NOTE: These lesson plans have been absorbed into a new site called "Teaching Great Lakes Science" so feel free to check out what they've added!

About Project FLOW: http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/flow/downloads.html#fish

Supported by Michigan Sea Grant, the Fisheries Learning on the Web (FLOW) curriculum is designed to be an engaging, cost-effective tool for educators. Features of the FLOW curriculum:

  • Lesson content clearly addresses lesson objectives, based on content expectations and benchmarks.
    For more information, see the Standards and Benchmarks Overview.
  • Includes meaningful assessment tools with learning objectives, student performance and recommended points.
    For more information, see the Assessment Overview.
  • Complements similar efforts about the Great Lakes and oceans, such as the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s MEECS curriculum (Ecosystems and Water Quality) and Great Lakes COSEE.
  • Links to supplemental classroom materials, see Michigan Sea Grant Education and Bookstore.
  • Engages K-12 educators and students with hands-on activities and high quality graphics, such as fish cards.

http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/flow/downloads.html#fish

Unit 1: Food Web
  • Lesson 1: Make the Connection
    Entire printable PDF includes: Lesson content.
  • Lesson 2: Who's Eating Whom?
    Entire printable PDF includes: Lesson content, table 1, food tokens, and behavior cards.
  • Lesson 3: Great Lakes Most Unwanted
    Entire printable PDF includes: Lesson content, and Aquatic Invasive Species Matching Game Cards.
  • Lesson 4: Beat the Barriers
    Entire printable PDF includes: Beat the Barriers game board, Barrier Cards, Lamprey Cards, and Barrier Fact Sheet.
  • Lesson 5: Ruffe Musical Chairs
    Entire printable PDF includes: Lesson content, and Ruffe Musical Chairs game cards.

Unit 2: Water
  • Lesson 1: Exploring Watersheds
    Entire printable PDF includes: Lesson content, and What is a Watershed? student worksheet.
  • Lesson 2: Wetland in a Pan
    Entire printable PDF includes: Lesson content.
  • Lesson 3: Water Quality
    Entire printable PDF includes: Lesson content, and Water Body worksheet.
  • Lesson 4: What Makes Water Healthy?
    Entire printable PDF includes: Lesson content, and Water Quality Worksheet.
  • Lesson 5: Hydropoly: A Decision-Making Game
    Entire printable PDF includes: Lesson content, and Decision Cards.

Unit 3: Fish
  • Lesson 1: Fins, Tails and Scales: Identifying Great Lakes Fish
    Entire printable PDF includes: Lesson content, Great Lakes fish family cards & generic fish graphic, Dichotomous key: Great Lakes Fish Families, and Fish characteristics fact sheet.
  • Lesson 2: Fish Habitat
    Entire printable PDF includes: Lesson content, and Aquatic habitat data worksheet.
  • Lesson 3: Fish Life Cycle
    Entire printable PDF includes: Lesson content, Fish Life Cycle Worksheet and Reproductive Strategies fact sheet.
  • Lesson 4: Fish Populations
    Entire printable PDF includes: Lesson content, FLOW Case Study and Coho Salmon in Lake Michigan.
  • Lesson 5: Great Lakes, Great Careers
    Entire printable PDF includes: Lesson content.
http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/flow/downloads.html - top

Credits:
FLOW Development Team - Michigan Sea Grant
  • Joyce Daniels, Senior Editor, Michigan Sea Grant
  • Nikki Koehler, Education Specialist, Michigan Sea Grant
  • Elizabeth LaPorte, Project Director, Michigan Sea Grant
  • Todd Marsee, Senior Graphic Artist, Michigan Sea Grant
  • Brandon Schroeder, Fisheries Expert, Michigan Sea Grant
  • Anna Switzer, Education Specialist, University of Michigan
Michigan Sea Grant developed FLOW in 2005, with support from the Great Lakes Fishery Trust. Anna Switzer developed the original curriculum structure. Key issues outlined in the Great Lakes Fisheries Education Assessment and Summary of Needs report (2001, Great Lakes Fishery Trust), and the Great Lakes Education Program (Michigan Sea Grant) provided the basis for lesson content.

Michigan Sea Grant supports ongoing updates and improvements to the FLOW curriculum, including the revision of the fishes unit in 2006-2007 and the alignment of FLOW to the Michigan Curriculum Framework Content Expectations (standards and benchmarks) in 2008.