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Description
This project intends to act on the valuation of the identity, heritage and cultural resources related to cod fishing. It is proposed to create a digital learning resource, which involves a set of memories, related to cod fishing. Based on this resource, we offer the creation of a didactic exploration guide, aimed at the school public, which promotes the deepening of issues related to sustainable fishing, such as climate change and its effects on the oceans, and with the preservation of marine species (Principles 5 and 6 of ocean literacy). Salted and dried cod was an inexpensive product, available and easily preserved, and has therefore entered the consumption habits of the Portuguese population until today. Contrary to what happened in other countries, accustomed mainly to include frozen fish, Portugal has not abandoned the consumption of salted and dried cod, being today the biggest consumer of this product. Currently, Atlantic cod is on the list of endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. As a result of unbridled fishing and climate change, cod began to become scarce. Considering the need to develop innovative educational practices, this proposal not only meets most of the learning objectives identified in the document, Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations Agenda 2030, but it also intends to contribute to the investigation and adoption of innovative learning strategies, strongly supported by current digital technologies, through the creation and didactic exploration of digital learning objects, and their testing in a school context, with the aim of understanding their impact on science teaching and learning. In support of all the work on creating the teaching resource, we will have Professor Sólveig Jakobsdóttir, head of RANNUM, Center for Educational Research in ICT and Media, at the University of Iceland as a consultant for the project (http://uni.hi.is/soljak/en/).
Summary of project results
Nowadays, although we know that knowledge is a critical factor in ocean literacy, we already realized that it is not sufficient to actually change the individual''s behavior. Affections and emotions are also crucial for developing pro-environmental behaviours. In this context, we created a digital educational resource “Once upon a time there was a fish called cod…” (https://projetobacalhau.ie.ulisboa.pt/) that involves a set of memories related to cod fishing, aimed to promote an environmental and socially relevant learning using the cod as a “flag species”. In Portugal, cod fishing is an important activity since the beginning of the XX century. Salted and dried cod was a cheap and easily preserved product and has therefore entered the consumption habits of the Portuguese population, until the present days. However, the Atlantic cod is currently included in the IUCN list as an endangered species. In fact, in the late 1920s, as a result of overfishing and climate change cod began to become scarce.
This innovative digital educational resource involves testimonies of people linked to traditional cod fishing. The resource, that includes interviews, films, text, photographs, allows the exploration of various dimensions associated with the theme: History & Culture, Life on Board, Biology, Fisheries & Sustainability. Based on this, we also created a didactic exploration guide, aimed at schoolchildren, which promotes the deepening of issues related to sustainable fishing, climate change, and preservation of marine species. The main objectives are to enhance the identity and heritage linked to cod fishing; promote culture in its various dimensions; promote environmental awareness and respect for marine diversity; promote greater knowledge about the sustainability of fishing resources. The resource is free to use and is focused on school age students, and can be explored in school or familiar context.
Although it is difficult to know how many people already explore the resource, because it is a free resource that could be explored by anyone, anywhere, we presented it to more than 100 teachers and educators, more than 150 science communicators and ocean literacy promoters, and about 100 children in schools. Moreover, the digital resource was visit more than two thousand times in the first month it was publish. This project received the "Best Professional Initiative” – MakeEUBlueAwards of the EU4Ocean Coalition, which was presented on European Maritime Day (25 May 2023, Brest).