The New Brunswick Museum in Market Square. (Danielle McCreadie)
With the New Brunswick Museum currently closed, virtual online programs are being offered for students in grades one to 12 across the province.
Stephen Mott, a senior interpreter at the museum, said the virtual online programs are based around the natural heritage of New Brunswick, marine life and natural sciences.
He said where they’re a provincial institution, it’s great to be able to interpret some of this provincial natural heritage to schools and it’s a unique opportunity for them.
Mott said they’ll be using Microsoft Teams and webcams from within the galleries for the classrooms and they have already booked three or four different schools in Quispamsis, Fredericton and Rexton.
“It’s a neat opportunity for the museum to really engage the whole province and to really spread the sort of activities that the people of the museum do, whether it’s from the interpretation side of things, or the conservation side of things or the research and collectioning,” he said.
The live online programs are offered to schools and homeschoolers, but Mott said they’re trying out the school programs first and going from there.
“We’re hopeful to develop some virtual programming as well for the humanities domain and fine and decorative arts potentially and then potentially to some of the shipbuilding as well so that’s coming up on the backburner,” he said.
Mott said they’re hoping the exhibition centre will be open and available for visitors in the summer months, but there have been some issues with the roofs and facilities. He said hopefully the work will be done in June, July and August with new exhibits as well.
He said anyone interested can apply for the programs although two weeks’ notice for the booking is appreciated, whether homeschool or classroom. There are 45 minutes for the session with two question and answer sessions.
Programs are available in English and French, and closed captioning is available through Microsoft Teams software. The time slots are on Monday, Thursday, and Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
