Analyzing Forest Fires and Project Based Learning

Paul and Elder (2007) defined critical thinking as ...the art of analyzing and evaluating

thinking with a view of improving it (p. 4). Critical thinking requires one to question, examine

ideas and bias, construct and revise strategies to solve problems, and reach conclusions. Diane

Halpern (1998), stated that Critical thinking is purposeful, reasoned, and goal-directed (p.

450). Critical thinking skills do not necessarily come naturally to students, so they must be

developed in the classroom. Instruction must be develop purposively to foster critical thinking.

This unit which focuses on forest fires incorporates activities and experiences designed to help

develop the active thought process required in critical thinking.

During this multi-curricular project based learning unit, students will discover the fire

triangle, explore combustion through digital simulations, and research how forest fires start and

spread. Additionally, students will examine data on past and current forest fires to determine the

cause of origin, duration, and acres burned. Each student will select one forest fire to examine

further. Through research they will determine the effect that the forest fire had on the

environment and society. Furthermore, students will research historical ways forest fires were

prevented. Students will publish their findings in a research report format that will include

multiple references from digital, print, and primary sources (including interviews with experts).

The final piece of this unit is for students to use their individual research to create a collaborative

group presentation that will convince the governor of California to do more to prevent large scale

forest fires.

Throughout this unit students will be actively engaged in the critical thinking process.

They will be asked to conceptualize their ideas of fire and the way it spreads. During their

research, students will evaluate sources and synthesize the information they are gathering to
write a coherent research report. During the final project, they will be asked to collaborate and

use digital tools to create a presentation. They will need to be able to communicate effectively to

reach their objectives. These are difficult skills to ask students to engage in; however appropriate

scaffolds will be integrated into each lesson to ensure that all students are successful. All

activities in this unit were developed using Paul and Elders Standards of Critical Thinking:

Clarity, Accuracy, Precision, Relevance, Depth, Logic, Significance, and Fairness (2007).

The following plan outlines the major lessons and components of the unit.

Unit: Forest Fires

Unit Essential Questions:

What is the economic and environmental impact of large forest fires?

How can large forest fires be avoided in the future?

Unit Objectives:

Students will be able to explain the science behind fire and the major causes of

fires spreading in the wilderness.

Students will conduct research and gather multiple sources to answer the unit

essential questions.
Students will write a research report that focuses on answering the unit essential

questions, as well as analyze a specific forest fire that has occurred in the Unified States

within the past ten years.

Students will work collaboratively to create a proposal and multi-media

presentation that will advise the governor on how to avoid large-scale forest fires.

Unit Standards:

NGSS:

MS-PS1-2: Analyze and interpret data on the properties of substances before and after the

substances interact to determine if a chemical reaction has occurred.

CCSS: Language Arts

RI6.1: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as

inferences drawn from the text.

RI6.7: Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually,

quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.

W6.1: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

W6.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and

information, through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

W6.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are

appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

W6.6: Use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to

interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to

type a minimum of three pages in a single setting.

W6.7: Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and

refocusing the inquiry when appropriate.

W6.8: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assess the credibility

of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding

plagiarism and providing the basic bibliographic information for sources.

SL.6.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners.

CCSS: Mathematics

6.SP.A.2: Understand that a set of data collected to answer a statistical question has a distribution

which can be described by its center, spread, and overall shape.

6.SP.4: Display numerical data in plots on a number line, including dot plots, histograms, and

box plots.

6.NS.B.5: Summarize numerical data sets in relation to their context.

Part One: Forest Fire Exploration

Part one of the unit is focused on exploring and developing a deep understanding of the

science behind fires, heat transfer, and the probability of fires spreading in wilderness. Students

will be engaged in a number of hands-on activities and simulations. The duration of part one is

one to two weeks, depending on how well students grasp the concepts. Mini-lessons may be

needed to fill in students gaps in understanding the scientific concepts.

Lesson One: Exploring Heat and Energy

Objective: Students will be able to explain heat transfer and the fire triangle.

