SILVER LEVEL Resource pack Hydrology Water solutions in a changing climate IN PARTNERSHIP IN PARTNERSHIP WITH WITH Contents 8 14 How to run CREST using these activities 3 Background 4 Instructions for teachers 5 Feeding the future 6-7 Imaginative irrigation 8-9 Parched plants 10-11 Drought mitigation 12-13 Rain gauges 14-15 Evaporation experiments 16-17 Flood management 18-19 Permeable pavements 20-21 Flash floods 22-23 Top tips for completing a Silver project 20 2 24 How to run CREST using these activities Preparation Ready to get going with CREST? Enter your student(s) Award by signing up for a CREST Account here: crestawards.org/sign-in Create a new Silver Award project with the name(s) of the student(s) and the title of their project. If you don’t have all the details, you can fill these in later. Run the project We have some super handy profile forms for your students to use when running a CREST Award. You can download these when you create your CREST account by following the link above. Encourage your students to use the workbook or profile to plan and carry out their project, keeping a record of all their amazing progress. Make sure you consider safety and risks! Reflection Once your students have completed their CREST project, don’t let that be the end of their learning. They should now fill in any remaining sections of their profile form. This is a chance for them to reflect on all the interesting things they’ve learnt and the invaluable skills they have used. Enter your project for a CREST Silver Award Hard work deserves a reward! Celebrate and certify your student’s achievements by entering their project for a CREST Silver Award. Simply: Log in to your CREST account at crestawards.org/sign-in Select the project and upload a profile form per student and other project evidence, to be assessed by our trained assessors online. Check the participating students have met each of the criteria. Finally, complete the delivery and payment details to order your snazzy certificates. Congratulations on completing CREST Silver! What next? The scientific discovery doesn’t need to end here. Students can have a go at the next level up – CREST Gold. Don’t keep all the fun to yourselves, encourage others to take part in CREST projects and share the wonder of science. For free ideas on how to get started, see crestawards.org. Entering your project without a teacher or facilitator? No problem! You can enter your work yourself by following this link: crestawards.org/sign-in Looking for some support? Find a mentor by contacting your local STEM Ambassador hub: https://www.stem.org.uk/stem-ambassadors/local-stem-ambassador-hubs 3 Background UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) The UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology is an independent, not-forprofit research institute, carrying out excellent environmental science across water, land and air. The UKCEH has a long history of investigating, monitoring and modelling environmental change. Its focus is on mitigating and building resilience to climate change, preventing and reducing pollution, and creating sustainable ecosystems. The UKCEH’s research extends from molecular biology to global climate modelling. It carries out fieldwork across the world, and its work helps to underpin environmental policies, commercial innovation and conservation action all around the world. The UKCEH, the British Geological Survey and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science are working jointly on a project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) named Hydro-JULES. Its aim is to deliver an open-source, three-dimensional model of the terrestrial water cycle to provide next generation land-surface and hydrological predictions. The science and societal issues addressed by Hydro-JULES are the basis for the development of these CREST resources. Humans depend on nature. Humans are changing nature. Water constantly cycles across our Earth. As our planet's atmosphere warms due to greenhouse gases, climate change is affecting, and will continue to affect, the distribution of water across the world. Some areas are projected to get wetter, others will become much drier. Rainfall impacts soil saturation and can cause rises in streams and rivers. Lack of rain stresses vegetation and water reserves. Climate change is not just a future problem; it’s already affecting global patterns of drought and flooding. The frequency and magnitude of floods and droughts are increasing, and will continue to increase. This has a wide-ranging impact, from local weather to where crops can grow. Droughts can be disruptive and dangerous for agriculture, water supplies, fisheries, infrastructure, and public health. Flood risk to people, buildings and businesses is predicted to rise in coming years, with a significant impact on global health, safety and the economy. Climate change and land degradation threaten our ability to produce sufficient and nutritious food supplies for a growing global population. The combination of climate change with a growing population, landuse change and economic development will create greater pressure on water resources in future. These are complex and intertwined issues, and it is vital that we identify environmentally-sustainable solutions that meet the increasing, and often competing, demands of users in different sectors, including public water supply, agriculture and food, commerce and industry, and energy. 