Programs and Events at the PME

The PME offers a wide range of tours, workshops and special events.


Guided Tours

Appropriate for all ages and lasting about 1 hour.

Tour content is flexible depending on the tour guide and the requests of the tour group. However, every tour is required to cover the following: What is a mineral? What is a rock? The three types of rocks. What is a fossil? Interesting fossils. The dinosaur. Plate tectonics and earthquakes.

Groups should be aware that discussion of fossils will include references to evolution and the age of the Earth.


Workshop -- Rock Identification

Appropriate for Grade 4 and up and lasting about 1 hour.

Maximum group size: 25. Larger groups may split into multiple consecutive workshop sessions.

Participants learn to distinguish the three different rock types (igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic) by visual inspection and use these skills to identify seven genuine samples.


Workshop -- Mineral Properties

Appropriate for Grade 4 and up and lasting about 1 hour.

Maximum group size: 25. Larger groups may split into multiple consecutive workshop sessions.

Participants test seven mineral samples for streak, cleavage, effervescence, lustre, crystal habit, and magnetism. Using these properties, each of the seven minerals is identified.


Workshop -- Tectonics

Appropriate for Grade 7 and up and lasting about 1 hour.

Maximum group size: 25. Larger groups may split into multiple consecutive workshop sessions.

What's Shakin'?' This fun, interactive workshop is designed to introduce students to the Earth "one layer at a time". Through modeling activities, students will gain an understanding of landmass formation, plate movement and gain a real understanding of some of the most violent and destructive natural phenomenon on earth; earthquakes!


Workshop -- Fossils

Appropriate for Grade 4 and up and lasting about 1 hour.

Maximum group size: 25. Larger groups may split into multiple consecutive workshop sessions.

'Fantastic Fossils' What are fossils and why do we bother studying them? Through a variety of hands'on activities students will discover how palaeontologists use clues from the past to learn about ancient life. They will touch and handle REAL fossils, make molds and casts and visit with George, BC's ONLY, fully-articulated dinosaur!


Workshop -- Weather (coming soon)

Appropriate for Grade 4 and up and lasting about 1 hour.

Maximum group size: 25. Larger groups may split into multiple consecutive workshop sessions.

'How is the Weather?' This is an interactive program designed to introduce students to weather systems. Through modeling activities, worksheets, and group work student will gain an understanding of how the earth, sun, water and air create weather and climate.


Costs for tours and workshops

All workshops cost $40. This includes a 1 hour hands-on workshop taught by one of our talented workshop leaders. Guided tours cost $40. This includes a 1 hour tour through the PME. OmniGlobe guided tours cost $30. Combined PME and OmniGlobe guided tour costs $55.


How to book a tour or workshop

  1. Send an email to the Outreach Program Coordinator at with the following information:
    • Your name
    • Organization's name (if applicable)
    • Group size(max 25 students per workshop)
    • Grade level or age range
    • Preferred date/time of the visit
    • Notice of any extra consideration needed (i.e., learning disabled students, advanced students, ESL groups, etc.)
    • Details of special requests* (i.e., French language tour, extra focus on one of the covered topics, shortened or extended time, etc.)
    *Please note that while we will make every attempt to accommodate special requests, it is not always possible to fulfill them.
  2. Wait for a response from the Outreach Program Coordinator. Due to high volume of incoming mail, responses may require as much as five days. If you do not receive a response within this time, please re-inquire in case your message was intercepted by spam filters.
  3. Once a date and time have been set for the visit, the booking will be considered confirmed.
  4. If you need to make changes to your booking, please contact the Outreach Program Coordinator as soon as possible. Cancellations with less than 24 hours notice are subject to a $30.00 cancellation fee.

Teachers' Resources

The Teachers' Resource Centre Room

A room attached to the museum which can be booked for teachers to hold classes in the museum and which contains resource material intended to assist with teaching Earth science in the classroom.
Maximum capacity: 25 students and two teachers.

Minerals for Sign Out

Standard mineral kits contain: talc, gypsum, calcite, fluorite, apatite, orthoclase/plagioclase feldspar, quartz, corundum, cinnabar and scheelite, arsenopyrite, galena, graphite and stibnite, magnetite, hematite, limonite, siderite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, copper, malachite and azurite, olivine and serpentine, molybdenite and garnet, muscovite and biotite, amphibole, barite, pyroxene, chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcocite, and sphalerite.
Available: 10 kits

Miscellaneous other minerals are also available to supplement the kits as desired. Contact the curator for more information.

Rocks for Sign Out

Standard rock kit #1 contains: gabbro, diorite, granite, vesicular basalt, obsidian, tuff, conglomerate, breccia, sandstone, mudstone, limestone, slate, schist, and quartzite. (2 pieces of each.)
Available: 3 kits

Standard rock kit #2 contains: shale, siltstone, arkose sandstone, quartz sandstone, conglomerate, basalt, andesite, rhyolite, chert, limestone, breccia, tuff, volcanic glass (obsidian), pumice, vesicular lava (basalt), pegmatite, gabbro, quartz diorite, granite, porphyry, slate, skarn, hornfels, pyroxenite/serpentine, dunite, gneiss, schist, phyllite, marble, and quartzite. (1 piece of each.)
Available: 10 kits

Miscellaneous other rocks are also available to supplement the kits as desired. Contact the curator for more information.

Fossils for Sign Out

Miscellaneous fossils are available for sign out. Contact the curator for more information.

Textbooks for Sign out

A wide variety of first year (introductory) geology, oceanography, and atmospheric science textbooks are available for sign out. Contact the curator for more information.

Consultations with the Curator

The curator often sits down with teachers and helps them determine what they need to teach Earth, ocean, and atmospheric science concepts.

Visual Aids for Sign Out

Slides (photos and diagrams) and overheads available for sign out. Contact the curator for more information.


Earth Science Teacher Training Workshop

Oct19-21/12 The EOAS Department invited Earth Science Teachers to a Training Workshop at the Pacific Museum of the Earth. Teachers from all grade levels were welcome and encouraged to attend but lectures were based on PLOs:

  • Grade 3 - Stars and Planets,
  • Grade 4 - Weather,
  • Grade 5 - Resources,
  • Grade 7 - Earth's Crust & Chemistry.

Some of the presentations were;


Tectonics links;


Geochemistry links;


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