Activity Introduction
Quick summary: Students will plot major bushfire events in their state over time, and assess any trends in bushfire severity and frequency over time.
Subjects: Mathematics.
Year Level: 5.
Teaching Time: 60 minutes
This lesson is part of the wider unit of work Resilient Australia: Building Resilience To Natural Disasters – Primary.
Related Professional Development: We encourage you to undertake the free PD Course How to teach a unit on fire and flood resilience for tips on how to best deliver this lesson.
If you’re concerned about the challenging nature of these topics, consider the free PD Course How to approach trauma in the classroom for information on how best to support your students.
21st-century skills:
Australian Curriculum Mapping
Content descriptions:
Year 5 Mathematics:
- Construct displays, including column graphs, dot plots and tables, appropriate for data type, with and without the use of digital technologies (ACMSP119)
Relevant parts of Year 5 Mathematics achievement standards: Students interpret maps, geographical data and other information to identify and describe spatial distributions, simple patterns and trends, and suggest conclusions.
Syllabus outcomes: MA3-18SP, MA3‑1WM, MA3‑3WM
General capabilities: Numeracy, Critical and Creative Thinking.
Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability.
Level of teacher scaffolding: Low – Teachers facilitate discussion and interpretation of data, and support students working independently on their graphs.
Resources required:
- Device capable of presenting a video to the class
- Data sheet – List of major fire events per state and in Australia over time
- Provisions for Learning Extension: The AIDR has a fantastic interactive tool that maps a variety of disasters across Australia over time. While we recommend using the more scaffolded data sheet provided, this site is a great tool for extending students and asking them to collate their own data. Students could look at plotting floods or other disasters of their choosing.
- Graph paper (optional)
- Rulers – one per student
Keywords: graph, data, fires, history, events, timeline, compare, homes, states, Australia, bush.
Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.
