Project Firestorm: Design Thinking for Bushfire Resilience
Project Firestorm is a national Resilient Australia award-winning, integrated STEM unit of work for Stage 3 students.
Project Firestorm has:
- Interactive website
- Free proffesional development for teachers
- Support from local RFS volunteer
The STEM study encompasses ‘Factors that Shape Places - Bushfire Hazards’ within the NSW Geography syllabus. The unit requires students to apply design thinking to solve an authentic problem for their context in relation to bushfire detection, response and management.
This free professional learning course has been developed by NSW Rural Fire Service in partnership with NSW Department of Education and is supported by the Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer. It is designed provide teachers with the knowledge and skills to successfully deliver Project Firestorm in their Stage 3 classrooms.
8 ½ hours of training:
- Online Sessions - 2x 1.5 hours
- Face to Face - 5.5 hours
By participating in Project Firestorm: Design Thinking for Bushfire Resilience, participants will
- Understand how Project Firestorm can meet the learning needs of their students
- Understand how to apply design thinking strategies in the structure of a successful STEM learning sequence.
- Develop skills to support students as they create innovative solutions to address the driving question, “How can our community prepare for, survive or recover from a catastrophic bushfire event?”
- Engage with integrated learning activities that explore outcomes and content from Key Learning Areas across the Stage 3 syllabus including, Science and Technology, Mathematics, Visual Art, PDHPE and English.
- Explore a range of engaging, contextually relevant digital resources and tools, including ICT, that can be used to complement teaching strategies and enhance the learning sequence.
- Develop and use strategies for diagnostic, formative and summative assessment of student learning throughout the unit.
- Understand how the Rural Fire Service can engage with students to enhance and support their learning.
The NSW Department of Education’s Project Firestorm unit plan can be accessed here.
The RFS Project Firestorm website can be accessed here.