Discovery Channel Pictures

In 1999 Discovery Channel Pictures released an IMAX® film, Wildfire: Feel the Heat and companion Study Guide. The film utilized advisors from a number of sectors including the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) and universities. The Study Guide was developed by environmental educators from the academic community with significant input by NIFC.

The Study Guide contains twelve units and is available from Discovery Pictures, 7700 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, MD 20814; (301) 986-0444; web site http://pictures.discovery.com/dppages/wildfire/wildfire.html.

Each unit contains background information for parents and teachers, as well as a wide variety of informative lesson plans for students from kindergarten through eighth grades or equivalent education levels/forms.

The Study Guide easily adapts to your learners' specific educational needs. You may use any suggested activity by itself, in combination with other lesson plans suggested in the Study Guide, or in tandem with curriculum on ecology, conservation, and social studies.

You are encouraged to modify these units to better meet your learners' needs and to supplement your existing curriculum or unit of study.

While this Study Guide contains a wealth of multidisciplinary information, it is intended as a supplement to your curriculum, not as a comprehensive unit. Whether you use these activities on their own or in conjunction with your visit to see the film Wildfire: Feel the Heat, the Study Guide can improve your learners' understanding of fire safety, wildland fire (both unwanted fires and planned prescribed fire), and natural resource (wildland) management.

You as teachers and parents are encouraged to read the background for all units to gain a broad perspective on wildland fire. Although each unit has been prepared with a specific objective, each activity can be rewritten to meet your program of study. Likewise, student-centered evaluation strategies should be prepared in conjunction with the objectives. State, provincial, or regional education standards, as well as local education guidelines, should be consulted as you prepare to lead these activities.

The contents of the document are:

Unit 1: About this Guide

Grades K£8: WILDFIRE: Feel the Heat
Education Chart

Unit 2: Safety First

Grades K£4: Safety First: Be Prepared
Grades 5£8: Safety First: Our Future

Unit 3: Firefighters

Grades K£4: Plan a Field Trip
Grades 5£8: Invite a Wildland Fire Specialist

Unit 4: Tools of the Fire Trade

Grades K£4: Tool Art
Grades 5£8: Inventors Needed

Unit 5: Fire Flashes

Grades 5£8: The Big Three: Heat, Fuel, and Oxygen

Unit 6: Fire Behavior

Grades 5£8: The Matchstick Forest

Unit 7: Fire Ecology

Grades 5£8: Ecology and Wildland Fire

Unit 8: Fire Adaptations

Grades 5£8: Create a Pyrophyte

Unit 9: Rx Fire

Grades 5£8: The Correct Prescription

Unit 10: In Times Gone By

Grades 5£8: Become an Oral Historian

Unit 11: Fire Stories

Grades K£8: Tell Your Story

Unit 12: Just for Fun

Fire Words Puzzle
Fire Word Search and Maze
Puzzle Solutions

Bibliography and Related Resources

Credits and Additional Resources