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Estimated class time |
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Two class periods
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Lesson Objectives |
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Students will:
- learn about the events of the Great Fire of Rome
- list and describe the three necessary components of fire
- research and report on historical scientists' contribution to our understanding of fire
- create a graphic organizer (concept map)
- analyze evidence to determine whether a fire was arson-based or accidental
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Materials needed |
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- Internet access
- Ceramic dish, matches, small beaker for demonstration
- Large sheets of white paper, or poster boards
- Markers
- Overhead projector, transparency sheets and markers
- Video clips are available on the SECRETS OF THE DEAD: Great Fire of Rome website, but if you wish to purchase the complete program, visit PBS Shop for Teachers http://shop.pbs.org/teachers/products/SEDE302
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Teaching Strategy |
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Teachers!
Video clips for your students are available here.
 Video Clips
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- Ask students what they know about the Great Fire of Rome that occurred in 64 AD. Find out what they know about its significance, how long it lasted and how they think the fire started.
- Explain that there are conflicting ideas about how the fire was started and direct students to the Great Fire of Rome Web site at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/ case_rome/index.html. Read and discuss the Background and the Clues and Evidence pages. Have students view the video clips and answer the questions that accompany them.
- Ask the students, "What is fire, anyway?" Discuss their responses. To get students to think about the necessary ingredients of a fire, perform a simple demonstration: Light a match, set a small piece of paper on fire in a small dish, then cover it with a small beaker to distinguish it. Lead a discussion about what is required for a fire to burn. Students will probably come up with the need for oxygen and some sort of fuel. To lead them to the idea that heat must be applied as well, ask what happened when you struck the match. (The friction generated enough heat to ignite the chemicals in the match head.) Discuss other ways to start fires, such as butane lighter, rubbing sticks together, using a magnifying glass to concentrate sun's rays. Point out the three necessary components in each method. You might want to ask why it is sometimes difficult to get a good campfire going. At this point, if you have time, you might have students explore the interactive at Nova Online: Fireworks: On Fire at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/fireworks/fire.html
- Tell students that scientists in the past had different ideas about what happens in a fire. Divide the class into 7 small groups and assign each group one of the following scientists to research:
1. Aristotle
2. Becher & Stahl
3. Robert Boyle
4. Joseph Black
5. Joseph Priestly
6. Henry Cavendish
7. Antoine Lavoisier
- A good starting point for each group's research would be the website, Demise of Phlogiston at http://mooni.fccj.org/~ethall/phlogist/phlogist.htm. Instruct students to find out what they can about their particular scientist's contribution to past and present understandings about fire. Provide each group with a large piece of white paper or poster board and some markers, and have each group create a concept map based on what they learned about their scientist. (Information about concept maps can be found under Concept mapping, concept maps at http://www.graphic.org/concept.html.) Tell the class that each group will present their information and concept maps to the class and that each group should also prepare three questions about the information in their presentation. You may want to have them write their questions on an overhead transparency.
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Allow each group to present what they've learned, in order from 1- 7. Inform the class that they should take notes during each presentation. After all presentations are completed, have the class write their answers to the student-generated questions as they are presented on the overhead projector. Collect and grade as a quiz.
- Direct students to the Interactive activity on the SECRETS OF THE DEAD Web site at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/
case_rome/index.html. Have them work through the activity to determine whether they think arson was involved or not. Discuss the questions that accompany the interactive.
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Internet Resources |
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Assessments |
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- Participation in discussions
- Group concept maps and presentations
- Individual quiz scores
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Extensions |
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- Watch the entire video The Great Fire of Rome. Analyze the evidence about the origin of the fire and write arguments in favor of each of the possibilities: Nero, the Christians, or accident.
- Create a graphic organizer, using fire vocabulary, such as: flame, fuel, heat, exothermic, reaction, combustion, updraft, backdraft, fire break, etc.
- Research and report on other great fires that have occurred throughout history.
- Create a fire safety pamphlet.
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Correlation to National Science Standards |
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Standards from http://www.nap.edu/html/nses/html/6d.html
CONTENT STANDARD A: As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop understandings about scientific inquiry:
Science advances through legitimate skepticism. Asking questions and querying other scientists' explanations is part of scientific inquiry. Scientists evaluate the explanations proposed by other scientists by examining evidence, comparing evidence, identifying faulty reasoning, pointing out statements that go beyond the evidence, and suggesting alternative explanations for the same observations.
CONTENT STANDARD B: As a result of their activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop an understanding of properties and changes of properties in matter and transfer of energy:
Substances react chemically in characteristic ways with other substances to form new substances (compounds) with different characteristic properties. In chemical reactions, the total mass is conserved. Substances often are placed in categories or groups if they react in similar ways; metals is an example of such a group.
Heat moves in predictable ways, flowing from warmer objects to cooler ones, until both reach the same temperature.
CONTENT STANDARD F: As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop an understanding of science and technology in society:
Science and technology have advanced through contributions of many different people, in different cultures, at different times in history. Science and technology have contributed enormously to economic growth and productivity among societies and groups within societies.
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SECRETS OF THE DEAD is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York. © 2006 Educational Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
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