Fire, the result of a combustion reaction, is important in ecosystems as it promotes the recycling of nutrients. This process is well-known by Aboriginal people. They have been using fire for millennia to control the transfer of matter and energy through the ecosystem in a practice known as firestick farming.
Students learn the traditional fire management practices of the Aboriginal people. Traditional fire management is used for bushfire management, and is recognised by contemporary science for the interactions between the biosphere and the atmosphere and effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Structure and features
Students watch the chapter 13 video to help them understand and become aware that many chemical reactions require the input of energy to initiate them.
Through this video, students also investigate how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples use fire-mediated chemical reactions to facilitate energy and nutrient transfer in ecosystems through the practice of firestick farming.
Through understanding how Aboriginal people have used firestick farming for a millennia, write a blog about how we could learn from this practice to enable sustainability of our ecosystems and atmosphere.
Links and files
Teacher notes
- Science understanding strand
- Chemical sciences
- Year 9
- Changes of matter
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures.
Understand that chemical reactions, including combustion and the reactions of acids, are important in both non-living and living systems and involve energy transfer.
- Science understanding strand
- Earth and space science
- Year 10
- Earth's surface
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures.
The traditional fire management practices of the Aboriginal people are being used for bushfire management and recognised by contemporary science for the interactions between the biosphere and the atmosphere and effectively reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
