|
| Overview |
| Grade Level: 9-12 |
| Background Information:
Every year people in the world spend immense sums of money controlling
water flow and paying for damage from floods. As the world gets
more populated, more people live in low lying areas adjacent to
rivers and oceans. Meanwhile, sea level is rising and development
and deforestation cause more catastrophic floods to occur, placing
more lives at risk. What follows are several activities that allow
students to investigate the relationships between human-made structures
and flood waters. These are linked to an e-lesson giving background
on and to videos showing some of the natural features associated
with both normal and catastrophic floods.
|
| Content Standards |
| Related National Standards
This lesson addresses the following National Content Standards
found at: http://books.nap.edu/html/nses
Content Standard D: As a result of their activities in grades
9-12, all students should develop an understanding of:
- Understand the origin and evolution of the Earth system
- Interactions among the solid earth, the oceans, the
atmosphere, and organisms have resulted in the ongoing
evolution of the Earth system
|
Content Standard E: As a result of their activities in grades
9-12, all students should develop an understanding of:
- Develop abilities of technological design · Develop understandings
about science and technology
- Scientists in different disciplines ask different
questions, use different methods of investigation, and
accept different types of evidence to support their
explanations.
|
Content Standard F: As a result of their activities in grades
9-12, all students should develop an understanding of:
- Natural and human-induced hazards
- Some hazards, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
and severe weather are rapid and spectacular. But there
are slow and progressive changes that also result in
problems for individuals and societies. For example,
change in stream channel position, erosion of bridge
foundations, sedimentation in lakes and harbors, coastal
erosions, and continuing erosion and wasting of soil
and landscapes can all negatively affect society.
|
Related Oregon Standards
This lesson addresses the following Oregon Science Standards found
at: http://www.ode.state.or.us/cifs/
- Explain changes occurring within the lithosphere, hydrosphere,
and atmosphere of the Earth
- Formulate and express scientific questions or hypotheses
to be investigated
- Design scientific investigations to address and explain
questions or hypotheses
- Collect, organize, and display scientific data
- Analyze scientific information to develop and present
- Understand that both patterns of change and stability
are important in the natural world
- Understand that scientific knowledge is subject to change
based on new findings and results of scientific observation
and experimentation
|
|
| Extension Web Sites
from PBS: |
|
Rivers
of Destiny
An excellent teacher resource for having students understand
the impact of humans on rivers and the dangers of flooding. A great
number of links are provided at this site.
Flood!
This site considers the consequences of flooding as well as the
benefits to human civilization. It is thorough and comprehensive.
It includes teacher resources.
Great Wall Across
the Yangtze
This site tells the story of the damning of the Yangtze River in
China. It discusses the impacts on both humans and the environment.
It includes several teacher resources.
|
| Activity 1: E-Sheet Introduction
to Floods |
| Time Allotted:
One 45 minute class period
Materials:
E-sheet, Access to the Internet
| Objectives: |
- Students will use the internet to research terms and facts
associated with floods.
- Students will compare and contrast normal flood events
with catastrophic floods.
|
Watch the AFG Video Segments:
 |
Missoula
Flood - Part 1
During
the ice age, glacial ice dams across the Northwest caused
rivers to flood on a massive scale, leaving topography that
resembles a giant riverbed.
|
|
Missoula
Flood - Part 2
The
effects of the ice age floods across much of the Northwest
can most readily be seen from the air.
|
|
Missoula
Flood - Part 3
During
the ice age, the Missoula Flood transported vast amounts of
rich soil from eastern Washington to western Oregon.
|
| Discussion Questions for Video Segments: |
- The Missoula Floods began with failure of an ice dam.
Describe how this process happened.
- How were the features produced by the Missoula Floods
similar to those produced by normal river systems? How were
they different?
|
E-Sheet Activity:
Have students complete the E-Sheet
on floods. For this activity, students will need to have access
to the Internet. They can work individually or in small groups.
The students will be asked to access several web sites related to
floods and use the information they find to answer the questions
on the E-sheet.
Assessment:
Use the E-Sheet Answer Key to review
your students' answers.
|
| Activity 2: Stream Table Experiments |
| Time Allotted:
45-minutes each experiment
| Materials: |
- Stream Tables (may be purchased or see Stream
Table Instructions)
- Sand
- Water source
- Rulers
- Rocks, plastic barriers, wood blocks
- Small houses (e.g. monopoly houses or home-made ones of
a similar size)
- Stopwatches
- Plastic grid to fit over the stream table (optional for
the further ideas with stream tables. This grid is useful
for measuring the size and shape of a river and of the delta
produced)
|
| Objectives: |
- Students will experiment with materials to try to control
water flow.
- Students will observe processes related to dam and levee
failure.
- Students will experiment with materials to try to control
water flow.
- Students will experiment to determine the hazards associated
with rivers at different water levels.
|
Teacher
Instructions
- Arrange stream table set-ups as described in the instructions
below.
- Handout Lab Activity Student
Instruction sheets.
- Divide students into groups of 2-4 students each depending
on your materials available and let them follow the instructions.
|
Watch the AFG Video Segment:
|
Rafting
on the Grand Teton River
The
collapse of the Grand Teton Dam in the mid 1970s was followed
by tragic consequences, but also improved conditions for river
rafting.
|
| Discussion Questions for Video Segment: |
- How did this dam collapse?
- How were the materials in and around the dam similar and
different to the materials you used in your lab?
- How did the collapse of this dam permanently change this
landscape?
|
|
| Activity 3: Living
on a Meander--Will the Rising Water Get My House? |
| Time Allotted:
45-minute period
Materials:
Same as for Activity 2
| Objectives: |
- Students will identify physical features associated with
floods.
- Students will experiment to determine the hazards associated
with rivers at different water levels.
|
Teacher Instructions
- Arrange stream table set-ups as described in the instructions
below.
- Handout Lab Activity Student
Instruction sheets.
- Divide students into groups of 2-4 students each depending
on your materials available and let them follow the instructions.
|
Watch the AFG Video Segment:
|
Congaree
Swamp - River Bottom
A
wide variety of insects, especially butterflies and dragonflies,
can be found in the river bottom regions of the Congaree Swamp. |
| Discussion Questions for Video Segment: |
- The video refers to an oxbow lake in the beginning. Where
did the narrator say that the river was in relationship
to the oxbow?
- From what you have demonstrated and read, when might an
oxbow be formed?
- The river has an impact on the type of sediments in the
flood plain which in turn, affect the habitat. How do you
think sediments (e.g. gravel, sand, silt, mud) might change
as you get farther away from the river. How might this affect
the types of plants that grow in these areas?
|
| Further Ideas for Experiments with the Stream
Tables: |
- With high school students, focus on the idea of controls
and variables. Have students work in groups to design and
conduct an experiment testing only one variable. Some examples
of variables include: velocity, slope, sediment type, obstructions,
time, channel shape, and topography. Grade lab reports using
the Scoring Guide rubric (attached).
- For another activity about levees see the Nova website
Overflowing
the Banks.
|
Extension Ideas for Younger Students
Research floods on the Nile River. How do the people of Egypt take
advantage of the nutrients provided by flood waters?
Extension Ideas for Older Students
Research paradigm shifts in science and relate to the work of J.
Harlan Bretz.
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