Overview
Traditional Native Ways of Conserving Marine Life
Author: Jeanine Pfeiffer, PhD
Lesson partner: Rebecca Lowry, Humboldt County Office of Educatio
Grade(s): 6 - 8
Suggested Amount of Time: 2-3 forty-five minutes class sessions
Curriculum Themes
- Cultural Strengths
- Relationship to Place
- Cross Curricular Integration
Learning Goals
Students will:
Increase awareness of California’s coastline as Native ancestral territory.
Differentiate cultural uses of marine resources for food, regalia, ceremony.
Investigate the salmon life cycle, challenges to salmon’s survival, and salmon food webs
Understand Native conservation of marine resources.
Analyze climate change impacts on coastal species (warming ocean temperatures, bull kelp die-off, and a trophic cascade).
Consider how we can make life choices to protect marine resources and respect cultural traditions.
Lesson Overview
This science-focused unit provides video interviews, art and photographs to describe how coastal resources are important to Tribal peoples, and how Tribal peoples manage those resources in different ways.
Teacher Background
Respect for indigenous science (also known TEK-traditional ecological knowledge) is strong within certain academic disciplines and institutions, but relatively unexplored in most parts of the academy.
This unit on traditional Native ways of conserving marine resources weaves Native American studies, cultural studies, ethnography, history, and anthropology together with ecology, environmental studies, and marine biology. In this unit, “conservation” is not defined as “hands-off-put-a-fence-around-it” or “follow-these-specific-regulations,” but as a complex, dynamic interrelationship between peoples who maintain respectful and reciprocal relationships with resources used for food and regalia, social exchanges and ceremony.
The unit is designed as an integrated, multimedia experience, with activities that can be structured as independent, small group, or all-class exercises.
All of the cited source materials are listed in Slides 47-48, and these websites, along with the additional resources listed in the Lesson Script are the best go-to sites for more in-depth information for educators who have the time and interest to expand their knowledge. For example, the open access 20-page bilingual (Spanish and English) Marine Protected Area Coloring Book (free downloadable PDF) contains extensive illustrations and marine biology concepts; the related Ancestral Waters Coloring and Activity Book (free downloadable PDF) includes a range of cultural insights from Tribes throughout California (excerpts are included in this unit); and one of the best comprehensive guides to California abalone is contained within the beautifully illustrated 11/7/2019 LA Times article by Rosanna Xia, “Can the long-lost abalone make a comeback in California?
Interactive Slides
About the Interactive Slides
A key component of this curriculum includes interactive slides and a lesson script/facilitation support. These materials are designed to support ease of implementation and help guide lesson delivery.
The interactive slides are animated to gradually reveal content and may include links to videos and audio playback buttons for Tribal language integration, songs, or slide facilitation.
In addition to the downloadable lesson and student handouts, this lesson comprised of 2-3 forty-five minutes class sessions, includes interactive slides and lesson script/ facilitation support.
Slides: Traditional Marine Conservation
Lesson Script/ Facilitation Support
*To ensure full accessibility, we recommend making a copy of the instructional material(s).
Instructions:
To use the slides effectively:
- Project the slides in "Slideshow Mode" to activate animations. Written content will appear with each click.
- Set speaker volume before beginning the lesson to ensure all students can hear audio content.
- Play audio by clicking the audio playback icons one at a time. There may be a brief pause while the audio loads.
- Hovering over an audio playback icon will reveal a playback bar that allows you to play, pause, adjust speed, or fast-forward the audio.
- Note: You do not need to use the playback bar unless you wish to adjust playback. Simply clicking the icon will play the audio.