Lake of the Woods Railroad Museum volunteer Lloyd Carlson tours St. Thomas Aquinas students through the museum's former Canadian Pacific Railway caboose.

21 October 2011

Museum Helps Bring Classroom Lessons to Life

Kenora Ontario - Students from St. Thomas Aquinas High School got a hands-on history lesson at the Lake of the Woods Railroad Museum Wednesday afternoon.
 
"That's the very uniform I wore while working on the railway," Ron Baker told the group of Grade 8 students as they clamored around the mannequin to snap photographs.
 
Baker and other museum volunteers toured the students through the museum, sharing stories about the numerous artifacts he had once used during his 40 years working on the Railway.
 
"The railway is something that factors heavily into their confederation unit," said Grade 8 teacher James Trudeau. "It's something concrete that they can link what they're learning in the classroom to. It's one thing to read a textbook but to see it, it's real world learning. And one of the best things about bringing the students here is that a lot of people in Kenora don't even know it exists."
 
Students also had the chance to climb aboard the ex-Canadian Pacific Railway's caboose and examine the museum's scale model, which depicts the CP's role in helping unite Canada.
 
"I really liked the model trains because it explained a lot and you saw what the history of Kenora looked like," said Grade 8 student Tianna Isfeld. "It's very interesting to also see the artifacts and the history."
 
Jessica Cable.