Materials Needed: Matches, peanuts, candle, glass jar, cold items (example: frozen water bottle).

Critical Thinking Objective:

Lesson Hook: Friction Challenge

Students will be paired in groups of three. One is the judge, and two other students are the

competitors. The two competitors will rub their hands together creating heat and then place their

hands on the judge. The judge will determine who created the most heat. Students will take turns

being the competitors and judge. Once students are back in a whole class group, the teacher will

ask students to answer the following questions in a digital journal reflection: What happened in

the challenge and what other types of friction create heat?

Teacher Demonstration:

As a class, students will brainstorm ways that fires start (lighting a match, lightening, etc). The

fire triangle will be projected and each part of the triangle will briefly be discussed. Teacher will
demonstrate what happens when one of the elements in the fire triangle is taken away by lighting

a candle and then placing a glass over the candle. Students will discuss what of the three

elements was removed and make predictions on where the heat from the fires went in a think-

pair-share activity. After partners have shared a student volunteer will come up and put his/her

hand close to the jar. Students will discover that the heat was transferred to the jar.

Student activities:

Peanut Fuel Demonstration

Half of the class will be with the teacher for another

demonstration. The fuel source will be changed to a peanut and students will

explore how fire changes with a new source (candle to peanut).

Heat movement challenge
The other half of the students will complete the heat movement

challenge. Students will place their hands on a cold object and then record what

happens. Students will answer questions in their journals What happens to the

temperature over time? and What happens to the movement of heat?. The goal

is for students to be able to identify that the friction releases heat from one source

to the other.

Independent Activity:

Students will draw a diagram of their house and identify at least three heat sources, then choose

one of the heat sources to analyze and answer the following questions:

How could heat be transferred in this object?

What fuel is being consumed?
How is this object beneficial to humans? In nature?
What fire safety precautions must I take around this object to keep it from

catching on fire?

Guiding Critical Thinking Questions:

 What is happening in this demonstration and how do you know?
Can we test our hypothesis and how?
Can you elaborate on your thinking?
Could you illustrate what you mean?

Lesson Two: Combustion

Objectives: Students will be able to explain the process of combustion and the chemical change

during combustion.

Materials and Technology:

Brainpop video: https://www.brainpop.com/science/energy/fire/

Combustion simulation: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/fire/onfire.html
www.padlet.com

Introduction/Hook:

Students will brainstorm all of the ways that fire is used in a positive way on a daily basis. They

will post their responses on a collaborative digital class Padlet

To introduce combustion the Brainpop video titled Fire will be played and discussed as a

whole class.

Student Activity-Simulations

Students will explore combustion in a PBS simulation.

To encourage students to start thinking about how forest fires start and to check for

understanding, the instructor will circulate the room and ask questions such as the following:

What would happen if (insert based on student activity in simulation)

What happens when (insert based on student activity)...
What are some possible ways that forest fires start?

Closing: Class discussion of simulations and types of combustions that are observable in students

lives (fireworks, fires, in their homes, etc) will be discussed. The goal is for all students to be

able to explain that combustion is a chemical change that releases heat and light. Students will
write a journal reflection addressing the essential question and include screenshots of their PBS

simulation.

Lesson Three: Mapping Forest Fires

Objectives:

Students will be able to analyze current and past forest fire data to determine the

major causes of forest fires.

Students will create a Google map that includes the fire's location and data found

through research.

Technology Tools and Materials:

Computers with access to Google Maps

Google Sheets or excel to create a class bar graph on incidents of human vs

natural causes of fires (or large print graph paper)

Websites with data on active and inactive fires: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/

Opening:

The class will brainstorm some possible causes of forest fires (natural and human causes) and

write a hypothesis predicting what the most frequent causes of forest fires are.

Student activity:

Students will work with a partner to locate at least ten active and inactive forest fires from the

Government's Incident Information System (InciWeb) and pin locations on a Google Map. In the

pins of each fire incident students will include the incident name, date of origin, location, cause,

and total acres burned. Students will color code pins based on active and inactive incidents.

