Burning Issues Learning Module

Savannas are the most fire-prone of the world's major biomes. So, fire is a key conservation and land management issue for Australia's tropical savannas.

Burning Issues overarching questions

• How do we live with fire so that it brings positive benefits to the landscape and the community?
• How can we help the community understand the issues associated with burning and land management?

Burning Issues focuses on the need for well-informed decisions about planning and fire management to ensure lives are protected and healthy ecosystems and biodiversity are conserved. It highlights the need for a collaborative approach involving traditional Aboriginal landowners, volunteers, council members, regional bush fires committees and researchers to help protect life, property and the environment in northern Australia from the effects of wildfire and ensure a sustainable future for all.

Students will be able to explore some of the key issues of burning for land management in northern Australia in order to develop an effective public awareness campaign for a target audience, that includes some scientific evidence to support their key messages.

Burning Issues provides a flexible learning environment for students.

The Burning Issues learning environment is designed so that learners can:

• Review information so as to demonstrate and connect with their prior knowledge using the myth busting maps and questions

• Review a recent community survey graphed results to assist in identifying misunderstandings in the community and a possible target audience for their campaign

• Explore fire survival strategies of key plant species and the impact of burning on various fauna

• Explore different people's perspectives including historical and Indigenous perspectives in order to interpret their needs and concerns

• Explore key fire safety issues and responsibilities in camp grounds
  

• Interpret impact of traditional indigenous fire practices – ecological, social/cultural and economic

• Interpret the impact of burning/not burning over periods of time

• Interpret the impact of hot intense burns

• Construct an outline of the awareness campaign, demonstrating their understandings

• Justify their ideas by identifying how the design would consider key effective communication features and the use of scientific evidence for a specific audience.

The Burning Issues learning environment is flexible enough to meet a diversity of learner needs depending on the learning focus taken and the offline teaching and learning. Some students will thrive in such an environment and others will need more support than is provided within the online environment.

Teachers, in the role of facilitators of learning or co-learners, guide their learners with the process of making meaning. By targeting specific assessment for, and as, learning opportunities within the module and/or offline to gain and give feedback, teachers can be informed as to what focused teaching or support different learners require. Each section suggests some of these possibilities.

 It is recommended that:

• teachers make themselves very familiar with the learning environment and the Guide accessible through the PDA.
• students have the opportunity to explore the module in a playful way but with purpose set by the teacher that enables the articulation of their existing knowledge.