Resources for Teachers
This section of the website includes questions, activities, and points to other sites which may be of interest to students and of assistance in developing your lesson plans. In some cases, references can be linked directly back to one of the exhibits created specifically for this site. Additionally, we have added links to other resources which may be of use.
Material on this website originating from the University of Saskatchewan collections may be used in your classrooms or compiled by you to create your own learning tools for students.
On-line Resources
Archives Canada includes a database of holdings from archives across Canada, as well as "virtual exhibits" on a variety of topics. The exhibits database displays an apple icon beside those exhibits which include teacher resources: questions for students; lesson plans; etc.
The online resources section has interpretive exhibits based on digitized material on this site, and links to external exhibits and other sites, including sites with educational resources.
Younger students
Understanding archival research, using photographs:
- How do photographs help document life or society? Have students review older and more recent images and ask them to consider what, if anything, the images tell us about how life has changed in the north.
- Have students review images of people and settlements, and ask them to consider what these images might reveal about modern life in the north.
- Ask students what kinds of images would reveal modern life in your town or city.
- Ask students to tell the story of their family / ancestors based on images from family photographs. Or, if possible, bring in your own family photographs, and ask students to work in small groups to try to piece together a narrative from the evidence in the photographs. What they can tell about your family's history? Or have them bring in their own photos from home, swap with each other, and work on each others
The Northern Environment:
See the following websites:
- Arctic Algae Show Climate Change" Science News for Kids
- Climate Change web page at Ecokids online.
Life in the North:
There are a series of 10 questions, based on the content of our exhibit, "Life in a Northern Town"
- We can think of the North as being divided into two types of places. What are they?
- List THREE characteristics that northern communities have in common.
- How might northern people learn wilderness skills?
- Describe how a caribou parka is made. Why are they so warm?
- How do Inuit artists market their work?
- Why do Whitehorse and Dawson City look so unique?
- Youth under 25 are WHAT PERCENTAGE of the population of the north?
- Why are bilingual teachers so valuable?
- What was the cost of macaroni and cheese in Black Lake thirty years ago?
- List THREE activities you could do in the north that you are unlikely to do anywhere else.
Transportation in the North:
There are a series of 10 questions, based on the content of our exhibit, "Transportation in the North."
- What are the two types of traditional dog sled?
- How were dog sleds considered to be a practical method of transportation?
- Give an example that illustrates when a snowmobile would NOT be as practical as a dog sled.
- How are traditional canoes constructed?
- How long was a round trip to northern Canada from Europe one century ago?
- Why was the Canadian government so enthusiastic about airplanes in the 1920s and 1930s?
- Discuss how specialized transportation supports a tourism industry in Churchill, Manitoba.
- Give two reasons why helicopters are useful for fighting forest fires. How have they aided scientific researchers?
- Why do people in the Mackenzie River Valley refer to "going down north"?
- List some advantages and disadvantages of transporting oil with tankers and pipelines.
Exploration:
- Canadian Geographic. Includes an excellent page on the Franklin Expedition.
Older students
Exploration and History:
- Canadiana.org page on Exploration, The Fur Trade and the Hudson's Bay Company
- "Route of the Gold Rush," Canadian Council for Education website.
The Northern Environment:
- Centre for Studies in Agriculture, Law and the Environment
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- International Institute for Sustainable Development
- Arctic Climate Impact Assessment
- Government of Canada Climate Change Portal
Articles:
- CBC News Indepth: Climate Change (archived page)
- Climate Change and Arctic Sea Ice" Greenpeace Canada Online Archive
- "Sustaining the Future" Backgrounder. United National website