Originally posted: October 2015
The annual STUDY CANADA Summer Institute for K-12 Educators was offered in the Pacific Northwest this year. According to one educator, “STUDY CANADA is the premiere and really only source for learning about our international relationship with Canada. A wonderfully designed program that turns into a whirlwind adventure!”
Participants were treated to four days of back-to-back presentations by experts in the field, walking tours of downtown Seattle and Victoria, visits to Klondike Gold Rush National Part (Seattle Unit), the Royal B.C. Museum and the B.C. Legislative Assembly in Victoria. Presentations by Western Washington University and UW faculty and alumni focused on Canadian geography, history, the Canada-U.S. economic relationship, and First Nations in the Salish Sea region (see program attached below).
STUDY CANADA participants are often social studies leaders in their home states. This year’s 19 participants were no exception. Several serve on the executive board of their state council for the social studies or geographic alliance. The group represented 13 states including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Washington and Wyoming, and diverse classroom experience ranging from elementary to secondary levels of education at public, private and international baccalaureate schools.
Lesson plans developed by the participants included, “The Inuit Inuksuk,” “Coast Salish Inspired Print-Making,” and “Canada-US Energy Connections and Concerns.” Educators return to their schools where these new lessons on Canada and the Canada-U.S. relationship will be integrated into their curriculum making a marked impact on Canada in the classroom across the United States.
Click here for a copy of the STUDY CANADA program
STUDY CANADA Summer Institute for K-12 Educators, is the Pacific Northwest National Resource Center on Canada’s annual professional development workshop. The Institute has been offered by Western Washington University since 1987 in partnership with the Canadian Studies Center. Hosted in a variety of locations in Canada since 2006, the program moved from its 2014 locations in Ottawa and Montréal to Seattle and Victoria in 2015 to reflect new thematic content about Canada-US connections in the Pacific Northwest.