Sustaining the Asúm: Yakama Nation & the Pacific Lamprey
Synopsis
This lesson explores Pacific Lamprey (asúm).
Through three 15-minute activities, students act out the lamprey life cycle, listen to a traditional Yakama story, draw what the lamprey may have looked like before losing its bones, and design a media project to improve the lamprey's public image.
Yakama and English vocabulary lists, stewardship actions, and extension activities are included.
Teaching Materials
Preparation:
Use the story map to learn about the full curriculum and build necessary background knowledge for implementing this lesson.
Note that one of the questions following the "How Lamprey Lost His Bones" story is, "What do you think the lamprey may have originally looked like before he lost all his bones to Coyote (spílya) in the game?" In this story, Lamprey loses his bones to Suckerfish, not to Coyote.
Prerequisites:
Consider teaching a mini unit about script-writing to help students build skills for creating the skit in this lesson.
Materials:
Art supplies
Poster board
Access to a device that will record a video.
Climate Change Connections:
Discuss how warmer river water affects cold-water species and which human actions can help them persist.
Extensions:
Use this activity to differentiate between Pacific Lamprey and invasive sea lamprey.
Scientist's Note:
This lesson uses the lamprey case study and indigenous knowledge to foster thinking about climate adaptation and connects conservation to engineering design as students are tasked with designing a lamprey flume.
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