4 Instructions for teachers The topic Health and safety The topics of climate change, drought and flooding are great for getting your students thinking about the future. Students should be encouraged to make their own risk assessment before they carry out any activity, including surveys. They can use the CLEAPSS student safety sheets to What do they imagine the world will look like in 10, 20 or 50 help them at science.cleapss.org.uk/Resources/Studentyears’ time? What challenges will we face in managing Safety-Sheets. climate change, protecting against flooding and continuing to produce food through droughts? They should write out their project plan, identifying the risks involved in each stage and the control measures and This pack contains project ideas to suit a range of interests, precautions they will take. enabling students to investigate a range of issues around climate change, drought and flooding in a real-life context, In all circumstances this must be checked by a competent and to explore innovative ideas and solutions for the future. person. Students using specialised equipment should be supervised at all times. Students may want to set up unorthodox experiments and you may need to seek specialist advice. Contact CLEAPSS directly at cleapss.org.uk for advice if you are unsure. Teachers in Scotland should refer to SSERC at www.sserc.org.uk. Project outcomes Your students could design and make a new product, carry out a practical investigation, do a research project or create a communication campaign for their target audience. Encourage them to consider the impact of their project on people’s lives now and in the future. Students should record their work in a final project report or presentation. • Unless stated, no external links have been checked by CLEAPSS. • Safety checked but not trialled by CLEAPSS. Supporting students to complete their project Each project should involve approximately 30 hours of student work from start to finish. The project should be led by the students. As a teacher or mentor your role is to: • Act as a sounding board for students’ ideas and nurture the students’ work. • Check your students’ project plans before they begin the next stage. • Help students see mistakes and setbacks as an opportunity for positive learning and lateral thinking (leading to creativity). • Where relevant, support students to access professionals or experts who could support them. • Provide access to the Internet, library books and magazines. • Help students to complete their project and record their findings. • Encourage them to reflect on their own performance and learning. • Use the tips on page 24 to help students complete their CREST Silver project report. In this pack This collection of resources contains nine different project ideas that can each be used to gain a CREST Silver Award. Each project has a teacher guide, which outlines the project from a teacher’s perspective, and then a student brief, which can be given to the student when they are ready to do the project. Check out the CREST resource library for more support on running a CREST project if you need to as well. 5 Teacher guide Feeding the future Climate change and food supply We hear more and more about the energy required to produce food, and greenhouse gas emissions from food production. But what about the water in our food? A lot of water is used to make our food. Some estimates suggest that 3.8tn cubic metres of water is used by humans annually, and 70% of that is used in agriculture. But in the future we are likely to experience more droughts and more flooding, meaning that water availability may become more and more unreliable. In this project, students will research how much water is used in the food supply chain, from field to fork. Focusing on agriculture, students will investigate how and if farmers could change their methods in order to use less water in food production. Prompts How has food production and distribution changed over the past 50 years? Has the amount of water in our food changed as a result? What are some known methods for reducing the amount of water used in agriculture? If students are stuck, you might like to suggest they look into: • Water use in organic vs. non-organic farming. • Drought tolerant crops. • Rain water storage. • Optimising watering times. • Crop rotation. • Different types of irrigation. • Dry farming and soil management. • Covering crops, composting and mulching. 