Creative Lesson Plan on Fish for teachers, educators and community workers ENRE (Ecology and Natural Resource Education Programme) Development Research Communication & Services Centre Selections from 'Basbhumi' : booklet - 10 1 'Creative lesson plan on Fish' (Selections from ‘Basbhumi’ : booklet - 10) Concept Development : Ardhendu S. Chatterjee Project Coordinating : Anshuman Das Lesson Plans Design & Editing : Satoko Chatterjee Processing of feedback data : Malabika Saha, Surjakanta Das, Subhadyuti Mitra, Durga Sankar Pradhan, Satoko Chatterjee Illustration : Satoko Chatterjee Composition & Layout : Somjita Mukherjee Cover : Satoko Chatterjee, Abhijit Das Drawing of fish 4is from 'Freshwater Fishies of Peninsular India' (R.J. Ranjit Daniels / University Press, 2002) Copyright - 2010 ENRE project / DRCSC (Contributions towards printing cost : Rs.40 / also available on exchange with EE materials & publications) Booklets are available in Bengali also. Your contributions will help us to produce forthcoming booklets. No restrictions on copying for educational and non-commercial purposes, but please mention the source and send us a copy. The project activities are supported by Christian Aid, AEON, Shaplaneer and Indienhilfe e.v. For comments, suggestion and more copies, contact us : ENRE project / DRCSC, 58A Dharmatola road, Bosepukur, Kasba, Kolkata 700042, West Bengal , INDIA 2442 7311, 2441 1646 E-mail : [email protected] Website : www.drcsc.org We are thankful to Students Committee of Mutsu Technical High School, Japan for partial financial support towards the production cost of this booklet and encouraging ENRE children eco-groups 2 Selections from 'Basbhumi' : booklet - 10 Contents PAGE Dear Teachers, educators, community workers and parents 4 How a Lesson Plan can be 'Creative' 5 Overall goal and Activity steps 6 We got Feedback from... 8 Lesson plans and their feedback ( Step 1) — Preparatory Work Activity (A) 'About Fish Which Children Like Most to Eat' 10 Activity (B) ‘My Experience with Fish' 20 Review and Make Sure (Step 2) What is a Fish ? 28 Category of Fishes 29 Fish and Nutrition 31 Basic Observation of Fish 31 Local Variety of Fish 32 A Pond Ecosystem 36 Lesson plans and their feedback (Step 3) – Investigation / Project Work Activity (A) 'Ask Fishermen' 40 Case Study : Disappearing Fish Varieties in Tiorkhali Village 45 Teacher's Note : Cultivating Rice and Fish Together 46 Activity (B) 'Making a Pond in a School Yard' 55 Teacher's Note : Aquatic Communities : A Pond Community 59 Case Study : Fish Cultivation by Youth Group in Shimulberia Village 63 Resources Expert’s view point : Fishes of Bengal 68 List of Fish 73 Books and other Interesting Lesson Plans 77 ENRE Partner Organisations' address 78 Your Feedback Slip 79 Selections from 'Basbhumi' : booklet - 10 3 Dear Teachers, educators, community workers, and parents — It is said that India has about 2,500 species of fish which are 11.7% of fish species in the world. Among India, as Bengal is called ‘the land of Maach (fish) & Bhaat (rice)’, fish is very popular diet in West Bengal. Diversities of water bodies existing in the landscape of West Bengal offers wider variety of fishes too. In this booklet, we are going to focus on the relationship between fish and its environment along with observation and survey of locally available fish. Through step-wise lesson plan activities, children will be able to understand that fishes have important roles in each habitats, ponds, rivers, and rice fields etc. To study about fish is to learn about those ecosystems and its conservation. The following topic map is showing some idea how teachers/facilitators can expand lesson plan on fish. Catching Conservation Tools Traps Polutant Lifecycle Eco System Cultivation Food chain Seasonality FISH Market Price Cold storage Sea Habitat Diet Nutrition Safety Medicinal River Pond Festivals, value culture Ricefield 4 Selections from 'Basbhumi' : booklet - 10 How a Lesson Plan can be 'Creative' — A good lesson plan should provide the opportunity of discovering and searching out facts by the children themselves. Children can choose their own learning process and context. The teachers need to facilitate it only, rather than imposing an uniform style for all. The reason we call this 'creative' is, this kind of lesson plan can not only enhance the children's knowledge but also widen their 'perception'. Perception means How children look around their world ... this is an important goal for children as learners and future citizens. Creative Lesson Plans should have the following aspects Starting from what children already know and what children have experienced / felt. These help to create and enhance children's interest about the topic. Having the overall goal related to 'Social / asking good questions Environmental Issue' and 'Scientific attitude'. is much more important Setting up these goals help to be aware that they than seeking answers can also do something to improve their environment and solve some of the social problems. Children should have fun and enjoy the moments of discovery in their learning process. Activity should link the classroom and community. This is essential for Environmental Education, as we need more and more people's initiatives for better environment. Using active and group based learning methods by encouraging children's involvement in group. Using local materials and examples for 'Link the classroom activities. You can also make the activities low and community' cost and eco-friendly by using waste materials. Selections from 'Basbhumi' : booklet - 10 5 99 99 9 Fish Overall goal Through a series of activities children will be able to identify fish they eat and observe in their locality. They are encouraged to understand fish has close connection with environment and often work as an indicator to point degradation of ecosystem. Some initiatives and actions among children to protect water bodies from pollutants such as wastes or agricultural chemicals are most welcome to conserve fishes as natural resources and valuable food. Activity Steps Step 2 Review & Make Sure to make a platform for further activities, organise a discussion with children to summarize & review preparatory work. Discuss about missing information and make sure that Children have Step 1 Preparatory work to build children's interest and to know what children already know. Children collect information / data through own observation and inquiry to family members & local community members. Activity (A) Activity (B) 'About Fish Which Children 'My Experience with Fish’ Like Most to Eat' for both rural & urban schools for both for rural & urban schools class 5 to 7 class 5 to 7 keeping record, listing, searching brain storming, keeping record, information, ranking, categorizing, listing, searching information, making profile categorising, making Profile, language (describing), art (drawing) Math (average calculation), Art (drawing) 1 1 2-3 periods (1 /2 hours / peiod) 2-3 periods (1 /2 hours / peiod) & home work 6 Selections from 'Basbhumi' : booklet - 10 Changes Expected • Increasing variety of fish in children’s diet • Giving important to locally available fish • Re-valuing disappearing / decreasing fish variety in each locality Step 3 Investigation/Project Work v • Awareness & action towards to create child-oriented activity. Children can apply their water body conservation collected information into designing studies which are meaningful for the community. Activity (A) Activity (B) 'Ask Fisherman’ 'Making a Pond in a School Yard' mainly for rural schools, for both urban & rural schools but its possible for urban schools where there are ponds nearby class 7 to 9 information collection, observation, designing, interviewing, mapping, drawing, group work, group work, making chart gardening learnt necessary points for the next step. Encourage childrens to raise further question and to take initiative towards finding solutions. Key Concepts which you can develop through the activities Keywords Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Resource (A) (B) (Make Sure) (A) (B) Page Fish species / variety Habitats of fish Fish anatomy Fish in diet / nutrition Fish and ecosystem Fish and Conservation Fish Cultivation Selections from 'Basbhumi' : booklet - 10 7 We got feedback from different Groups — All the lesson plans included in this booklet were developed by ENRE team and tried out (and sometimes modified) by the teachers and children’s groups of ENRE network. The teachers had tried out each activity with their students (targeted class 4-9) in their class or as extra curricular. You can see the survey results and children’s work examples after each lesson plan. We hope these feedbacks help to create your motivation to conduct each activities and reflect them in your way. We got feedback from different groups affiliating ENRE partner organisations. Some survey results were also shared by other projects of DRCSC. Most trials were carried during 2001- 2004. West Bengal MPEC (Multi Purpose Education India Centre) project / DRCSC There are 4 centres working for pre- primary school children, adolescent, and mothers groups for aiming to improving community livelihood and economical situation. Youth group of Swanirvar group MPEC - Shimulberia in Bankura North 24 Parganas district district report their experience of Intensive agriculture is the main fish cultivation in village ponds. occupation of this area and the farmers used to apply large amounts of chemical fertiliser & pesticide. Arsenic in the