This hands-on workshop explores how maker education can strengthen connections between classrooms and communities while fostering sustainability, resilience, creativity, and local self-sufficiency. Hosted at the Maker Station, the session will immerse educators in maker-centred activities integrating design thinking, repair culture, problem-solving, and community collaboration.

Participants will explore tools and technologies such as 3D printing, laser cutting, woodworking, electronics, and repair-focused projects. They will leave with adaptable project ideas, classroom strategies, and a deeper understanding of how maker education can contribute to sustainable and resilient communities.

The Exploration Place is serious about science. This workshop is designed to show local educators the different types of scientific programs we offer through our barrier-free school programming where schools come to us - and we go to them too! Whether it's with our Squishy Circuits, where we create electrical circuits using conductive playdough and tactile learning, or our Mars Coding Quest where kids have to learn to program a robot to look for fresh water on Mars using the principles of coding, there's just so much to discover when children are empowered to think and create in a safe and inclusive space. We also offer land-based programming such as with our Nechako White Sturgeon program where kids learn about the history of not only these remarkable animals, but also the land on which they live and how that land has changed over time - all while viewing the three that we have in our museum! We channel our own passion for curiosity, learning and this incredible planet that we all share.

OVERhang Education Centre combines education and play to create meaningful opportunities for movement, connection, and learning. Join us for an experiential session exploring how play and challenge can support education across different age groups. Participants will spend the first hour experiencing indoor rock climbing followed by a conversational session exploring how the principles behind these experiences can be applied to outdoor and educational settings. Together, we’ll discuss the role of play, appropriate challenge, movement, connection, and shared experiences in engaging both younger and older learners.

This session will be facilitated by an experienced instructor from OVERhang Education Centre. OVERhang instructors have backgrounds in climbing, outdoor education, experiential learning, and working with diverse age groups. Their team focuses on creating engaging, supportive learning environments that combine education, movement, play, and connection with the outdoors.

Join Sonya “Lasagna” for a reflective and wondrous field journaling session. Field journaling is used as a tool for craft, data collection, and simply a way to put our brains on paper! Carving out time for yourself to do this can not only enhance your teaching practice with your students, but it can also give you the space to process your own learning as a practitioner. The session offers short exercises and time to journal outdoors, with ideas you can bring back to your classroom. No art experience necessary, all supplies provided!

• Packed lunch
• Water and a rain jacket

Educators are invited to join this immersive session introducing canoeing as a place-based approach to outdoor learning. The experience begins with dryland and on-water safety protocols, followed by basic Level 1 paddling skills and activities such as fishing, mapping, birding, plant and animal identification, food and medicinal plant foraging, and tarp shelter building.

Participants will also learn how to access community resources and mentorship through SD57 outdoor educators, Indigenous Education resources, district canoe programs, and RCABC training.

After departing the Conference and Civic Centre by bus at 8:00 a.m., the group will meet the leaders at the Forests for the World parking lot around 8:30 a.m. and continue to Shane Lake. Four one-hour rotations alternate between on-water and dryland learning. Participants should bring clothing suitable for cold, wet, or sunny conditions, including a change of clothes.

Rennae Pillipow is an SD57 outdoor recreation and science educator and an RCABC Lakewater Canoe Instructor Trainer. Hart Banack is a UNBC professor and outdoor educator focused on local, place-based experiences. Philip Mullins is a UNBC professor whose work examines human–nature relationships through outdoor practices.

Join Vanessa Elton and Jessica Field for a full-day outdoor experience at Wilkins Regional Park. Explore local edible and medicinal plants, learn Dakelh words for plants, and deepen your connections with the land and waterways. Through paddling, walking and conversation, discover opportunities to bring Indigenous knowledge and place-responsive learning into your teaching.

• Bring your own lunch
• Water

The morning begins with an introduction to the role of fast fashion in climate change, economic disruption in developing countries, and ecosystem destruction. Participants will then visit the Hospice Thrift Shop to see how donations are processed and help with sorting.

In the afternoon, participants will learn how to turn old T-shirts into yarn and use it to create macramé plant holders or wall hangings.

• Bring your own lunch
• 2 old t-shirts (no buttons or zippers) and One stick for the macramé project

Some Fabric scissors will be provided, but bring your own if you have one.

Visit Whuzai Usyen for a hands-on introduction to land-based learning. Participants will tour the site and take part in archery, firestarting, and canoeing, with weather-dependent activities adjusted as needed. The session will highlight relationships, cultural protocols, skill building, and learning on the land.

• Bring your own lunch
• Water