Lesson summary
Students investigate the conditions that are required to start and sustain fires, and how these three elements impact the practice of cool burning.
Learning intentions:
Students will...
- understand the three conditions required to start and sustain fires
- understand the differences between hot and cool burning.
Success criteria:
Students can...
- conduct experiments that demonstrate the importance of a number of variables in sustaining a fire.
Partner acknowledgement
Cool.org would like to acknowledge the support of the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance Ltd (NAILSMA) in creating these resources.
Lesson guides and printables
Curriculum links
Select your curriculum from the options below.
Lesson details
Curriculum mapping
Australian Curriculum (v9.0) content descriptions:
Science:
Students learn to:
- plan and conduct repeatable investigations to answer questions, including, as appropriate, deciding the variables to be changed, measured and controlled in fair tests; describing potential risks; planning for the safe use of equipment and materials; and identifying required permissions to conduct investigations on Country/Place (AC9S5I02)
Cross Curriculum Priority: Sustainability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures.
Relevant parts of Year 5 achievement standards:
By the end of Year 5, students plan safe investigations to identify patterns and relationships and make reasoned predictions. They identify variables to be changed and measured.
Skills
This lesson is designed to build students’ competencies in the following skills:
- communication
- critical thinking
- cultural understanding
- collaboration
Additional info
Level of teacher scaffolding: High - review students’ knowledge and identify their misconceptions, assist students with simple chemistry concepts, assess student outcomes.
This is an original Cool+ lesson.
Resources required
- Demonstration materials, such as candles that won’t fall over or can be fixed in position, matches, taper candles to light larger candles, hand water pump sprayer and Pyrex beakers
- Device capable of presenting a website to the class
- Fire Factsheet
- Fire Triangle Image
- Fire Triangle Image - no labels
- Lab Safety Rules
- Student Worksheet - one copy per student.
Related professional learning
Teach Caring for Country Using Fire
Quick summary: In this course, you will hear how John Daly uses fire stick techniques to care for Country. John works with scientists and farmers to reduce the impact of bushfires and protect communities.
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