Intrigue and knowledge are some of the many things that can be discovered at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre (CFDC).

Over the years the CFDC has developed educational tours for schools, done in a way that meets the objectives of the Manitoba school curriculum. Tours have also been created for pre-school students fostering a desire for the sciences at an early age.

Executive Director Peter Cantelon says that learning about the sciences only benefits us, boding us well in any stage of life.

"Science helps us understand the world around us. When we understand the world around us we better understand our place in it (and) how to contribute to it instead of taking from it," he says.

During these tours, students journey through the significant periods of Manitoba's geological history - the Ordovician, Cretaceous, and Quaternary periods - learning about the fossils and the unique animal species that once called Manitoba their home.

Students also get the chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at the vast collection of marine fossils and take a peek at the labs where fossils are meticulously cleaned and identified.

A fossil fragment discovered by a École Communautaire Réal-Bérard student.

To top it off, the group can then head into the field and search for fossils, which is an exciting moment when one is discovered.

Evan Maclair, Grade 7, has visited the CFDC before; however, upon learning that he would be able to visit the dig site his excitement had been reinvigorated.

"I was very excited to visit a dig site where I could actually find stuff," Maclair said. 

Each trip to the CFDC offers a chance to learn something new; for Maclair it was learning about the Archelon, a massive a four-metre-long sea turtle that lived in the Western Interior Seaway during the Cretaceous period.

Anyone has the opportunity to take part in these guided tours, not just students, and a variety of tours are available. VIP tours take visitors behind the scenes to see the labs and collection room. Speedy tours take visitors through the museum within 30 minutes, and the half-day tour and dig.

A new tour is available at the CFDC this summer, known as the "Wonder Women" tour, in partnership with the Nellie McClung Heritage Site.

The idea was to attract visitors to not just one museum or the other but both. This creates an opportunity to visit the home of Nellie McClung and to learn about the history of women's suffrage, the women's civil rights movement, and history of geology and earth sciences at the CFDC.

Cantelon notes another addition to the tour at the CFDC will highlight the accomplishments of women in the field of paleontology.

"As we go through our standard tour we will talk about Mary Anning, who is the first recognized female paleontologist from the South Coast of England. In the early 1800s she discovered the first significant Ichthyosaur fossil when she was eleven years old," Cantelon said.

There are also other women of significance to paleontology that are featured says Cantelon, the first curator of the CFDC, Anita Hatcher; current curator,Victoria Markstrom; Dr. Elizabeth "Betsy" Nicholls who put the CFDC on the map with her PhD, which focused on the CFDC's collection; and the recent Betsy Nicholls Award for Excellence in Paleontology winner Dr. Mary Higby Schweitzer; and the women who have dedicated their time and contributions in working and volunteering at the CFD.; says Cantelon.

These women have shown resilience in the work they have done for science, people who are dramatically underrepresented in the field, Cantelon said.

He notes that hearing the challenges that women have had to overcome in the past and in the present day will inspire others to pursue their dreams in science.