Heritage Park pilot program 'immersing students in history' in teaching applied science, math
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Developed beginning January this year and meant to tie into the Grade 7 curriculum, Heritage Park's Resource Ridge Program allows students to apply knowledge from the classroom at various spots in the historical village.
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The program takes the historical basis of Heritage Park and integrates aspects of science and math, according to Cheyenne Henderson, a Grade 7 teacher at the Calgary Board of Education's John Ware School.
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Tiffany Aubin, an education program specialist at Heritage Park, said the premise is that students come to the park as 'scientists' in the mid-1800s to early 1900s.
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'We aim it around . . . after Alberta becomes a new province, a fledgling province, and the kids are here to evaluate certain things,' Aubin told Postmedia on Wednesday.
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They look at things like temperatures of different buildings, a variety of structures and forces. There's also an ecology component, where students evaluate different flora, both native and invasive.
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The historical precedent for the program is settlers coming out west and exploring the conditions here, particularly the Palliser Expedition, when the government sent geologists and surveyors between 1857 and 1860.
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Every component also has an Indigenous perspective, said Aubin.
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'A lot of people who came here relied on (Indigenous) knowledge because they're not familiar with this area,' said Aubin, adding that a component of the program looks at the temperature regulation of tipis.
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Heritage Park's replica mine also allows students to look at mineral resources, and students can analyze a coal sample.
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The mine was among the highlights for students, according to Henderson, who noted more than 100 Grade 7 students from John Ware were the first to experience the new program on Tuesday.
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'They were really, really loving the mine experience . . . measuring it with tools that you know aren't a measuring tape,' she said.
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Henderson commended the efforts of Heritage Park on the program.
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'They are really just completely immersing students in history and in such innovative ways,' she said Tuesday afternoon.
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