A Firewise Curriculum to Spark Learning

W08
A Firewise Curriculum to Spark Learning
Judy Reinhartz, The University of Texas at El Paso Krys Nystrom, Wildfire Network

A Santa Fe, NM, team involved in the FirewiseUSA program has been working with a wildland/urban interface specialist on a comprehensive approach to fire issues in Rancho Viejo. As part of that effort, they have developed a fire education curriculum that capitalizes on students' desire to learn about real-world community issues. This session will showcase lessons from the Firewise Curriculum--and attendees will participate in many of associated activities, such as "Chemistry of Fire," "How Trees Tell Time," and "Developing and Supporting Fire-Adapted Communities." Included will be entries from student science notebooks recorded while engaging in the activities and on field trips as well as results from qualitative and quantitative measures used to assess the curriculum.

Presented by:

Judy Reinhartz, The University of Texas at El Paso
Dr. Judy Reinhartz' career spans nearly 5 decades in K-16 education as a science teacher; administrator; consultant, director of centers and academies for science, research, effective teaching, and learning; and writer of curriculum, grants, articles, chapters, and books. She was an Associate Dean and is a Professor Emeritus at The University of Texas at El Paso, and her degrees include a PhD from the University of New Mexico, a master's from Seton Hall University, and a bachelor's from Rutgers University. She is the recipient of the AMOCO Outstanding Teacher Award from The University of Texas at Arlington, where she also was a professor for many years. She also received the Crystal Apple Award for Contributions to Education from Tarleton State University, the Kyle Killough Award for Contributions to Teacher Centers, the Ted Booker Memorial Award, and the Texas Society for College Teacher Educators for Contribution to Teacher Education.

Krys Nystrom, Wildfire Network
Krys Nystrom has been a volunteer wildland and structural fire fighter for 14 years, the last 61/2 of which employed at Santa Fe County Fire's Wildland Division as a Fuels Crew Member and then Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) specialist. She came up with a simple, inexpensive, and effective database to hold and display wildfire risk assessments which she is now developing further to be used by others. She partnered with the Forest Stewards Guild in launching the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network Hub in New Mexico and has sat on the New Mexico Collaborative Forest Restoration Program's Federal Technical Advisory Panel for the last 3 years. In 2015, she founded the Wildfire Network, an enterprising nonprofit integrating businesses, agencies, and communities to address WUI risk reduction for both homeowners and fire fighters, build mitigation workforce capacity with career-building youth training and support for existing contractors, and encourage active community forest stewardship.