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![]() Students will understand the following:
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![]() Resources regarding national parks, fire, and environmental science from your school or local library. Suggested resources include the following:
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![]() Adaptation for younger students: Review with students the story of Bambi. Discuss some of the misconceptions about forest fires that a child might get after hearing that story. Ask them to write another children's story that would present the idea of forest fires in a more balanced light. |
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![]() Have students write a persuasive piece on whether or not the Park Service should continue with its current fire management policy of tolerating "natural" fires and conducting prescribed burns. They should include at least three reasons for or against this policy before coming to their conclusion. |
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![]() Fire and the Life Cycle Research a plant whose life cycle is dependent on fire. Examples could include the giant sequoia, the lodgepole pine, or the jack pine. Examine the plant's role in that particular ecosystem. Then design a storyboard illustrating the life cycle of this plant, the role that fire plays in helping it successfully complete the life cycle, and the plant's effect on the biotic and abiotic aspects of its ecosystem. The Fire Triangle Have students conduct further research into the fire triangle of fuel, heat, and oxygen by investigating some of the following questions: Why can't you light a match on the moon? Why won't a wet match light? Will fire burn on the surface of Mars? Why does gasoline allow fire to burn? What is required to allow fire to burn? How did Ohio's Cuyahoga River catch on fire in 1959 and 1969? |
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![]() Catching Fire: The Story of Firefighting Gena K. Gorrell. Tundra Books, 1999. Beginning with an explanation of what fire is and how it was used and feared by early humankind, this book presents the history of firefighting and firefighting equipment. There are sections on fires in buildings, in forests, and on mass transit vehicles. Readers can also learn how investigators use science and logic to determine the causes of fires. Fire: Friend or Foe Dorothy Hinshaw Patent. Clarion Books, 1998. Fire plays a crucial role in many ecosystems. Wonderful photographs in this book illustrate the ways plants and animals adapt to fire and convey how even extremely destructive fires can be essential to maintaining nature's balance. It includes chapters on fighting wildfires and the Yellowstone fires of 1988. |
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![]() What is Fire? The World Book tells us what fire is and explains the three conditions essential for starting and maintaining a fire. Do you know what they are? Discovery.com's Earth Alert What parts of the Earth are being threatened by fire right now? Turn to Discovery Online's "Earth Alert" and find out where the fires are burning.You can also locate other current natural disasters such as typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanoes. Wildland Fire; Yellowstone National Park This pictorial essay of the vast fires that burned nearly a quarter million acres of forest in Yellowstone National Park in 1988, explains how naturalist have come to appreciate the role of fire in the natural evolution of a healthy ecosystem. United States Fire Administration's Kids Page The United States Fire Administration helps prevent fires. They want everyone to be safe from fire, including you! The Kids Page is full of tips, activities and games that can help you and your family learn to be safe from fire. Fire Safety Website This fire safety website provides lots of activities to help parents and teachers involve their children in fire safety educational activities. Many useful related fire safety education links are available from this page. |
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![]() Click on any of the vocabulary words below to hear them pronounced and used in a sentence.
Context: Abiotic measurements of water quality were taken once a year.
Context: Students were surveying the biotic features of their nearby stream.
Context: The combustion of the spilt fuel created a nightmare for nearby residents.
Context: The burning of fossil fuels is the major cause of rising carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere.
Context: The oxidation of iron produces rust.
Context: The park was closed because officials were conducting a prescribed burn. |
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![]() This lesson plan may be used to address the academic standards listed below. These standards are drawn from Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education: 2nd Edition and have been provided courtesy of theMid-continent Research for Education and Learningin Aurora, Colorado. Grade level: 9-12 Subject area: Life science Standard: Understands how species depend on one another and on the environment for survival. Benchmarks: Knows how the interrelationships and interdependencies among organisms generate stable ecosystems that fluctuate around a state of rough equilibrium for hundreds or thousands of years (e.g., growth of a population is held in check by environmental factors such as depletion of food or nesting sites or increased loss due to larger numbers of predators or parasites). Benchmark: Knows ways in which humans can modify ecosystems and cause irreversible effects (e.g., human population growth, technology, and consumption; human destruction of habitats through direct harvesting, pollution, and atmospheric changes). Grade level: 9-12 Subject area: Life science Standard: Understands the cycling of matter and flow of energy through the living environment. Benchmarks: Knows that as matter and energy flow through different levels of organization in living systems and between living systems and the physical environment, chemical elements (e.g., carbon, nitrogen) are recombined in different ways. Benchmark: Knows how the amount of life an environment can support is limited by the availability of matter and energy and the ability of the ecosystem to recycle materials. Grade level: 9-12 Subject area: Physical Science Standard: Understands energy types, sources, and conversions, and their relationship to heat and temperature. Benchmarks: Understands that chemical reactions either release or consume energy (i.e., some changes of atomic or molecular configuration require an input of energy; others release energy). |
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![]() Joyce Bailey, master science teacher and freelance writer. |
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