How many visits does a project need?

Most projects run over 2, 3 or 4 visits, depending on the project and your students’ grade. Tell us how much time your unit allows and we suggest the right length.

Does the class keep its creations between visits?

Yes. That is the point of a project: students keep their construction, come back to their results and improve their solution at the next visit.

Are projects linked to the BC curriculum?

Yes. Each project is designed in connection with the BC curriculum and builds skills in science, technology, problem-solving and teamwork.

Can a classroom project be funded?

Yes, depending on your school. French Immersion and Core French schools can use Canadian Parents for French, and francophone schools can look at Vice-Versa for a project built with students.

Classroom Science Projects: Why Several Visits Change Everything

Classroom science projects: why several visits change everything

A workshop is a discovery. A project is an adventure. When students meet the same problem over two, three or four visits, they have time to test an idea, see it fail, understand why and try again. Here is when a project is the right choice, and how to make it work.

Éric TremblayFounder of Profaqua Published October 16, 2026 · 4 min read

What a project adds to a workshop

In a single workshop, students discover a phenomenon. In a project, they have time to observe, handle materials, ask questions, test their ideas, learn from their mistakes and sharpen their critical thinking. That second attempt, the one that comes after a failure, is often where the real learning happens.

From one visit to the next, students gain autonomy, confidence and curiosity. They keep their construction, come back to a result and improve their solution. And they discover that science is above all a process of exploring, trying and discovering.

Five projects and what students do

Architecture: Bridges and Buildings

Young architects use small wooden sticks and glue to build a 1-metre bridge that must hold a 4-kilogram load, or a 50-centimetre building that must survive a 15-second earthquake. From grade 1 to grade 12. See the project.

Weather

To avoid a rained-out picnic, students learn to predict the weather by making their own hypotheses, from the water cycle to air. From grade 1 to grade 9. See the project.

Paleontology

A time machine, three digs and many treasures: dinosaur footprints, seashell fossils hundreds of millions of years old, rocks and minerals. From kindergarten to grade 5. See the project.

Climate and Environment

Could cactuses grow in Vancouver? Students explore how climate, water and soil shape plant life, and the impact we can have on our planet. From grade 1 to grade 9. See the project.

Vermicomposting

Students learn how natural decomposition works, then put earthworms to work turning the class’s organic waste into rich soil. From grade 1 to grade 6. See the project.

Workshop or project: how to decide

A simple rule: if the question can be explored in one sitting, a workshop is enough. If students need to build, test and improve, choose a project.

Your unit spans several weeks and you want a thread that runs through it: a project.
You want students to present a solution, not just observe a phenomenon: a project.
You need a hook to open a unit, or a single class for a special day: a workshop.
You want to reach several classes at once: a science show.

Planning and pricing

Projects run over 2, 3 or 4 visits of 60, 75 or 90 minutes, depending on the project, and more than 30 projects are offered. Prices start at $400 per class for a minimum of two 60-minute visits, based on at least two classes per day, and include facilitation, materials and preparation. GST and PST are extra. See all prices.

Multi-visit projects are offered in Greater Vancouver. Schools in other regions can book workshops and shows during our science tours.

Space your visits so that students have time to think between them, but not so far apart that they forget. For example, one visit a week keeps the project alive without rushing it.

Projects with living things

Some projects bring living things into the classroom. For the Ducklings and Chicks projects, Profaqua delivers the fertile eggs, the incubators and everything needed, and the class follows the life cycle day by day. Schools that prefer to run the hatching on their own can also rent the equipment only.

Let students make real choices

The best projects leave room for decisions: which structure to test, which material to use, how to present the result. Those choices are what make students care about the outcome. They also matter for funding: the Vice-Versa program, for example, funds French-language projects in francophone schools where students take part in thinking up, choosing and carrying out the project.

End the project with a presentation

A project deserves an audience. At the last visit, or in the days after, give teams a few minutes to present what they built, what failed and what they changed. Explaining a choice is often harder than making it, and it is where students show what they really understood.

Invite another class, the principal or families for a short gallery walk: bridges on the tables, weather predictions on the wall, the class’s vermicompost in its bin. In a French program, it is also a natural reason to prepare and practise a few sentences in French.