FireWorks Curriculum Overview
The original FireWorks Curriculum was published in 2000 by the US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. It consisted of about 30 hands-on activities for students primarily in elementary and middle school grades, and featured ecosystems in the Northern Rocky Mountains and Northern Cascade Mountains. New FireWorks curricula published in 2017 incorporate the latest science, additional topics, activities for high school students, and updated national educational standards.
Many activities in the FireWorks curricula are applicable wherever wildland fires occur (particularly activities in Units II and III), while activities about fire ecology and fire history (Units I, V, and VI) are applicable only in specific regions. We offer FireWorks curricula applicable to select regions:
- Northern Rocky Mountains and Northern Cascades (complete curricula)
- Sierra Nevada (complete curricula)
- Northern California Oak Woodlands (middle school activities)
- Missouri River Country (from the northern Rocky Mountain Front to the tallgrass prairies) (a few activities)
- Sagebrush Ecosystem (complete curricula)
- Cross Timbers (10 activities designed for high school)
- Generic (users modify activities to fit their ecosystems) (complete curricula)
We also offer an activity that explores how and why the Pikunii (Blackfeet) people carried fire.