Are floods an act of God? Lesson 3

Will flood prevention be approved?
Students will learn:

• about the interaction of value judgements and geographical evidence;
• to analyse a range of viewpoints;
• to develop empathy with others;
• to recognise and challenge biased opinions;
• to develop a sense of justice;
• to compromise;
• an awareness that our actions have consequences;
• to develop enquiry skills.

Starter

1. Give students 5 minutes to write about something that they consider to be very important in their lives.
2. When the time is up the teacher needs to collect in all the paper and then blatantly when the students are all watching, tear it all up and throw it in the bin. This should provoke a reaction!
3. Ask students how they feel. Most will probably be angry or annoyed. Now explain that the reason you did this was to give then an understanding of the frustration that some must feel when their views are ignored, dismissed or discarded. Many people believe that their views about floods are not being heard or listened to!

Aerial view of Boscastle, photo BBC website Main activity
1. Copy Resource Sheet 5.
2. Explain to students that reaching a decision on flood management, as they did last lesson, is not the end of the decision-making process. Proposals have to go before local, county, regional and national councils and committees, and need to be approved at each stage. This process can be long, tedious and very frustrating for those involved, particularly if the local community is in disagreement. You will be able to draw on a multitude of examples!
Consider the decision reached last lesson to work out just how problematic it would be to push our proposal through.

3. Divide students into small groups. Give each group a copy of Resource Sheet 5 and asked to read carefully through the viewpoints outlined. They must decide which viewpoints are likely to agree/disagree with our flood management proposal. Students then need to consider why different views are going to make introducing our proposal more difficult. Finally, they need to consider how viewpoints could be altered and thing about compromises that could be made.

Plenary
Pose the question will the flood prevention proposal be approved? Take a show of hands from the room; then ask how long they think the process of full approval will take? Provide them with examples of schemes that have been introduced locally, nationally or internationally - from the Narmada Dam Project to the Lynmouth flood alleviation scheme - and outline associated approval problems such as conflicts of interest, and give a time scale for the introduction of the schemes.

Click here to move on to Lesson 4

Downloads

Floods lesson 3 (, 34 KB)
Floods resource sheet 5 (, 44 KB)