Lesson Overview: Based on information from the unit, students build matchstick burn board models to experimentally test the fire behavior triangle in oak woodlands. They predict outcomes and experimentally test the fire behavior triangle (weather (moisture and wind), topography, and fuel (arrangement or amount)).

Lesson Goal: Increase students’ understanding of wildland fire behavior in oak woodlands and other kinds of plant communities.

Objectives:

• Students plan experiments and make observations to investigate the effect of one variable at a time on fire behavior.
• Students use the Fire Behavior Triangle to explain how slope, density, and arrangement of trees (or other fuels) and weather affect the fire.