Canadian Studies · Grade 9

Active learning ideas

The Atlantic Cod Fishery Collapse

Active learning works best for this topic because it transforms abstract data about fish populations and policy decisions into tangible, human-scale events. Students connect directly with the human, economic, and ecological consequences of the collapse when they analyze primary sources, debate real-world decisions, and map real community impacts.

• Ontario Curriculum Expectations
• Ontario Curriculum CGC1D/1P: C2.6. Analyse the causes and consequences of the collapse of a specific resource industry in Canada.
• Ontario Curriculum CGC1D/1P: C2.2. Describe various perspectives on the use and development of natural resources in Canada.
• Ontario Curriculum CGC1D/1P: C3.3. Analyse the social and environmental impact of a specific resource-based industry in Canada.

• 35–50 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Jigsaw
• 45 min · Small Groups

Jigsaw: Fishery Collapse Causes

Assign small groups to research one cause: overfishing, poor science, or policy failures using provided texts. Each expert teaches their home group, then groups synthesize all causes into a shared cause-effect chart. Conclude with whole-class gallery walk to compare analyses.

Analyze the primary factors that led to the collapse of the East Coast cod fishery.

Facilitation Tip

Before beginning the Jigsaw Expert Groups, set clear time limits for research and ensure each expert group prepares a 60-second summary of their causal factor for the whole class.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'If you were a government official in the late 1980s, what actions would you have taken based on the early warning signs of the cod fishery's decline, and what challenges would you have faced?' Encourage students to consider scientific data, economic pressures, and political realities.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Activity 02

• Simulation Game
• 50 min · Small Groups

Stakeholder Role-Play: Moratorium Negotiations

Divide class into roles: fishers, scientists, government officials, community leaders. Groups prepare arguments for or against the moratorium using historical data. Hold a simulated town hall debate with structured turns for speaking and rebuttals.

Evaluate how international fishing rights complicate efforts for marine conservation.

Facilitation Tip

For the Stakeholder Role-Play, assign roles randomly to avoid students defaulting to familiar perspectives, and circulate to prompt quieter students with questions about their character's constraints.

What to look for

Provide students with a short excerpt from a news article or government report about the cod fishery collapse. Ask them to identify and list one cause and one consequence mentioned in the text, and one stakeholder group affected by the event.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 03

• Simulation Game
• 40 min · Individual

Data Trends Graphing: Cod Stock Decline

Provide students with cod catch and biomass data from 1960-2000. Individually graph trends and annotate key events like quota increases. Pairs then compare graphs and present findings to the class, discussing turning points.

Explain the socio-economic impacts of the fishery collapse on Atlantic Canadian communities.

Facilitation Tip

When students graph cod stock decline, provide printed data tables on different colored paper so groups can physically rearrange points to test trends before committing to a final graph.

What to look for

On an index card, have students write down one lesson learned from the Atlantic cod fishery collapse that could be applied to managing another natural resource in Canada today, such as forestry or freshwater.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

Activity 04

• Simulation Game
• 35 min · Pairs

Community Impact Mapping: Socio-Economic Effects

In pairs, students map pre- and post-collapse Newfoundland towns, plotting job losses, school closures, and new industries from case studies. Groups add layers for Indigenous perspectives and share via digital tool or posters for class feedback.

Analyze the primary factors that led to the collapse of the East Coast cod fishery.

Facilitation Tip

During the Community Impact Mapping activity, require students to cite at least one primary source quote or statistic for each consequence they map in their communities.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'If you were a government official in the late 1980s, what actions would you have taken based on the early warning signs of the cod fishery's decline, and what challenges would you have faced?' Encourage students to consider scientific data, economic pressures, and political realities.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Decision-Making

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should anchor this topic in primary sources—old fishing reports, news clippings, and government memos—so students experience the uncertainty and conflicting information that decision-makers faced. Avoid presenting the collapse as inevitable; instead, emphasize how small policy decisions accumulated over time. Research shows that when students engage with primary documents and role-play, they better understand the human dimensions of economic and ecological crises.

Successful learning looks like students who can explain the multi-causal nature of the collapse, identify key stakeholders and their conflicting interests, and articulate how decisions made over decades led to the 1992 moratorium. They should also be able to evaluate the moratorium's mixed outcomes and connect historical lessons to modern resource management challenges.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Jigsaw Expert Groups activity on Fishery Collapse Causes, watch for students attributing the collapse to a single cause like pollution.

  Use the timeline construction task to have groups arrange data points from the 1960s to 1992, forcing them to see how overfishing and delayed regulation built over decades rather than pointing to one environmental event.

• During the Stakeholder Role-Play on Moratorium Negotiations, watch for students assuming foreign fleets alone caused the collapse.

  Assign balanced stakeholder roles including Canadian industrial fleets, inshore fishermen, scientists, and government officials, and require arguments to cite specific quotas and policy changes from the 1977 extension to 1980s.

• During the Data Trends Graphing activity on Cod Stock Decline, watch for students claiming the moratorium fully resolved the crisis.

  Have students extend their graphs to include 2000s data to show persistent low cod populations, then facilitate a class discussion connecting these trends to ongoing management challenges.

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Methods used in this brief

• Jigsaw
• Simulation Game