For Teachers
Teacher-led bushfire and disaster resilience lessons
As a part of the Child and Youth Bushfire Program, a Disaster Resilience Education initiative by the South Australian Country Fire Service, NEW curriculum linked lesson plans, teacher guides, and resources are available now!
These education resources follow a child centred, teacher facilitated mode of learning drawing on the current research and practice in Australia around disaster resilience education, as illustrated by the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience.
Professional learning
We have developed an online learning module on Disaster Resilience Education and Bushfires.
The module takes 15 – 20 minutes to complete and provides an overview of the benefits of Disaster Resilience Education for young people and their communities.
Designed for teachers and educators, the module will introduce participants to the different ways that bushfire information can be incorporated into lessons. It also provides links to resources and tips on how to develop your own bushfire lessons that are linked to the Australian or SACE Curricula.
Get involved
We need your support with our new Child and Youth Bushfire Education Program for childcare centres, kindergartens, primary or high schools, OSHC/Vac Cares or any youth teams. If this interests you, we are looking for groups who are keen to engage in a pilot program with us.
To get in touch, please contact cfs.communityengagementsupport@eso.sa.gov.au.
Bushfire education empowering students
Empowering young people to prepare, respond to, and recover from bushfire is an important part of ensuring the entire South Australian community is best prepared for an emergency.
Our Child and Youth Project Officer Belinda Dunbar worked with year 6/7 students at Stirling East Primary School, to increase their knowledge around bushfire.
What began as a mini project, turned into a yearlong investigation by the students. Topics covered ranged from what happens to bees in a bushfire, whether sheltering in a pool is safe during a bushfire, to the effects of smoke taint on vineyards.
The CFS was proud to have been invited back to hear more about what the students had learnt.
You can read more about their projects.
CFS at the South Australian Science Teachers Association Conference
In April, the CFS attended the annual South Australian Science Teachers Association Conference and spoke about ‘Bushfires and Science in Disaster Resilience Education’. The theme of the conference was ‘Science: Saving the Planet’ which aimed to inform and inspire delegates with current research and practices in the fields of science, as well as in the classroom. We spent time discussing the importance of disaster resilience with an all hazards approach and ways in which an understanding of bushfire risk can contribute to young people’s survival and resilience in bushfires.
Links were made to the Australian Science Curriculum with STEM project ideas that integrate across the curriculum. Participants also spent time investigating bushfire concepts by using the burn tray which simulated aspects of basic bushfire behaviour such as incline, fuel load and wind.
View our presentation which includes background information on bushfires and possible links to the Science curriculum.
The Oliphant Science Awards
This year the CFS along with the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR) proudly sponsored the competition's poster category for SA's largest science competition, the Oliphant Science Awards.
Poster titles include Bushfire Safety and Indigenous Land Management. It also involved awarding two prizes for entries that are the most inspiring or innovative with a community safety and natural hazards theme.
We presented the winners Kirra L. from Kangaroo Island Community Education for her game entry titled "Global Warning, Australia!", and Imogen B. from Crafers Primary School, with an informative poster titled "Prepare – Bushfire Safety".
We also had written two blogs to support students when entering the poster category. You can read more about Bushfire Safety Tips and the Science of Weather and Bushfire.
It was an amazing effort by all students!