The Impact of Wildfires
Description
In this activity, wildfires and how much area they burn serve as a phenomenon to guide student inquiry, which includes evaluating data and developing scientific claims.
Students first view a news video, then work both independently and in groups to interpret and evaluate evidence from scientific figures. They also apply the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning (CER) approach to explain changes in the area burned by wildfires over time.
The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.
Student Learning Targets
- Analyze and interpret scientific figures, such as graphs and maps.
- Evaluate various lines of evidence for which factors influence wildfire dynamics.
- Develop scientific claims supported by evidence and reasoning for why recent wildfires are burning more forest area.
Estimated Time
Key Terms
claim-evidence-reasoning (CER), climate, fire suppression, land management, megafire, rain, vegetation, wildland-urban interface (WUI)
Primary Literature
Holden, Zachary, Alan Swanson, Charles H. Luce, W. Matt Jolly, Marco Maneta, Jared W. Oyler, Dyer A. Warren, et al. 2018. “Decreasing fire season precipitation increased recent western US forest wildfire activity.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, 36: E8349–E8357. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1802316115.
Radeloff, Volker C., David P. Helmers, H. Anu Kramer, Miranda H. Mockrin, Patricia M. Alexandre, Avi Bar-Massada, Van Butsic, et al. 2018. “Rapid growth of the US wildland-urban interface raises wildfire risk.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, 13: 3314–3319. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1718850115.
Safford, Hugh D., Jens T. Stevens, Kyle Merriam, Marc D. Meyer, and Andrew M. Latimer. 2012. “Fuel treatment effectiveness in California yellow pine and mixed conifer forests.” Forest Ecology and Management 274, 15: 17–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.02.013.
Terms of Use
The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.
Accessibility Level (WCAG compliance)
Version History
NGSS 2013
HS-LS2-2, HS-LS2-6; SEP4, SEP6, SEP7
AP Biology 2019
SYI-2.B, SYI-2.C; SP3, SP5, SP6
IB Biology 2016
C.3
AP Environmental Science 2020
Topic(s): 2.5, 5.10, 5.17, 9.5
Learning Objectives & Practices:
ERT-2.G, EIN-2.M, STB-1.G; SP1, SP2, SP5
IB Environmental Systems and Societies 2017
n/a
Common Core 2010
ELA.RST.9–12.1, ELA.RST.9–11.2, ELA.RST.9–12.8, ELA.RST.11–12.9
Vision and Change 2009
CC5; DP1, DP6