Through reading, writing, and discussion, students will consider the question "Are all forest fires bad?" and form an opinion about it.
PROCEDURE:
1.Introduction: Distribute to students the information sheet "Smokey Bear" and have students read it as background information for the following activities. Forest Service posters featuring Smokey the Bear may help students focus on the issue of forest fires.
2. Take an informal survey of the class by asking, "Are all forest fires bad?" Limit the students to three answers: Yes, No, or Not Sure. Save the results of the survey for comparison at the lessons conclusion.
3. Distribute the Forest Fire articles to class. After the students have read the articles, briefly discuss them with the class.
4. Have students suggest positive and negative effects of forest fires. The teacher should list accurate responses on the board under the headings "positive" and "negative". See the "Positive and Negative Effects of Forest Fires" teacher information sheet for a listing of the positive and negative results of forest fires. Distribute the worksheet "Forest Fires-Good or Bad?" to the students and have them copy this list to it. The information will be used in later activities.
5. Based on information gathered in previous lessons as well as information read and reviewed in this lesson, ask the students to write a well thought out, factually correct essay entitled "Good and Bad Fires of New Jersey". students should use one of the following forms as a basis for their story:
TV news story
TV editorial commentary
newspaper article
letter to the editor
newspaper editorial
letter to Smokey
radio news story
6. Ask student volunteers to read their stories to the class.
7. After the essays are read, again take the survey "Are all forest fires good or bad?" giving the same three choices as before: Yes, No, or Not Sure
Compare the results of this survey with the previous survey.
Ask the following questions:
Have the results changed?
Why do you think that some people have changed their opinion?
Is it difficult to give a simple yes or no answer to a complex question?
Should the survey have offered other choices for answers?
8. Discuss how fire is handled today in a fire prone forest. (The Bureau of Forest Fire Management does prescribed or controlled burns to lessen the danger of wildfires.)
9. Ask the question "Is Smokey correct; are all forest fires bad?" Discuss the reasons that it might be desired to give the impression that all forest fires are bad. (to make sure that people understand the danger of forest fire and take it seriously)
EVALUATION:
Evaluate students' essays for their thoroughness and accuracy.
FOLLOW-UP:
1.Have the students develop and present a video tape presentation of a news program that covers the major ideas covered in this unit. This project could also be done in a print format as a newspaper or magazine
2. Develop a series of Smokey Bear posters that illustrate that not all forest fires are bad. The poster should stress the danger of forest fire while educating the public about the good effects of fire.
This lesson will introduce the students to the following vocabulary words:(click on the word to see its definition-use your browser's back button to return to this page)
browse, flammable, litter, prescribed burn, succession, wildfire
Science standards:
5.1-All students will learn to identify systems of interacting components and understand how their interactions combine to produce the overall behavior of the system.
5.2-All students will develop problem solving, decision making, and inquiry skills, reflected by formulating useable questions and hypotheses, planning experiments, conducting systematic observations, interpreting and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and communicating results.
5.12-All students will gain an understanding of the environment as a system of interdependent components affected by human activity and natural phenomena.
Social Studies standards:
6.9-All students will acquire geographical understanding by studying the environment and society.
Language Arts standards:
3.3-All students will compose texts that are divers in content and form for different audiences and for real and varied purposes.
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