Social Studies – Histories and Stories of Ways of Life in Canada
Lesson One – What’s In a Story?
Focus
Students recognize that there are multiple layers of knowledge, understanding, values and direction to deeper knowledge within the stories of Aboriginal people. There is no separation of knowledge into isolated categories for Aboriginal people: all aspects of knowledge are related.
Curriculum Connection: 5.2.1–2
Acknowledge oral traditions, narratives and stories as valid sources of knowledge about the land and diverse Aboriginal cultures and history
Lesson Two – A Sacred Relationship
Focus
To recognize that for Aboriginal people there is no separation between ourselves and the land and water.
Curriculum Connection: 5.2.2–1
What do the stories of First Nations, Métis and Inuit people tell us about their beliefs regarding the relationship between people and the land?
Lesson Three – People of the Land
Focus
Students recognize that Aboriginal people’s lifestyles, spiritual practices and values are influenced by their ecosystem (the land, animals, bodies of water, plants and climate).
Curriculum Connection: 5.2.2–1
Examine how Aboriginal cultures and ways of life are unique in each of the regions of Canada
Curriculum Connection: 5.2.2–4
Examine how the natural environment and geography of a region determines diversity among Aboriginal cultures
Lesson Four – Eco Despair
Focus
Students recognize that changes to the land, animals, bodies of water, plants and climate of an area affect the way Aboriginal people live, their spiritual practices and their values.
Curriculum Connection: 5.3.1–1
Recognize how economic and political changes impact ways of life of citizens
Science – Wetland Ecosystems
Lesson One – Wetlands… Worlds Apart
Focus
Examine western and Aboriginal worldviews on “living and non-living things” in wetlands ecosystems while recognizing that all plants and animals have an important role in a wetlands community as they interact with one another.
Curriculum Connection: 5.10–2
Understand that a wetland ecosystem involves interactions between living and non- living things, both in and around the water
Curriculum Connection: 5.10–5
Understand and appreciate that all animals and plants, not just the large ones, have an important role in a wetland community.
Lesson Two – Bogged Down in Wetlands
Focus
Identify the different ways that western and Aboriginal science classify wetlands based on what can be harvested there, the type plant life, the wildlife that travels there, soil conditions and water levels.
Curriculum Connection: 5.10–1
Recognize and describe one or more examples of how people classify wetlands
Lesson Three – See For Yourself
Focus
Identify a specific wetland with science “lens” of swamp, shallow open water, bog, fen or marsh based on an investigation of plant life, wildlife, soil conditions and water levels during a field trip to a local wetland. Identify the same wetland with the Aboriginal science “lens” of utility.
Curriculum Connection: 5.10–1
Recognize and describe one or more examples of wetland ecosystems found in the local area. (examples: Pond, slough, marsh, bog, muskeg, fen)
Lesson Four – All Things Big and Small
Focus
Identify forms of life in the wetlands and examine their roles in the wetland ecosystem. The examination of roles of each plant and animal will be extended to include uses by Aboriginal people.
Curriculum Connection: 5.10–5
Understand and appreciate that all animals and plants, not just the large ones, have an important role in a wetland community
Lesson Five – More Than One Way to Skin a Cattail
Focus
- Identify the cattail as an example of a wetland plant.
- Identify the function of a cattail in the ecosystem, the parts of a cattail and the function of each part.
- Document their findings using a variety of methods.
- Understand the difference between how Aboriginal people and western scientists identify plants and animals.
Curriculum Connection: 5.10–3
Identify plants and animals, both in and around the water
Lesson Six – Wetlands Odyssey
Focus
Students will identify species of plant and animal life in a wetland.
Curriculum Connection: 5.10–3
Identify plants and animals, both in and around the water; and describe the life cycles of these plants and animals
Lesson Seven – Not Just Skin Deep
Focus
Recognize that plants, animals, insects and birds living in wetlands ecosystems have physical and/or behavioural adaptations that make them suited for life in the wetland.
Examine various wetlands species; identify and describe the adaptations that make them suited to living in a wetland.
Curriculum Connection: 5.10–4
Identify and describe adaptations that make certain plants and animals suited for life in a wetland
Curriculum Connection: 5.10–8
Recognize that some aquatic animals use oxygen from air and others from water, and identify examples and adaptations for each
Lesson Eight – Return To The Source
Focus
- Students recognize that plants can produce their own food.
- Recognize that all animals, and some plants, rely on other food sources.
- Understand that food chains are sequential and that the preservation of a wetland relies on the natural balance within food chains and food webs.
Curriculum Connection: 5.10–6
Identify the roles of different organisms in the food web of a pond or wetland:
- Producers-green plants that make their own food using sunlight
- Consumers- animals that eat living plants and/ or animals
- Decomposers- organisms, such as molds, fungi, insects and worms, that reuse and recycle materials that were formerly living
Lesson Nine – Bon Appetite
Focus
- Students recognize that plants can produce their own food.
- Understand that all animals, and some plants, rely on other food sources.
- Recognize that food chains are sequential.
- The preservation of a wetland relies on the natural balance within food chains and food webs.
Curriculum Connection: 5.10–6
Identify the roles of different organisms in the food web of a pond or wetland.
- Producers-green plants that make their own food using sunlight
- Consumers- animals that eat living plants and/or animals
- Decomposers- organisms, such as molds, fungi, insects and worms, that reuse and recycle materials that were formerly living
Lesson Ten – The H Factor: Human Destruction of Wetlands
Focus
- Students recognize the extent to which individual and collective human actions bring about destruction of wetlands.
- Recognize that this can lead to the endangerment or extinction of wetlands plant and animal species.
Curriculum Connection: 5.10–8
Identify human actions that can threaten the abundance or survival of living things in wetlands ecosystems such as adding pollutants, changing the flow of water, trapping or over hunting wetlands wildlife
Lesson Eleven – To Preserve and Protect
Focus
Students develop a sense of responsibility to restore and protect the wetlands in Alberta.
Curriculum Connection: 5.10–10
Identify individual and group actions that can be taken to preserve and enhance wetland habitats