Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes	Part B: Traditional Fire Management Practices
10 minutes	Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1.

Begin this lesson by working with students to identify some of the impacts of a bushfire. You could do this by creating a class mind map (you could create one on the board or use an online tool like MindMeister or bubbl.us).

For example:

Step 2.

Once you are satisfied with your mind map, emphasise the point to your students that bushfires have many impacts across many different areas. Because of this, there is a significant scientific and financial investment in understanding bushfires and exploring different ways of managing them and preventing them. Some of these strategies involve:

On-ground practices, such as managing forests to remove fuel load
Reducing the number of houses being built in bushfire-prone areas
Long-term strategies such as taking action to slow climate change which is seeing an increase in conditions that favour fires as we saw during the 2019/20 fire season in Australia.

Explain to students that in this lesson, they will be investigating on-ground practices.

Part B: Traditional Fire Management Practices

Step 1.

Invite students to suggest what they already know about bushfire management practices. They may have heard of terms such as back-burning and controlled burns, or cool burning, cultural burning, and traditional fire management practices.

Explain to students that each landscape in Australia is different, which is why there is a range of fire management practices that are being used. A ‘one size fits all’ approach is not possible and each strategy is specific to the land. In this lesson, students will focus on one of these practices; the traditional fire management practices.

Note: Traditional fire management practices have a range of different names, such as cultural burning, cool burning, or traditional fire knowledge. It is important to note that none of these names captures the complexity or richness of the knowledge and connection to Country behind this knowledge and these practices. In addition, there are respectful protocols that you and your students can adopt in terms of language when discussing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures. You can find some information here.

Step 2.

Share the following clip with students.

Three things I know about fire management | The Drum (https://youtu.be/KZ_En7x8tzU). Thanks to the ABC and Indigenous fire practitioner, Victor Steffensen for this footage.

Once complete, invite students to reflect on what they see as the key points made in this clip. You could do this as a class discussion, or ask pairs of students to work together.

Step 3.

Explain to students that they will now conduct some research into traditional fire management practices.

Give each student in the class a number from 1 to 5. Assign students with the following articles based on the number they have been assigned:

The Conversation - The world’s best fire management system is in northern Australia, and it’s led by Indigenous land managers
The Conversation - Australia, you have unfinished business. It’s time to let our ‘fire people’ care for this land
The Conversation - Indigenous expertise is reducing bushfires in northern Australia. It’s time to consider similar approaches for other disasters
The Conversation - Fighting fire with fire: Botswana adopts Indigenous Australians’ ancient burning tradition
The Conversation - Our land is burning, and western science does not have all the answers

Students should read through the article they have been assigned and answer the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What are the main points of this article? What is the article about?
What does this article tell you about the value of traditional fire management practices and bushfires?
What does this article tell you about the relationship between traditional fire management practices and western science?
What does this article tell you about the value of being able to participate in traditional practices for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples?
What do you find most interesting or important about this article? Select a quote or some facts in support of your answer.

Step 4.

Once complete, invite students to form 5 different groups. Assign each group an article and a number.

In their groups, invite students to share their observations about the article they read. You could also ask each group to discuss the following:

What would you like other people to know about traditional fire management practices?
What is still unclear to you about what you read? What questions do you still have?

Where students pose questions to their groups, encourage other people in their groups to help them answer these questions. If there are questions that can’t be answered, ask students to keep a record of these questions; these could be used to guide further inquiry.

Step 5.

Engage students in a class discussion around their thoughts from their articles and their group discussions.

Through your discussion ensure students understand that applying traditional fire management practices doesn’t just mean inviting your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples/communities to share their knowledge with western scientists wishing to learn more about traditional fire management practices. There has been a long and brutal history of dispossession and oppression against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in this country; the process of developing working relationships with traditional owners requires acknowledging this history and making the effort to build meaningful relationships in the future. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have deep connections to Country, and even though Scientists deem their knowledge as useful they should not assume nor expect information about how to care for and preserve our country.

Part C: The Benefits To Flora And Fauna

Step 1.

Explain to students that people often talk about how Australia is a land of fires and floods and that our plants and animals have adapted to these conditions. Some people also point out that some plants have even evolved to include fire as part of their lifecycles (such as plants whose seed pods need extreme heat to be opened for the seed to the released).

These are all true, but only in the event that the fires they are living with are not the devastatingly hot and destructive fires that we are seeing more frequently. Our plants and animals have evolved to adapt to the cooler fires - such as those practiced by traditional custodians when managing their land - and not these new hotter ones.

Students will now look at the Flora, Fauna, Fire resource and spend some time researching the impacts of the Black Summer bushfires on native flora and fauna. This includes looking at the impacts on individual species as well as looking at the impacts on the broader landscape and biodiversity.

Step 2.

Students can then work independently or in pairs to consider the following (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Imagine you are a scientist working in a national park close to where you live. This park is rich in biodiversity but hasn’t experienced any burning for a long time and with a wet summer this year, we have experienced more new growth than normal. While the park looks lovely and lush, you are worried about the next summer; the park is large but surrounded by houses, and if a fire was ignited in the park, there would be little hope of containing it.
Your job is to create a poster that discusses the impacts of the Black Summer bushfires on one flora species and one fauna species (check the Flora, Fauna, Fire resource) and proposes incorporating traditional fire management practices into any future management of the areas where these species live.
Your poster should include:
- Names and descriptions of species
- Any adaptations this species has developed in response to fire
- How the species has been impacted by the Black Summer fires
- The actions required to support the recovery of this species
- Suggestions as to how traditional fire management practices could benefit the landscapes where these species live.

You could provide students with this rubric to share expectations for the poster.

Step 3.

Once complete, display student posters in the classroom and invite students to participate in a gallery walk:

A gallery walk enables students to provide feedback on their peers' work. Display students' work around the classroom and place a piece of blank paper next to each other work to collect votes on. Invite students to move around the room viewing each others' work, then vote for their three favourite posters.

As an extension, students could also record one thing they like about the posters displayed, one thing they wonder, and one thing that may improve the work.

Once complete, engage students in a class discussion on their thoughts about the posters:

Which ones were most interesting to them and why?
What information did they observe in the posters that were new to them?

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to respond to the following (also available on the Student Worksheet):

How was the information presented in this lesson connected to what you already knew?
What information extended your thinking or pushed your thinking in new directions?
What is still challenging for you? What are you still unclear about? What questions do you still have?

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?

Beyond the Bushfires - Preventing Destructive Bushfires

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Summary

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