Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Part A: Understanding the spheres

40 minutes

Part B: Climate Change and the spheres

30 minutes

Part C: Presenting scientific knowledge effectively

5 minutes

Reflection

Part A: Understanding the four spheres

Step 1.

Revise the four spheres with students:

Everything in the earth's system can be placed into four major subsystems: land, water, living things, or air. These four subsystems are called ‘spheres.’ Specifically, they are Lithosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere and Atmosphere.

Present the PowerPoint presentation: A Fire Inside: The Four Spheres or facilitate some light reading before you move on to watch the clip from FINCH.

Step 2.

Present students with the clip from the feature documentary A Fire Inside discussing the impacts of bushfires:

A Fire Inside: The Impact of Bushfires (https://vimeo.com/651801861)

Step 3.

Ask students to list the impacts they saw or heard in the clip either during or after the clip. You may need to play the clip twice.

Step 4.

Briefly discuss the impact and invite students to categorise the impacts into spheres below. Guide student thinking on at least one of the spheres so that they understand how to approach the task.

Biosphere	Hydrosphere	Lithosphere	Atmosphere
Major and irreversible disturbance to some plant communities. If fires are too frequent and of high intensity, it can limit the number of seeds left in the soil for reproduction, therefore, leading species toward extinction.
Animals are also affected by bushfires. The effect i can have on population sizes and ecosystems can be catastrophic. Wildlife that is not able to move quickly and that is restricted to localised and specific habitats can be severely affected by fast and intense fires.

Project or draw the table above and ask various students to make suggestions and contribute to the board.

If you need more information or clarification on the above topic, please visit the website: Bushfire Georhazards (bushfirehazards.wordpress.com/the-effect-of-a-bushfire-on-earths-spheres)

Part B: Climate Change and the spheres

Step 1.

Pose the following question to the class:

How do you think conditions within each sphere might affect or contribute to bushfires?

Suggested answers:

Conditions within a sphere	How this might contribute to bushfire intensity, regularity or likelihood:
Biosphere
Hydrosphere: drought, dried-up lakes/other water sources
Lithosphere: dry soil from drought
Atmosphere: lightning, winds, drought (both atmosphere and hydrosphere)

Step 2.

Present the clip of Bruce Buckley from the feature documentary A Fire Inside explaining climate change’s impact on the bushfires:

A Fire Inside: Climate Changes Impact on Bushfires (https://vimeo.com/651809785)

Ask students to play the role of a reporter and take down notes in reference to the following questions:

How does Bruce believe that climate change has impacted the rate/intensity of bushfires?
How does this relate to his position at IAG?
What steps has he taken in response to his findings?

Step 3.

Ask students to work in pairs to research the question from the following articles:

How did climate change contribute to the bushfires in Australia in 2019?

Students should use what they find to complete the below table (suggested answers filled in - students should find these by researching).

Suggested articles in APA referencing format (website articles):

Sousounis, P. (2020, January 06). How climate change may have influenced the 2019-2020 Australian bushfires. Airworldwide. air-worldwide.com/blog/posts/2020/1/how-climate-change-may-have-influenced-the-2019-20-australia-bushfires

Ghosh, P. (2020, March 04). Climate change boosted Australia bushfire risk by at least 30%. BBC News. bbc.com/news/science-environment-51742646

Climate Council. (2019, November 13). The facts about bushfires. Climate Council. climatecouncil.org.au/not-normal-climate-change-bushfire-web

Phillips, N. (2020, March 04). Climate change made Australia’s devastating fire season. Nature. nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00627-y

Thompson, A. (2020, March 04). Yes, Climate Change Did Influence Australia’s Unprecedented Bushfires. Scientific America. scientificamerican.com/article/yes-climate-change-did-influence-australias-unprecedented-bushfires/

Step 4.

Ask students to share their notes with a peer and check for any misunderstandings. Circulate the room and ensure students are asking questions and have understood the task.

Table with suggested answers:

The aspect of climate change (mention relevant spheres)	How did climate change contribute to bushfires:
Climate change increased air temperatures (atmosphere), driving away rainfall and leading to drought (hydrosphere)	High temperatures dry out land and make bushfires more deadly as plants become more flammable
Climate change contributed to longer hot seasons	This extends ‘bushfire season’ - putting a strain on resources
Warmer climate leads to more lightning (atmosphere)	Lightning can start fires

Part C: Presenting scientific knowledge effectively

Step 1.

Tell students that communicating scientific knowledge to the general public is very important. Without news, relevant data and facts, we wouldn’t know what was happening in the world and how to solve problems.

Step 2.

Divide students into pairs or groups of 3 (based on skills and interests) and ask each group to choose from one of the following topics of interest:

Climate change’s impact on bushfires
Bushfire’s impacts on our earth’s spheres
Bushfire’s contribution to climate change (extension topic)
How to get involved and be prepared for disaster.

Step 3.

Once students have chosen their topic of interest, ask the groups to create a scientific poster, podcast, short documentary movie/concept or news report for young adults that aims to address and explain their topic.

Step 4.

Tell students that their presentation should include:

A summary of the topic
Key messages for the public
Resolution/s
A short reference list explaining the evidence they have used.

Step 5.

When students have completed their work ensure they are able to tick the following boxes:

The information relates to the topic (climate change and bushfires) Y/N
The information is clearly presented Y/N
The information is engaging and easy to follow Y/N
The information has been referenced and cited appropriately (from at least two reliable sources). Y/N.

Reference List:

A reference list includes all the sources of information that have been cited in a piece of work. The reference list is located at the end of the piece of work and is usually listed in alphabetical order of the authors of the different sources used. Each in-text citation must have a corresponding entry in the reference list, which is submitted with the assignment.

Each type of resource is cited and referenced in a slightly different way. There is no universal referencing style and you may like to ask your Literacy team leader which style you should follow.

The four most common referencing styles are:

Harvard (author-date)
American Psychological Association (APA)
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Oxford (documentary-note or footnote referencing)

Reflection

Ask students to assess their own presentations against the following criteria:

Criteria	YES/NO	Improvements
Is it evidence-based?
Are the references cited appropriately?
s the message written clearly and is it easy to understand and comprehend?
Do the visuals support the message?

Differentiated Learning

Provisions for Learning Support - Support students to select the simplest topic (bushfire’s impact on Earth’s spheres). Students could draw a picture rather than write.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

A Fire Inside - The Relationship between Bushfires, Climate Change and the Four Spheres

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