|
Activity
Station |
 |
Alaska's
Fisheries: Exhibits & Curriculum |
Through a generous grant from the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, The Imaginarium has created exhibit components that explore the relationship between fisheries, science, and humans. These include:
- Species Identification: Touch, feel and explore to see if you can figure out what each animal model represents!
- Claws, Shells, & Fins: Pinch like a crab, swell up like an anemone, and swim like a fish as you see how marine animals get around.
- Interactive Fisheries Video: Whether you're interested in salmon, pollock, or shellfish, you can explore the biology and human uses of the animals in Alaska's commercial fisheries through live action video, animation, and immersive sounds.
- Sea Cave: Check out life at the seashore when you explore the "rocks" at the base of our fishing dock. Visitors can crawl, climb and slide their way to an engaging, full-body exploration of marine life and human interactions with it!
In addition to these components, The Imaginarium is now offering a high-school level class-room curriculum that combines standards from science, mathematics, and economics to present students with a chance to explore Alaska's fisheries. AWASH: Alaska's Waters, Alaska's Sea Home is a multi-disciplinary curriculum developed in cooperation with the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board and the North Pacific Groundfish Observer Training Center and which makes extensive use of recent scientific data provided through the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Components of this curriculum include:
| AWASH Curriculum Description |
| Activity 1: Pre-Test | Students are introduced to Alaska’s Fisheries with a short video segment (approximately 3 minutes). After the teacher explains the purpose of these activities, the students take a Pre-test that assesses their current knowledge and skills in the mathematics, sciences, and economics surrounding Alaska’s fisheries. |
| Activity 2: What are Fisheries? | Students view images and videos from a variety of fisheries and learn about some of the basic definitions and characteristics of Alaska’s Fisheries. Topics covered include Alaska’s political status, its geography, and its coasts. Students are introduced to the use of fisheries species on an historical basis and apply this knowledge to predict the origins of some commonly available commercial products. |
| Activity 3: Marine Biology of Fisheries Species – Assorted Invertebrates | Students investigate anatomical images of such species as shrimp, Weathervane scallops, and Geoduck, Littleneck, and Razor clams. In addition to the gross anatomy of the species, students investigate the various habitats and distribution as well as the natural history and ecological roles of selected species. |
| Activity 4: Economics of Assorted Invertebrates | Students learn about the economic impact of these species. |
| Activity 5: Real World – Assorted Invertebrates | This lesson challenges students to apply what they’ve learned about the economics and biology and mingle it with their own understanding of society to solve some problems, perhaps, and make predictions about the health of species or the value of a harvest |
| Activity 6: Marine Biology of Fisheries Species – Crabs | Students investigate anatomical models and images of such species as the Red, Blue, and Golden King crabs, Tanner, Opilio and Dungeness crabs. In addition to the gross anatomy of the species, students investigate the various habitats and distribution as well as the natural history and ecological roles of selected species. |
| Activity 7: Economics of Crabs | Students learn about the economic impact of some of these species. |
| Activity 8: Real World - Crabs | This lesson has them apply what they’ve learned about the economics and biology and mingle it with their own understanding of society to solve some problems, perhaps, and make predictions about the health of species or the value of a harvest. |
| Activity 9: At Sea – Catching Equipment | This lesson is the first that introduces the students to nets, otter boards, crab pots and other equipment used to harvest species for fisheries. Students may work with models or actual items to understand their functioning and the physical science and animal behavior behind the designs. This is where students will first see how to compute harvests. |
| Activity 10: At Sea – Ships | Students examine the design similarities and differences between trawlers, processors, and other vessels used in fisheries. Floating models of the different boats types would be great, and students could do experiments to compare the properties of the different vessels. It might also be a good idea to reinforce their knowledge of computing catch volumes, discussing what that means about the holds of the ships, and even computing the displacement of vessels. |
| Activity 11: At Sea - Jobs to Do | This is a chance to see what the jobs are and what living conditions go along with them. Information includes needed training, schooling, and other requirements to be entry level as well as the long-term prospects of each area. |
| Activity 12: Marine Biology of Fisheries Species – Goundfish #1 | As with the other fisheries species we’ve considered, students will look at models and images and learn about ecology, life history, and other natural science topics related to the animals. The first session will concentrate on the pollock fishery. |
| Activity 13: Marine Biology of Fisheries Species – Groundfish #2 | This second lesson on the biology of groundfish will provide the same information for these species: Pacific cod, sablefish, lingcod, and halibut |
| Activity 14: Economics of Groundfish | As in the other economics lessons, students work with the numbers represented by this harvest. |
| Activity 15: Real World – Groundfish | Again, this is the cumulative look at the groundfish fisheries in Alaska. It combines the human considerations with the students knowledge about fishing, economics, science, and society. |
| Activity 16: Marine Biology of Fisheries Species – Salmon | Students investigate the biology of the Red, Pink, Silver, Chum and King salmon through readings, images & video. |
| Activity 17: Economics of Salmon | As the last “official” economic lesson in the kit, this will include not only the facts and figures related to salmon but ask the students to incorporate some of their earlier findings into developing a broader view of Alaskan fisheries. |
| Activity 18: Real World – Salmon | Students draft their own management programs and go through the process of taking comment, hearing dissent, and finally present and defend their final plan for salmon management. |
| Activity 19: Post-Test | Students are assessed on their accumulated knowledge and skills in the mathematics, sciences, and economics surrounding Alaska’s fisheries. |
| Activity 20: Shipping Out | In this reflective exercise, students are asked to turn what they have learned into a recruitment project for fisheries observers. |
Contact The Imaginarium at 907•276•3179 to learn more about the AWASH curriculum and our other educational opportunities for schools, community groups, and individuals.
To learn more about Alaska's fisheries, be sure to visit these sites:
Alaska Fisheries Science Center - NOAA
Commercial Fisheries - Alaska Department of Fish & Game
National Marine Fisheries Service - NOAA - Alaska Region
Alaska Sealife Center
Prince William Sound Science Center
The Imaginarium • 737 West 5th Ave. #G • Anchorage, Alaska 99501
phone 907.276.3179 • fax 907.258-4306 • info@imaginarium.org