Voyage to the Falls Boat Tour

Your ticket is valid for the entire day of your choosing for any cruise time.

The 20-minute Voyage to the Falls boat tour, sailing from Niagara Falls, Canada, brings guests on the journey of a lifetime. Enjoy stunning views of the Niagara Gorge, American Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls, and come face-to-face with the famous Canadian Horseshoe Falls. Feel the thundering roar, awesome power, and amazing mist (a protective souvenir recyclable mist poncho is provided) that come along with these natural wonders or, ride after sunset for a light-mist experience with the illumination of the Falls.

More information on the cruise can be found here: 

https://www.cityexperiences.com/niagara-ca/city-cruises/voyage-to-the-falls-boat-tour/?date=

Waterways of Learning

This offsite educational development activity will take place on June 11 from 9:30 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. Based at the South Niagara Canoe Club adjacent to the Welland International Flatwater Centre, the outdoor event will be coordinated by five professors who are highly experienced in the areas of the environment, experiential education, outdoor learning, and educational leadership. For further information regarding transportation, logistics, registration, and payment, please communicate (using the Subject line “Waterways of Learning”) with Dr. Alan Wright at:

 awright@uwindsor.ca

Alan Wright, David Andrews, Judy Bornais, University of Windsor

Alice Cassidy, In View Educational Development

Pat Maher, Nipissing University

Abstract/Résumé

This full-day experiential learning educational development activity invites STLHE Conference participants to experience, in entry-level dragon boats, kayaks and canoes, a section of the old commercial Welland Canal now serving as a 14-kilometre stretch of calm waterway reserved for non-motorized craft. The Niagara Region is a prime example of the central place of the waterways in the lives of its residents, from an age under the stewardship of the indigenous peoples long before the arrival of the first European settlers, through the determined efforts to provide a transportation link skirting Niagara Falls. This was achieved in the nineteenth century by building a commercial canal 42 kilometres long, linking Lake Erie with Lake Ontario as a waterway to the interior of the continent.

This interdisciplinary event builds on the popular STLHE pre-conference paddling activities held over a period of almost twenty years in six different Canadian provinces. The facilitators have led these pre-conference outdoor learning activities and published several articles arising from past experiences. Building on all these endeavours, the 2024 activity will focus on the unique opportunities for place-based learning and social interaction provided when participants from across the disciplines engage with the environment and the interplay of time and space.

The use of paddling in teaching and learning has been well documented across Canada. This opportunity promises participants unique insights into the Niagara Region, increased awareness of the rewards of experiential activity, and the potential of the outdoor experience for the creation of community in teaching and learning. (Note: all equipment, including safety vests, as well as food and drink, will be provided to participants. No prior experience is required. Information on transportation and other details will be sent directly to participants, as will a list of relevant articles published by the leaders.)