Teaching overview

Learning points

  • Wildfires are most commonly started by human carelessness, such as unattended campfires.
  • Water bombers are planes that can drop thousands of liters of water onto the hottest spots of a wildfire.
  • Firebreaks are areas of land that a wildfire can’t travel over, because they are free of fuel.

Curriculum keywords

  • Natural disasters
  • Wildfire
  • Nature

Read the story

The worst wildfires in California’s history have been burning their way across the state, forcing people to leave their homes and schools to close.

View the article

Share with students

Spark a discussion

  • What is the main cause of wildfires, and how can we prevent them?
  • How can planes help fight wildfires?
  • How can firefighters try to starve the wildfires of fuel from the ground?

Twig Science: A Complete Pre-K–8 Program for the NGSS

Immersive Investigations with High-Quality Multimedia

  • Investigating, designing, building, and understanding phenomena
  • Hands-on, digital, video, and print investigations
  • Synchronous/asynchronous distance learning