Set course for a much colder classroom, students.
Squamish-based company One Ocean Expeditions is known for operating cruises to the Arctic, Antarctica and other cold coastal destinations. Now, the company is part of a three-year pilot program that gives post-secondary students the chance to get a geography credit on site — and onboard — in the Canadian Arctic.
"Being able to increase the accessibility of field school education is a point of pride," One Ocean's general manager Catherine Lawton said in a July 10 press release. "By backing these programs students are able to travel to remote and fragile regions not only to study them, but to share their knowledge and passion with our guests. This inspires learning experiences for all onboard that, in turn, create ambassadors for these regions."
Students will have the opportunity to study the physical geography such as land masses and ice formations, human geography, wildlife and glaciology. More students will be able to participate via satellite videoconferences using technology that has previously been used to broadcast to classrooms from Antarctica.
The field course is in partnership with the University of Ottawa and the University of Waterloo, and university instructors Christine Dow and Natalie Carter will develop the curriculum.
