The Museum of Industry offers curriculum-related fun for educational groups.  All programs are related to the Atlantic Canada curriculum and involve a hands-on component.  Self-directed and guided tours of the museum are also available year-round.  An Educator's Guide to the Museum of Industry, pre-visit materials, quizzes, resource lists, and suggestions for post-visit activities accompany written confirmation of programs and tours.

Programs Especially for Younger Students:
Locomotion Commotion: Preschool - grade 2; 90 minutes
The entire class gets involved with assembling a train, complete with conductor and passengers, then takes a discovery tour of the Museum's locomotives (including Samson!) and our model railway.  The students take away computer-generated pictures of themselves as engineers, ring the bell on a real locomotive, and read a story with our program conductor.  

Creatures from the Carboniferous Lagoon:                      Preschool - grade 2; 90 minutes
What could be older than dinosaurs? Creatures from the Carboniferous Lagoon, that's what!  Using stuffed prehistoric creatures, images showing fossilization, coal, and real fossils, students will journey back 300-million years to the time when coal was first being formed on earth and dragonflies were some of the largest predators around.  Students will create their own fossils and paper dragonflies.

Class Descriptions

Power: Grades 6 - 2 hrs 
From people power to water power and steam power to electrifying moments in Nova Scotian history, the  Museum of Industry tells the story of the creation and application of the various types of power that have driven Nova Scotian work. This program begins with a 45 minute guided tour of our power exhibits and finishes with lots of fun activities, such as static  horse races, making an electric lemon, playing an electrical circuit game, and creating a filament light bulb.

Structures:  Grades 3 - 90 minutes
Build your own structures curriculum around this popular program.  Students will explore basic structures theory in a very hands-on way.  With fun experiments, they will explore how structures overcome gravity by using the two forces of tension and compression.  Students also manipulate materials to discover how different shapes are used in construction to increase strength.

Simple Machines: Grades 5 - 90 minutes  
The wheel and axle, inclined plane, pulley, and lever are presented in a creative program.  Students will experiment and analyze to learn how these simple machines are used to make work easier.  Students also use wood-working tools to discover the simple machines that are "hidden" in everyday jobs. 

Remembering Black Loyalists, Black Communities:              Grades 4 - 7     2 hours
From the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade to the abolition of slavery in Nova Scotia, students will learn about some of our important  ancestors through captivating activities.  Students will build a time-line; map the routes of African slaves to the 13 colonies and the routes of freed Black Loyalists to Nova Scotia; create a play and act out two key moments in the lives of Boston and Violet King; and become archaeologists for a day, studying objects that would have been used in Black Loyalist homes. 

Pioneers: Life Before Steam: Grades 2 - 2 hours
Early Nova Scotians made many of their household goods and clothing by hand, using materials that were often home-grown, recycled, or locally available.  Students will learn about and experience pre-industrial technologies used in the home and the workplace before the emergence of our industrial economy.  This completely hands-on program has students learn while doing traditional crafts, such as weaving mat making, or tin punching. 

School Tours

The Steam Team Scavenger Hunt                                         grades 4-8; 90 minutes May & June                                                   Learning about Nova Scotia's industrial heritage has never been more fun! Students will join the Steam Team, Textile Troop, Computer Crowd, Assembly Line Gang, Inventors Squad, Factory Force, Electric Unit, or the Colliers Crew.  Then, the Shift boss will acquaint the teams with the game rules.  Each team will hunt through our fun-filled exhibits for the answers to historical questions and to complete hands-on activities.  Put the Museum of Industry on your schedule and put your students into the game! 

Child Labour Tour grades 4-8; 90 minutes May & June                     Punch in for your first shift at the Museum of Industry and discover the roles children have played in the workforce since the 1880's.  The shift boss will orient the students to their first day at work in a factory during the Industrial Revolution.  Take part in lots of hands-on gallery activities and an optional quiz on this tour.

Museum Kits for Loans
If you can’t take your students to the Museum.....bring the Museum to your students. School loan kits help you explore aspects of the natural or cultural history of Nova Scotia. Duration of the loan is two weeks, and all the details can be found in the Nova Scotia Museum’s Learning Resource Catalogue.

Special Programs
Please contact us for special school programming related to events and temporary exhibits.

Contact Information
Contact the Museum’s Programming Department for more information (902) 755-5425 by phone or e-mail us at: philliak@gov.ns.ca

LINKS
Nova Scotia Museum - A family of 27 provincial museums
Learning Resource Catalogue