Lesson Overview: In this activity, students explore how different properties of fuels affect fire behavior- especially how hard it is to ignite fuels and how long they are likely to burn. Students consider various combinations of fuels (“fuel recipes”), predict how they will burn, then test their hypotheses. Then students demonstrate what they have learned in a speaking and listening activity (“dynamic Socratic circle with a brilliance board”).

Lesson Goal: Increase students’ understanding of properties of wildland fuels and how they affect fire spread and fire duration.

Objectives:

• Students can arrange specific fuels to build a small campfire that is relatively easy to ignite and can burn for a relatively long time.
• Students can discuss the ignition and burning of various combinations of fuels in a speaking and listening activity.
• Students can describe how characteristics of wildland fuels affected an experimental campfire.