Whole class activity:

Once students have completed their maps, they will record the cause of each incident on a

collaborative Google Sheet. As a class we will determine, based on the information gathered,
what the most common cause of forest fires were. Students will reflect on their hypothesis

created in the beginning by writing a reflection.

Lesson Four: Probability of Forest Fires Spreading

Objectives:

Students will be able to identify factors that cause forest fires to spread (weather,

topography, fuel source).

Student Activity:

Now that students have a firm understanding of the fire triangle, combustion, and the causes

major causes of forest fires, they will discover and explore the probability of forest fires

spreading using the following simulations:

http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=4145

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/fire/simulation.html

http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/ABetterFire/

During the simulation the teacher will circulate the room and ask critical thinking questions, such

as What would happen in a forest with dense trees?, What factors affect the spreading of

forest fires.

Through exploration students will be able to answer the following questions:

What portion of the forest is destroyed under these simulations?

How does the probability relate to the number of trees that burn?
What factors affect how forest fires spread?

Closing: Students will answer the above questions in a journal response or a digital portfolio.

Rationale of Part One

Each activity was designed to have students conceptualize the abstract concepts of fires,

including heat transfer and chemical changes. Additionally, the lessons incorporate several of
Paul and Elders (2007) critical thinking standards and elements of thought. For example,

students are gaining clarity and depth of the science behind fire by exploring several different

models and online simulations. They are involved in gathering and analyzing real-world

information and hypothesizing and making inferences on the causes of forest fires. Lastly,

questioning is used throughout part one to help build the intellectual traits needed for successful

critical thinking such as intellectual perseverance, confidence in reason, and intellectual courage.

Part Two: The Research

In part two, students will research the cause and effect of forest fires. They will focus on

a specific forest fire in recent history. They will analyze the economic, environmental, and social

impact that the fire had. In addition, they will research ways that forest fires have been prevented

in the past. Mini-lessons (not outlined here) will be embedded throughout the unit to support

students in research, evaluating sources, citing references, and the written components of

research reports. The duration of part two is 2-3 weeks depending on student abilities. The

research report requirements will be modified for students who have an individual education plan

(IEP).

Lessons for Part Two:

Students will choose a large forest fire within the last 10 years to research thoroughly. Students

will include the following information in their research report:

Causes of forest fires starting and spreading

Positive and negative effects of forest fires.
Strategies for forest fires
History of controlling fires
Detailed information on the fires they chose
Environmental and economic impact of fires
 Student will be guided through each part of their research report from writing a thesis

statement, to finding relevant sources, and organizing their research report. The major lessons in

part two are outlined below.

Lesson: Interview an Expert

Objective:

Students will be able to generate questions ask an expert.

Students will be able to interview an expert to gather information for their

research report.

Technology Tools: Computer with Skype or other video conferencing software

Student Activities:

Students will brainstorm questions to ask an expert in the area of forest fires prior to the

interview session. This requires students to think critically about the types of questions that are

the most important to ask. If an expert is unable to attend a class session, the expert will be

interviewed via skype. Students will take turns asking questions and designated recorders will

take note for the class. If possible, an expansion of this lesson would be to include several

experts students could interview in the field of forestry, firefighting, and victims of forest fires.

Research Resources for Students:

www.forestinfo.org
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/fire/world.html
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/search?q=forest+fires
www.newsela.com -lexile leveled text that can be differentiated based on

students reading abilities.

Readworks.org-another resource to differentiate non-fiction reading for students.
Other internet sources found by students

Some examples of critical thinking questions that will be included during this part of the unit:

Is this a reputable source, and how do you know?

 How does this paragraph or section, fit into the overall structure of your research

report?
Is your thesis statement broad enough to cover the whole research report, if so

why or why not?

What point is the author trying to make in the article you found?
How do you know that this person qualifies as an expert in the field of research?
Do you need to consider another point of view?

