Students will collect fish tokens in a game that leads to real
understanding of what is involved to ensure sustainability of a renewable
resource. The importance of the fishing industry to early colonial development and
the current state of Canadian fish stocks and fisheries management can be
compared and contrasted in extensions and debriefing after the game. “Go Fish” is intended to be played outside,
taking advantage of a larger space to create competition between fishers and to
use distance and territories as authentic barriers to collaborative planning
and management between stakeholders. The theme of the game is centred on how
our choices and actions impact the sustainability of a resource. Once students
recognize and adapt to the basic pattern of fluctuations in the fish
population, changes in rules (lower catch limits, more fishers, government
regulations, etc.) for later rounds of the game challenge students’
problem-solving skills.
Students will learn about the characteristics of human societies,
including hunter-gatherer, industrial, and post-industrial, and the impact of
each on the natural environment (specifically, fish populations); and the
interconnectedness of political, economic, environmental and social issues in
the present world as they relate to the regulation of fisheries. They will have
the opportunity to develop problem-solving skills and critical and creative
thinking skills, including the ability to reason and apply logic, and to
identify connections and relationships between ideas and issues; and to
recognize the need to incorporate an environmental perspective in
decision-making models. They will have the opportunity to appreciate that human
life depends on the resources of a finite planet; and appreciate the challenges
faced by the human community in defining and implementing the processes needed
for environmental sustainability. Students will need to dress for the weather
and show care and concern for the environment by cleaning up after themselves.
History and Geography (2004) – Natural Resources
Students will describe how humans acquire, manage, and use natural
resources, and identify factors that affect the importance of those resources.
Students will describe a variety of ways in which people use and manage
renewable, non-renewable and flow resources to meet their needs.
Students will explain the concept of sustainable development and its
implications for the health of the environment.
Science
and Technology (2007) – Understanding Life Systems: Interactions in the
Environment
1.
Students will assess the impacts of human activities and technologies on the
environment, and evaluate ways of controlling these impacts.
3. Students will
demonstrate an understanding of interactions between and among biotic elements
in the environment.
3.8 Students will describe ways in which human
activities and technologies alter balances and interactions in the environment.
Alternatively this activity could fit with grade 8 expectations.
GRADE 8 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY
Curriculum Expectations
Science and Technology (2007) – Understanding Structures and Mechanisms: Systems in Action
1. Students will assess the personal, social, and/or environmental
impacts of a system, and evaluate improvements to a system and/or alternative
ways of meeting the same needs.
1.2 Students will assess the impact on individuals, society, and the
environment of alternative ways of meeting the needs that are currently met by
existing systems, taking different points of view into consideration.
3. Students will demonstrate an understanding of different types of
systems and the factors that contribute to their safe and efficient operation.
3.1. Students will identify various types of systems.
3.2 Students will identify the purpose, inputs, and outputs of various
systems.
History and Geography (2004) – Economic Systems
Students will describe the characteristics of different types of
economic systems and the factors that influence them, including economic
relationships and levels of industrial development.
Students will outline the fundamental questions that all economic
systems must answer: what goods are
produced; how they are produced; for whom they are produced; and how they are
distributed.
History and Geography (2004) - Canada: A Changing Society
Students will compare living and working conditions, technological
developments, and social roles near the beginning of the twentieth century with
similar aspects of life in present-day Canada.
At the end of this
lesson, students will be able to demonstrate, identify, and describe the value of
communication and planning in teamwork and ensuring the sustainability of a
resource. Students will demonstrate,
identify, and describe choices and actions that minimize impact on the
environment and optimize the sustainability of a system. Students will also identify and describe the
interactions between natural processes (e.g. annual cycle of an organism,
spawning and the necessity of critical habitat) and human needs and wants (e.g.
sustenance, economic development) that influence the sustainability of a
resource. As well, this activity meets
the requirement for daily physical activity.
