Floods, Fires and Places

Overview

In this first lesson of the unit Managing Floods and Fires, students investigate how floods and bushfires affect people, environments and the characteristics of places. They use visual sources, discussion and an Australian map to identify impacts and begin the inquiry question: How can people manage the effects of floods and bushfires?

Learning intentions

Students will:

• explain how floods and bushfires can change places
• identify effects of floods and bushfires on people and environments
• locate Australian examples of floods and bushfires
• organise information from visual and geographic sources.

Success criteria

• I can describe how floods and fires change places.
• I can identify effects on people and environments.
• I can give an Australian example of a flood or bushfire.
• I can explain one short-term or long-term impact.

Curriculum links

• Management of Australian environments and the consequences of severe weather events, including floods and bushfires.
• The influence of people on the characteristics of places and the ways places are changed and managed.
• Locating, collecting and organising information from visual and geographic sources.
• Proposing responses to environmental challenges and considering their possible effects.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Hook and learning intention. Teacher displays the opening visual from the Floods, Fires and Places introduction deck, showing a striking before-and-after comparison of a place affected by flooding or bushfire, and asks: “What has changed, and who might be affected?” Students silently notice details, share an initial idea with a partner, then hear the learning intention and success criteria.

2. 5–13 min · Observe and think-pair-share. Teacher displays the Flood Education and Fire Safety Education posters in the flood and fire poster slides without initially explaining them; students record or sketch what they notice, discuss what is happening with a partner, and share observations using the prompts “I notice…” and “This might affect…”. Teacher clarifies that floods involve water covering land that is usually dry, while bushfires are uncontrolled fires in vegetation or bushland, and distinguishes an impact from a management action.

3. 13–23 min · Build a class T-chart. Teacher creates a two-column class chart headed Flood impacts and Bushfire impacts, using student responses and the examples in the T-chart discussion slide. Students contribute ideas and classify them as effects on people, environments, buildings, services or ways of living. Prompt with questions such as: “What happens to roads, homes, animals, farms, water or emergency services?” and “Which effects might happen immediately, and which might last for years?” Possible responses include damaged homes and roads, evacuations, disrupted schooling, injured or displaced wildlife, erosion, smoke, loss of vegetation, polluted water, power outages and changed farming conditions.

4. 23–33 min · Organise evidence individually. Teacher distributes the floods and bushfires impacts worksheet and models completing one example from the T-chart, including a clear cause-and-effect sentence. Students complete the worksheet independently, matching or recording impacts under people, environments and places, then write one sentence explaining how either a flood or bushfire changes a place. Encourage students to use evidence from the posters rather than simply listing hazards.

5. 33–40 min · Locate Australian examples. Teacher displays an outline map of Australia in the Australian mapping activity slides and provides several familiar examples, such as flooding in Queensland or New South Wales and bushfires in Victoria, South Australia or Western Australia. Students work with a partner to locate and label at least one flood-affected and one bushfire-affected area on their worksheet or a class map. They add a brief note describing one effect at each location. Remind students that hazards can occur in many parts of Australia and that the same place may experience more than one hazard.

6. 40–45 min · Review and exit response. Teacher revisits the success criteria using the review and exit prompt slide and asks students to complete: “An Australian flood or bushfire can change a place by… It affects people or environments because…”. Students submit their response as they leave or share with a partner. Teacher records students who can identify an example and explain an effect, rather than only naming a hazard.

Resources

• the Floods, Fires and Places introduction deck
• the floods and bushfires impacts worksheet
• Flood Education poster
• Fire Safety Education poster
• Interactive whiteboard or projector
• Large paper or whiteboard space for the class T-chart
• Class atlas, wall map or digital map of Australia
• Coloured pencils or highlighters
• Vocabulary cards: flood, bushfire, impact, environment, evacuation, damage, recovery and management

Assessment

• Listen during think-pair-share and the T-chart for accurate descriptions of effects on people, environments and places. Ask students to explain how they know an impact is linked to a flood or bushfire.
• Check worksheets and map labels for organised information, correct use of evidence and an Australian example.
• Use the final cause-and-effect response as an exit assessment. Note whether each student can describe a change, identify who or what is affected, and give a relevant example.

Differentiation

• Support learners with labelled images, vocabulary cards, a partially completed T-chart and sentence starters such as “A flood can change a place by…”, “A bushfire affects people when…” and “One Australian example is…”.
• Read poster text aloud, pre-teach key vocabulary and pair students strategically. Allow oral recording, drawing with labels or teacher/scribe support instead of extended writing.
• Provide a simplified worksheet with a choice of impacts for students who need reduced writing demand. Offer a quiet workspace and chunk instructions one step at a time for students requiring additional attention or processing support.
• Extend advanced learners by ranking impacts as short-term or long-term and then ranking them by significance. They must justify their ranking using environmental, social and economic effects and identify one question they want to investigate in the unit.

Extension

• Students write a short comparison explaining one similarity and one difference between the effects of floods and bushfires.
• Students research, with teacher-provided sources, a local Australian event and add a dated location and impact to the class map.