Reflection on part two:

Part two requires students to engage in a variety of 21st Century skills. They will need to

effectively communicate verbally and in writing. They will use technology tools to research and

draft their report. Digital literacy skills will be developed through lessons on properly

paraphrases, quoting, and citing sources. In addition, students will need to use higher order

thinking processes to analyze the credibility of sources. They will need to synthesize multiple

sources and put them together in a coherent report. Based on students ability levels, lessons will

need to be differentiated to meet the needs of diverse learners. The instructor will need to

facilitate research and assist in picking out sources that are at the reader's ability level.

Part Three: Persuading the Governor

Part three will require students to use the knowledge they gained in part one and two to

work collaboratively with peers to draft a proposal to the governor of California. Their proposal

will include ideas on preventing large forest fires. They will support their ideas with evidence

from their research. Students will create a video presentation that will be posted on YouTube.

Additionally, groups will write a letter to the governor convincing him to watch their video and

to take their ideas into consideration when drafting and approving bills. The duration of this part

is one to two weeks based on student ability levels.

Objectives
 Students will work collaboratively to draft a written proposal on preventing forest

fires.
Students will turn their proposal into a multimedia presentation that will be

uploaded to YouTube.
Students will write a letter to the governor urging him to watch their videos and to

take their ideas into consideration.

Lessons for Part Three

Students will be placed in heterogenous groups of three to four per group. The problem

will be posed to students at the beginning of part three: What can the government do to prevent

forest fires? Students will be given time to compare their research reports and draft a proposal to

the government. Mini-lessons will be needed to help students develop their claims and support

them with evidence. Once their proposal is approved by the instructor, they will create their

multi-media presentation. After their presentation is completed, they will draft a letter to the

governor urging him to watch their YouTube presentation. These letters will be mailed to the

governor. As a closure to the unit, all presentations will be watched in class.

Student options for multi-media presentation:

Create a newsreport video using green screen technology to add background

visual effects.
Create a presentation using Google Slides, Prezi, or other presentation software

and upload it into a video.

Create a digital story using images and text to convince the governor to invest

more into preventing forest fires.

Reflection on part three:

Multiple 21st Century and critical thinking skills will be fostered in part three. Students

will need to think critically to solve a real-world problem and create a creative presentation.
They will use real-world tools, such as writing a letter to the governor, using YouTube to publish

their work, and using sources to support their claims. In addition, students will have to work

collaboratively and communicate effectively to meet their goal of creating a presentation.

Unit Assessments:

Ongoing formative assessment will be used throughout the unit by observing students

during activities, questioning, and collecting samples of student work. Based on student

performance, each lesson may need to be adapted to include scaffolds and mini-lessons to build

background knowledge. All formative assessment should drive instruction and student activities.

Summative assessments will be students final research reports, collaborative group video, and

letter to the governor.

Unit Reflection

This unit includes many aspects of critical thinking and 21st century skills. While the unit

includes some explicit instruction in the form of demonstrations and mini-lessons, a majority of

the unit is hands on and student driven. Throughout the unit, students are asked and encouraged

to evaluate problems, synthesize information, question, construct meaning of abstract concepts,

communicate, collaborate, and research. Technology is used to build digital literacy and enhance

the activities in the unit.

In order for students to be successful in future education and careers they need to engage

in a variety of real-world tasks in the classroom. Additionally, critical thinking should be able to

transfer across content domains. According to Halpern, In critical-thinking instruction, the goal

is to promote the learning of transcontextual thinking skills and the awareness of and ability to

direct one's own thinking and learning ( It is imperative that students see learning tasks as

relevant to their lives. For my students, this unit will be relevant because of the recent forest fires
to hit California this summer and their interest in global environmental issues. The goal is for

students to develop the critical thinking skills necessary to analyze real-world issues and come

up with solutions to those problems.

References

Paul, R., & Elder, . (2007). The miniature guide to critical thinking concepts and tools. Dillon

Beach, CA: The Foundation for Critical Thinking.

The Forest Foundation (2015). Hot topics: Wildfires and you. Retrieved from

http://calforestfoundation.org/Students-And-Teachers/Teachers/Hot-Topics-Wildfires-&-

You.htm.