Introduction

Welcome to Library and Archives Canada's Learning Centre -- bringing quality educational products and services to teachers and students.

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has a collection strong in history, literature and music. The Learning Centre allows us to open our vaults to all Canadians by making some of our treasures available online. Students gain access to material that will enrich their learning experience.

The Learning Centre should be considered as a work in progress. New material will be added as it is produced. We invite you to visit our site from time to time to see the latest developments.

Teachers and students will find websites, educational tools, and digitized primary sources (printed documents, diaries, maps, illustrations, paintings, manuscripts, and printed and recorded music) from LAC holdings. These resources stimulate students' imaginations and develop their critical thinking skills, as well as help teachers make Canadian history, literature and music come to life.

If you are an educator, be sure to have a look at "For Teachers." You'll find comprehensive teaching units and strategies, lesson plans, ideas and activities for the classroom, quizzes, games and guides on using primary sources, as well as workshops for professional development. Many of the tools found in the Learning Centre have been produced as a result of suggestions and comments from Canadian educators. If you want to suggest an idea, you can send it to us by clicking on the "Submit an Idea" button in the "For Teachers" section.

"For Students" includes links to great websites, designed just for kids, as well as suggestions for great reading.

Students' learning skills can be improved using the Learning Centre's "Toolkit." Guides in the Toolkit cover a wide variety of topics and research skills such as how to use primary and secondary sources and develop Internet research skills.

"The EvidenceWeb" offers teachers and students a valuable selection of original documents (photographs, letters, diary entries, art works, political cartoons, newspaper articles, and printed and recorded music) from the LAC collection. These materials are organized by theme to enrich student projects and supplement textbooks. Original documents bring Canadian history and culture directly to students, allowing them to examine evidence from the past and decide for themselves what really happened.

Backcheck: Hockey for Kids

Discover a brand new complete lesson plan - The History of Hockey developed for use with Library and Archives Canada's Backcheck: A Hockey Retrospective website. In this unit of four lessons, including a culminating activity, students from grades 10 to 12 will learn, assess, and appreciate the significance of hockey as an important part of Canadian culture and history.

Bon appétit! A Celebration of Canadian Cookbooks

Bon appétit! A Celebration of Canadian Cookbooks Compiled from the Library and Archives Canada collection, this exhibition portrays the evolution of cooking in Canada and the influence that food has had on Canadian culture and history. The activities, for students from grades 4 to 8, included in this new resource are starting points from which teachers can develop lessons incorporating the online celebration of Canadian cookbooks and culinary history, Bon appétit!, into a wide variety of subject areas.

Canadian Directories: Who Was Where?

Canadian Directories: Who Was Where? Suggested educational activities have been developed for use in conjunction with Canadian Directories: Who Was Where's digitized city directories. Students from grades 6 to 8 will learn about various Canadian communities and the changes these communities have experienced over time. The social, commercial, cultural and historical aspects of communities will be combined to provide students with a richer understanding of people's lives in the past.

Census at School. - [Cited June 2, 2005]. - Access: www19.statcan.ca/

• Parliament of Canada - Education [online]. -- [Cited January 27, 2006]. --www.parl.gc.ca/education

• An international Web-based classroom activity for students aged 8 to 18. Help your students develop computer literacy, critical thinking and technology skills. Raise their awareness of civic duty and the benefits of census-taking. Encourage positive attitudes to statistics. This is knowledge-based learning at its best!

The Canadian Encyclopedia online. -- [Cited Feb. 14,2005]. Access: www.canadianencyclopedia.ca

• Explore every conceivable subject on Canada including history, geography, culture, sports, politics, business, social issues, education, science, technology and current events at www.canadianencyclopedia.ca Search 40,000 articles, 6,000 photographs, interactive maps, videos, animations, quizzes and engaging multimedia games. Available in French and in English, free of charge.
  Find also The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada.

Our Roots : Canada's Local Histories Online. -- [Cited Aug. 31,2004]. Access: http://www.ourroots.ca/e/

• These innovative educational modules provide Canadian youth with engaging ways to make Canadian history personally exciting and relevant by bringing local histories into the curriculum.

Ontario History Quest [online]. -- [Cited April 26, 2004]. -- Access: http://ohq.tpl.toronto.on.ca/home2.jsp

• New online tool for grades 7, 8, 10 and 12 History students with searchable databases using primary sources to discover Ontario's history.

Kids' Take on Media: What 5,700 Canadian kids say about movies, TV, video and computer games and more! Includes a full report, teacher/student activity guide and workshop for parents.

Teachers and the Challenge of Teaching in Francophone Minority Settings. Final research report prepared by Anne Gilbert, Sophie LeTouzé, Joseph Yvon Thériault and Rodrique Landry. September 2004. ISBN 0-88989-347-0

Froese-Germain, Bernie. -- Virtual education, real educators : issues in online learning. -- Ottawa : Professional and Developmental Services, Canadian Teachers' Federation, 2003. -- 71 p. -- Also published in French under the title: Éducation virtuelle : éducatrices et éducateurs réels : enjeux de l'apprentissage en ligne

• A publication that helps teachers critically examine the implications of online education in the context of their own classrooms and profession.

Media Awareness Network [online]. -- [Cited March 9, 2004]. --
www.media-awareness.ca/english/index.cfm

• Offers resources and support for everyone interested in media and information literacy for young people.