Students will need to:
-
Understand that the number of organisms that an ecosystem can support is
limited.
-
Understand the basic life cycle of fish.
-
Understand the differences in habitat types for an organism’s different
needs (e.g. spawning, feeding, avoiding predators).
(Aboriginal fishing rights), Aboriginal peoples, carrying capacity,
(catch limit), conservation of resources, (critical habitat), environmental
impact, environmental stewardship, (fish stocking), (government regulation),
habitat, (habitat loss), (harvesting), (international waters), (moratorium),
natural resource, population, (preservation), primary industries,
(rehabilitation), (remediation), renewable resource, (restoration), (spawning),
sustainable development, sustainability, system
BLM 1 – Class Discussion
Rubric
BLM 2 – Participation Skills
BLM 3 – Follow-up
Assignment
BLM 4 – Follow-up
Assignment – Answer Key
BLM 5 – Teacher Guide
300 Tokens representing fish (e.g. popsicle sticks,
large beans)
9 Markers for the field of play (e.g. plastic cones)
30 Team markers in three
colours (e.g. pinnies or flags) to identify teams –
North America, South America, Europe
11 Arm bands to identify
government
9 Arm bands in another
colour to identify Aboriginal peoples
4 Hula-hoops (or loops of rope) to mark breeding grounds
8 Ropes to mark protected areas
Whole class.
Use a news item about the moratorium on cod fishing in Eastern Canada
(imposed in 1992) and solicit student suggestions about the impact on the
different people who live there. Other suggestions for possible fisheries
management issues are included in BLM 5
- Teacher Guide.
As a class, define sustainability. Students then brainstorm the factors
that may affect the sustainability of a resource. If they are having difficulty
with the general question, reframe it in the context of a fishery and how we
can ensure that we do not have to impose another moratorium.
Assessment for Learning.
Content understanding and participation. Use
Students can be accommodated with homogeneous or heterogeneous groupings
as appropriate for the Minds On step (e.g. think-pair-share).
Students are divided into 3 teams of fishers, representing North
America, South America, and Europe. Some students will act as government
representatives. To mimic the passage of time and the accompanying changes in
population, development, and technology, different roles will be used at
different times and rules will be added as the game progresses. The game set up
and general rules should be explained to the class in the classroom before
going out to the school yard to play the game.
Students head to their territorial waters (North American, South
American, and European). The international waters are not populated by fishers,
but the fishers from all the countries can fish there as long as they don’t
violate any rules. Students pick up fish tokens – as many as they want (within
the rules) from wherever they want in the allotted time. At the end of a round,
the remaining fish in the breeding grounds are counted and four times that
number of fish tokens is added to the fishing grounds.
The teacher directs play based on options from BLM 5 - Teacher Guide script. Initially, only the aboriginal people
are allowed to fish but with colonization, resources may be impacted by fishing
pressure. Technological advances in fishing practices may result in the need
for catch limits, protection of spawning grounds, a fishing moratorium, etc.
Poachers (fishers caught with more than the catch limit of fish) will suffer
penalties.
Assessment of Learning.
Use BLM 2 – Participation Skills.
As students are playing an active game, roles can be assigned that
accommodate students’ strengths and weaknesses. Students with mobility issues
can fish from a stationary position on shore or serve as government officials
that police the fishery from shore. New roles within the game can be created to
accommodate other needs and limitations.
The teacher leads a debriefing using BLM 5 – Teacher Guide. Students extend their understanding with a
written assignment BLM 3 – Follow-up
Assignment or extension research assignment which is found at the end of BLM 4 – Follow-up Assignment – Answer Key.
Assessment of Learning.
Content understanding. Use BLM 3 –
Follow up Assignment. Concepts learned in the game can also be assessed on
quizzes or a test.
Responses to the consolidation
options may be communicated orally or in writing. Assessment may also be
accomplished with the use of a simpler method (e.g. oral quiz).