cancelled altogether. Please try to arrive on time or a little early.

How to book a workshop:
1. E-mail the curator, at pme@eos.ubc.ca

2. Provide the following information:
- Your name
- School or organization name
- Size of the group (Please specify both the number of participants and the number of supervisors)
- Grade level or age range of the group
- Preferred date of the workshop
- Preferred time of day for the workshop

Please note that workshops are not currently available in French.

We also appreciate being told if your group consists of learning disabled students, advanced students, ESL students, or other students in need of special consideration.

3. Wait for a response from the curator. If you don't hear back within one week, please feel welcome to re-inquire.

4. After the curator has checked her schedule and resolved any questions or concerns you may have, the workshop will be scheduled.

5. Two or three days prior to the tour date, the curator will contact you to confirm that the workshop is still good to go. If she is unable to reach you, she will assume that everything is OK and that the workshop will proceed.

Please note that workshops cancelled with less than 24 hours notice will be still be charged the $20 per group per workshop fee.

Mineral Identification Workshop

Sponsored by APEG

Workship Fee: No charge. Thanks to APEG for their generous support.

Minimum group size: None.

Maximum group size: 30. Please note: The room in which the workshops are held can not physically hold more than 30 participants and 2 supervisors.

Recommended Grade Level: Grade 4 to Grade 10. Both exercises currently available are fairly basic and do not go into the depth appropriate to a grade 11 or grade 12 class. Grade 11 and 12 classes are welcome to book regardless of this recommendation, but should be aware of the limited depth of the exercises.

Duration: Approximately 1 hour

Format: Participants are divided into five groups in the Teachers' Resource Centre and are each given one mineral testing kit and one set of minerals. The facilitator gives an introduction to minerals and mineral properties. The facilitator then walks the students through seven tests (hardness, reaction to acid [test performed by the facilitator], cleavage, streak, lustre, magnetism, and crystal structure), each of which identifies some samples and narrows the unknown group until only the feldspar is left. The workshop is tied by filling in a sheet describing the properties of feldspar.

Advice to workshop participants: Please allow 10 to 15 minutes extra time to find the Museum. We can be difficult to locate! Because the workshop facilitator is the curator, workshops may be scheduled around other meetings. Therefore, late arrivals may have their workshop abbreviated or cancelled altogether. Please try to arrive on time or a little early.

How to book a workshop:
1. E-mail the curator, at pme AT eos.ubc.ca

2. Provide the following information:
- Your name
- School or organization name
- Size of the group (Please specify both the number of participants and the number of supervisors)
- Grade level or age range of the group
- Preferred date of the workshop
- Preferred time of day for the workshop

Please note that workshops are not currently available in French.

We also appreciate being told if your group consists of learning disabled students, advanced students, ESL students, or other students in need of special consideration.

3. Wait for a response from the curator. If you don't hear back within one week, please feel welcome to re-inquire.

4. After the curator has checked her schedule and resolved any questions or concerns you may have, the workshop will be scheduled.

5. Two or three days prior to the tour date, the curator will contact you to confirm that the workshop is still good to go. If she is unable to reach you, she will assume that everything is OK and that the workshop will proceed.

Please note that workshops cancelled with less than 24 hours notice will be still be charged the $20 per group per workshop fee.

Worksheets

The Pacific Museum of the Earth worksheets were developed by Michelle Haskin, a former sessional lecturer with the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences. Three levels of worksheet were constructed: one for grades 3 and 4, one for grades 5 through 10, and one for grades 11 and 12.

Worksheets were designed to be used in addition to the tours, not to match them. This means that there are questions on the worksheets that are not answered during the tour, and the tour provides more information than is examined on the worksheets.

If you'd like to review the worksheets, you can download them here:
| Grades 3 &4 | Grades 5 to 10 | Grades 11& 12 |

Please contact the curator prior to your visit if you'd like to make use of a worksheet.