6 Student brief Feeding the future Climate change and food supply (Geography, water, data) Have you ever wondered how much water is Useful resources in our food? • The Water We Eat Imagine you work at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA). You are concerned about food security in the future, and about how food production may be affected by a potential increase in water shortages. Conduct a research project and produce a report that explores how much water is used in food production and looks at possible ways to reduce the amount of water used by the agriculture sector in the UK. https://thewaterweeat.com/ • Food’s Big Water Footprint https://www.watercalculator.org/footprint/foods-bigwater-footprint/ • Water footprint of crop and animal products: a comparison https://www.waterfootprint.org/en/waterfootprint/product-water-footprint/water-footprintcrop-and-animal-products/ Getting started • 10 Ways Farmers Are Saving Water https://cuesa.org/article/10-ways-farmers-are-savingwater Start by doing some research into how much water is in our food. Think about the whole journey from farm to table. Find out which kinds of food products use the most water and which ones use the least. Where does this water normally come from? • Reducing Water Waste in Agriculture Through “Smart Farming” https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/reducingwater-waste-in-agriculture-through-smart-farming/ Things to think about • How do you calculate how much water goes into a food? What counts? • How much of the water that goes into our food is from the agriculture stage of food production? • Are there any examples of approaches to agriculture that use less water? • How will you analyse and present your findings? 7 Teacher guide Imaginative irrigation Climate change and food supply Most crops grown in the UK rely heavily on natural rainfall. But rainfall varies significantly seasonally and annually, and some regions are much drier than others. Irrigation is the process of applying controlled amounts of water to plants at intervals. Irrigation helps to grow agricultural crops during periods of less than average rainfall. Irrigation, using man-made systems to water plants where there is not enough rainfall, could help build resilience to drought and water scarcity risk in UK agriculture, particularly in the context of a changing climate. However, some irrigation systems are more efficient in their water use than others. In this project, students will design, make and test their own crop irrigation system for water efficiency. Prompts • There are lots of different types of irrigation systems – find out a bit about the advantages and disadvantages of the different variations. • How would your irrigation system fare in the winter? Students will need to think about not only designing an irrigation system that works, but one that can survive outside across all seasons. • How easy is your system to maintain? • How much would your system cost to make? Is it cost effective? 8 Student brief Imaginative irrigation Climate change and food supply (Engineering, design, water) Have you ever wondered how farmers manage to water all their fields? Useful resources • Irrigation water strategy for UK agriculture and horticulture https://www.nfuonline.com/nfu-online/science-andenvironment/irrigation-and-abstraction/irrigationwater-strategy-for-uk-agriculture-and-horticulture/ Imagine you are a farmer. You rely heavily on rainfall to water your plants, but sometimes when there is not enough rain you have to water them manually. This takes a lot of time! You would like to have an irrigation system that you can control remotely. You also want a system that is efficient and does not waste water. Design and make a prototype irrigation system that can be controlled remotely. Test and improve your design to make it more efficient. • Agriculture – key to climate action http://www.fao.org/tempref/agl/IPTRID/FGuideMod 3.pdf Health and safety Getting started To avoid any accidents, make sure you stick to the following health and safety guidelines before getting started: Start by researching irrigation systems and how they work. There are lots of different types of irrigation • Find out if any of the materials, equipment or systems – find out a bit about the advantages and methods are hazardous using disadvantages of the different variations. Which ones http://science.cleapss.org.uk/Resources/Studentare most efficient? Why? Use your research to help Safety-Sheets/ inform your design. Perhaps you could interview a local farmer to find out if they use an irrigation system and, if • Decide what you need to do to reduce any risks, so, which kind. such as wearing appropriate personal protective equipment. Things to think about • Make sure there is plenty of space to work. • How will you control your irrigation system? • Clear up slip or trip hazards promptly. • What settings will there be? • Make sure your teacher agrees with your plan and risk assessment. • You will need to think about not only designing an irrigation system that works, but one that can survive outside across all seasons. • What situation is your irrigation system designed for? • How will you test the effectiveness of your irrigation system? • Once you have built a prototype, think about how you might be able to improve the efficiency of your irrigation system. 9 Teacher guide Parched plants Climate change and food supply Plants need sunlight, nutrient rich soil and water to grow. But clean freshwater is not always available where and when we need it, and increasing temperatures and populations mean there is more and more pressure on this vital resource. With more and more people facing water scarcity, farmers around the world are looking for ways to grow more crops with less water, and finding both high and low tech solutions. In this project, students will investigate seed germination and plant growth in different conditions to determine what crops we could grow in the UK if we had 25% less water. Prompts • How much data do you need to collect to make your conclusions statistically significant? Encourage students to think about how many plants they will grow. • Is there such a thing as too much water? Encourage students to think about both ends of the curve. • What variables would there be on a real-life farm that are not present in your controlled experiment? 