In this activity, students will develop and apply decision-making skills to various environmental risk scenarios, including wildland fires, natural hazards, and threats to coral reefs and mangrove swamps.
This is one of 11 activities that can be found in PLT’s Exploring Environmental Issues: Focus on Risk. To get the activity, attend a training and receive PLT’s Focus on Risk secondary module. Below are some supporting resources for this activity.
Download the copyright-free student pages that are included with this activity:
Sample List of Endangered and Threatened Species (PDF)
Wildland Urban Interface Fire Safety Checklist (PDF)
Wildfire Events (PDF)
Wildfire Decision Tree (PDF)
Wildfire Decision Matrix (PDF)
Natural Hazards (PDF)
Natural Hazard References (PDF)
Map of the United States (PDF)
Coral Reefs and Mangrove Swamps (PDF)
Coral Reef Case Study Part I (PDF)
Coral Reef Case Study Part II (PDF)
Location Option Details (PDF)
Aerial Map (PDF)
The following tools and resources may be used to enhance the activity.
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction is developing a web-based simulation for teaching about pre-disaster preparedness. The scenarios include hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires.
US EPA Facts and Figures About Materials, Waste and Recycling website has information on municipal solid waste in the United States. The data includes information on energy recovery and landfills as well.
Fire safety resources are available at www.firefacts.org. Teacher resources include a Jeopardy-style game on basic fire safety practices, fact sheets, family take-home activities, and links to additional fire safety resources and organizations. Student resources consist of online games and puzzles that teach fire safety rules.
At this EPA website, students can learn about four different types of hazardous waste (groundwater contamination, surface water contamination, soil contamination, and air contamination) and how to clean up each type. Later, students can test their knowledge of hazardous wastes with the Superfund Scavenger Hunt or Superfund quiz.
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