Ojibwe Lifeway: Fishing

Gikinoo'wizhiwe Onji Waaban (G-WOW)

In this activity, students will investigate impacts of a warming climate on cold and cool water fish species in Wisconsin. They will also explore how fishing is an important source of food and cultural practice for the Lake Superior Ojibwe. Students are encouraged to consider how climate change can affect culture and design a project to take action.

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Notes from our reviewers

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There is a lot of information and a few activities listed here. The activity guide is exactly that - a list of short activities, videos, and readings. Teachers will want to craft lessons around what is offered here rather than depend on this lesson for a resource. Make sure to click on the "What Can We Do" tab at the bottom of the science page to see suggested climate actions.
This resource features a lot of specific scientific data focused on how climate change will impact fisheries in Wisconsin. It guides students to create a hypothesis and test it by investigating the data provided. It also includes information about the importance of fishing to Ojibwe culture. This teaching material is very data-heavy with a wide range of information on Wisconsin climate change, both historical and projected, giving students a wide range of options to research. The data tools, which are linked from the website, are scientifically sound. Teachers should be aware that the 'A1B' scenario referred to is somewhat outdated (it stems from the IPCC fourth assessment). In the latest IPCC report (AR6), the scenarios are called 'social pathways' and have a representative concentration pathway (RCP) and a number, which refers to a specific socio-economic scenario. It's more of a technical change, and it doesn't change the fundamental idea behind projections of increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the future. Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.
In this resource, students will investigate many aspects of climate change. The activities walk students through looking at climate projection maps and reading about impacts on fish, helping them develop hypotheses about how climate change will impact fish and culture. The strength of this teaching material is its sheer size of information, making it easy for the students to study how climate change affects fish populations through the suggested activities. The concern is that students might be overwhelmed by the amount of information, and may struggle to synthesize the information. It is heavy on reading and hence students who are more hands-on may not enjoy this activity. For any aspiring scientists in the classroom, this activity will be a lot of fun. The information is also regionally specific and focused on Wisconsin. If you are teaching a unit about how climate change will impact fisheries in Wisconsin, this resource has a lot to offer. It is also a good activity to show how climate change affects culture. Extending the meaning beyond fisheries in Wisconsin is possible, but will take guidance by teachers to help students make connections to other regions, species, and ecosystems.
It takes a little while to find one's way around all the available recourses, but otherwise the technical quality is good. While the resource is technically sound, it is not very well organized. Teachers will need to scroll through what is offered to find what they need. Links to the various parts of the lesson are included at the bottom of each page, but the links back to other parts are at the top of each page.