10 Student brief Parched plants Climate change and food supply (Biology, water, plants) Have you ever wondered if plants can survive with less water? Useful resources • Is the world running out of fresh water? https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170412-isthe-world-running-out-of-fresh-water Imagine you are a farmer. Every year one of your biggest expenses is water, and it is getting more and more expensive. You would like to find out what the optimal amount of water is for the different crops you grow, and which crops need the least water. • More Crops With Less Water, Is It Possible? – Futuris https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fjVwTr8U5s • Growing Crops with Less Water https://www.aau.edu/researchscholarship/featured-research-topics/growing-cropsless-water Getting started Start by planning out your experiment – think about how long you have and which plants you can grow within that time. You might like to do some research into which crops are currently grown the most in your area, and how water-intensive they are. You could then look at what kinds of crops are grown in parts of the world where there is less rainfall. • Crop Water Requirement https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agriculturaland-biological-sciences/crop-water-requirement Health and safety To avoid any accidents, make sure you stick to the following health and safety guidelines before getting started: Things to think about • How do you know when a plant needs watering? • What is the optimal amount of water for a plant? • Does the amount of water a plant needs vary from species to species? • Wear eye protection. • Find out if any of the materials, equipment or methods are hazardous using http://science.cleapss.org.uk/Resources/StudentSafety-Sheets/ to assess the risks. (Think about what could go wrong and how serious it might be.) • What will you compare your plant growth to? • How many different species will you investigate? • How long will you take measurements for? • Decide what you need to do to reduce any risks (such as wearing personal protective equipment, knowing how to deal with emergencies and so on). • How often will you take measurements? • Make sure there is plenty of space to work. • Clear up slip or trip hazards promptly. • How will you present your findings? • Make sure your teacher agrees with your plan and risk assessment. 11 Teacher guide Drought mitigation Drought There are a wide range of different drought mitigation technologies on the market, including products for drought monitoring, better water and crop management, augmentation of groundwater, intensified watershed, reduction in water demand, and water conservation. In this project, students will research different drought mitigation technologies, look at the costs and benefits of these technologies and make recommendations for whether their local community should explore the technology further or not. Prompts • Is your area at high risk of drought? What are the likely consequences of drought in your local area? Which of these consequences are the most problematic? Encourage students to think about mitigation strategies that address the likely impact of drought in their area. • What is the current drought mitigation strategy in your local area (if there is one)? Encourage students to evaluate the current strategy – do they think this is effective? Why, or why not? • Encourage students to think about other implications of their ideas, e.g. cost and infrastructure. Will any of the measures they plan to implement affect local people? How? What might the reaction be? 12 Student brief Drought mitigation Drought (Drought, climate change, water cycle) Have you ever wondered how to mitigate the impacts of drought? Useful resources • Historic Droughts https://historicdroughts.ceh.ac.uk/ • Drought Facts http://threeissues.sdsu.edu/three_issues_droughtfa cts04.html#:~:text=Activities%20such%20as%20wate r%2Duse,of%20a%20drought%2Dmitigation%20plan Imagine you work for the local council. You are concerned about the pattern of increased frequency and intensity of droughts in your area. Other parts of the country are implementing various drought mitigation strategies such as water-use planning, rainwater harvesting, runoff collection using surface and • Mitigation, Preparedness & Response underground structures, improved management of https://www.droughtmanagement.info/pillars/mitig channels and wells, and exploration of additional water ation-preparedness-response/ resources through drilling and dam construction. Conduct some research into these options, and create a • Drought Mitigation Measures: A Comprehensive drought mitigation plan suitable for your local area. Framework https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F97894-015-9472-1_18 Getting started • UKCEH Water Resources Portal https://eip.ceh.ac.uk/hydrology/water-resources/ Start finding out about the drought risks in your local area and think about which strategies would be appropriate in light of this. