Inuvik (Dec 08/06) - Teacher Colin Murphy took a different approach to teaching his students about Canadian provinces, he let them teach each other.

Murphy's Grade 6 class started their unit on provincial studies a few weeks ago. To finish the unit, each of the 21 students will make a presentation about a province or territory.

"Instead of me explaining it, the students each made posters with information about the provinces on them," explained Murphy. "It gives the students an opportunity to present and provide to their fellow classmates.

"Some of the information required was to name the capital city, identify the provincial bird, just basic information," said Murphy.

The point of the class was to illustrate to the youth that although we live in the same country, we all have different cultures.

"It's a good way for them to learn about Canada and learn some things from their friends too," said Murphy.

Shana Greenough was one of the students who was assigned Newfoundland and Labrador.

"I learned that Newfoundland was Europe's youngest colony," said Greenough.

"It was also the last province to join Canada. It became the tenth province."

For Greenough, researching the project was fun. After hours spent on the Internet and nose deep in a few books from her teacher, Greenough said she finished her project in her spare time.

"It took some time over the weekend and a few nights after school to complete the poster," she said.

Cullen McLeod was given the province of British Columbia for his poster.

"I learned that B.C. provides most of the fruit in Canada," said McLeod.

For him, the project was more like applied knowledge. He had spent a summer driving through B.C. with his family on vacation.

"I saw a lot of big trees and a lot of nice people," said McLeod.