Are floods an act of God? Lesson 2

How can we protect ourselves?
Students will learn:

Boscastle - rescue from the flood, photo the BBC

• about flood protection and prevention strategies;
• about different points of view on flood management;
• to develop empathy for others;
• to assess different viewpoints;
• to detect bias;
• to develop strategies for tackling conflict;
• to develop a willingness;
• to develop empathy for others;
• to assess different viewpoints;
• to detect bias;
• to develop strategies for tackling conflict;
• to develop a willingness to participate in group and class discussion;
• to present a reasoned case and justify opinions;
• to negotiate responsibly;
• to develop enquiry skills.

Starter
1. Ask students to make a list of ways of protecting places from flooding.
Hopefully this will include hard-engineering as well as sustainable solutions.
2. Ask them if they had to choose one means of protection for their own homes what would it be?
Give the class 5 minutes to discuss this in small groups and try to come to an agreement. This is designed to give students an insight into the difficulties of reaching agreement with others over a decision that could impact on them personally.

Main activity
1. Copy Resource Sheets 3 and 4.
2. Role-play based on the question How can we protect ourselves?
Students read through the issue of flood management as outlined on Resource Sheet 3, and consider each of the options proposed.
Divided the class into groups of 4 and allocate each member a role from Resource sheet 4.

Groups then decide which option for flood management should be chosen. Each role has a separate agenda so reaching a decision should be problematic.

Each group then needs to feedback their decision to the class and briefly explain how it was reached, outlining particular stumbling blocks they encountered.

Plenary
Write the following quote on the board: You can't please all of the people all of the time, but you can please some of the people some of the time.
Ask students: How accurately this portrays their discussions today? How this could relate to the problem of flooding? What does this means for us as sensible citizens?

Click here to move on to Lesson 3

Downloads

Floods lesson 2 (, 34 KB)
Floods resource sheet 3 (, 38 KB)
Floods resource sheet 4 (, 27 KB)