Event-Based Science: Fire!

Event-Based Science is a new way to teach middle school science. It is an award-winning, standards-based program in which newsworthy events establish the relevance of science topics; authentic tasks create the need-to-know more about those topics; and lively interviews, photographs, Web pages, and inquiry-based science activities create a desire to know more about those topics.

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Fire! is an Event-Based Science module about the nature of fire. Fire! uses the fires that struck Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 1988 to establish the context for exploring concepts related to the chemical nature of fire and the role of fire in nature. The task in Fire! places students in the roles of fire experts who are designing an environmental-education camp. Students will acquire then use their knowledge of the components of fire, fire-retardant materials, extinguishing and escaping fire, factors that influence the spread of forest fires, and regrowth following a forest fire.

NSTA Recommends Fire!

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As with all Event-Based Science modules, much of the information that students need is provided in the pages of Fire!. However, more information is needed. Information about current fires will add to the authenticity of your study. Information about real environmental camps will also add to the authenticity of their products.

Below are some World-Wide Web sites where additional information is available. Click on the highlighted words and be linked with helpful sites.

This great picture was taken in Bitterroot National Forest in Montana on August 6, 2000. The photographer, John McColgan, is a fire behavior analyst from Fairbanks, Alaska. Because he was working at the time he took the picture he cannot profit from it; however, he feels the picture is a once-in-a-lifetime shot and should be shared.

Fire! Resources

A "pdf" file containing web sites, books, material lists, and correlations with National Science Education Standards.
Use the BACK button in your browser to return to this page.

HTML Version

Special Letter to Send Home to Parents

Fire! has one remote-sensing activity sponsored by NASA.

Correction Alert

On page 10 of the Student Edition of Fire! there is an error. There are some extraneous words that appear inside the "fire triangle" diagram in column one. The words "is poisonous because it" DO NOT BELONG.

EBS Breaking News

Click here to use Google News to search and browse 4,500 continuously updated news sources for breaking news about wildfires.

Links to Fire! related WEB Sites
(Links are checked monthly. They were working on the day of the last update.)

Large Wildland Fire Map An up-to-date map that is posted by the National Interagency Fire Center.
Wildfire News A site for the fire-fighting community.
Smokey Bear Official Web site. Official Web site.
Burn Recovery in Yellowstone This site has an excellent annimation that uses satellite images to show the recovery of vegetation since the 1988 fires.

Jennings Environmental Education Center Jennings offers a full range of educational programs. A unique attraction at the center is its relict prairie, which includes the spectacular and well-known prairie flower, the blazing star. The relict prairie ecosystem is rare in Pennsylvania.

The Periodic Table of the Elements from ChemiCool An up-to-date periodic table with detailed but easy to understand information. The site also has a Chemistry Dictionary, Chemistry Tools, Resources.

Combustion A TELS (Total Engagement Learning System) activity on equation balancing.

Yellowstone National Park Fire

Western Wildfires a CBS Video

For links to other Event-Based Science books and pages, return to the EBS homepage:

Event-Based Science Home Page

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Fire!

Links to Fire! related WEB Sites (Links are checked monthly. They were working on the day of the last update.)

For links to other Event-Based Science books and pages, return to the EBS homepage:

Links to Fire! related WEB Sites
(Links are checked monthly. They were working on the day of the last update.)