On November 12, 2019, grade 10 Riverside secondary students from Mr. Brian Chan’s social studies class, took a trip to Poco Heritage Museum and Archives. Students were tasked with flipping through vintage newspapers from the Coquitlam Herald in order to investigate local primary sources for a “wonder project.”
The wonder project is an inquiry project where students must come up with a question which they will answer with the help of primary sources.
The vintage newspapers dated from 1910 to the 1990’s. Students looking for information that might help guide their understanding in topics related to their ‘Wonder’ projects.
“These questions are commonly about the effects of World War I on soldiers or questions related to women’s rights,” said Chan.
Chan chose to make the trip to Poco archives as a convenient way to look at local information from the time period that students in his class are focusing on.
“I like to get my students to investigate primary sources in Social Studies, even though they are able to search for sources on the internet; I wanted something more local that they wouldn’t find online,” said Chan.
Grade 10 student, Caitlyn Chan, was a part of the trip to Poco archives and was looking for sources on her topic.
“I am focusing on continuity and change around Multiculturalism in Canada, specifically how Chinese Canadians were treated within the time period of the first World War,” said Caitlyn.
The trip to Poco Archives involved looking through large piles of newspapers which consisted of pieces from different eras, as well as going into a vault that held many vintage books full of research material. Students also got to look at the mailroom which once held the mail of Terry Fox.
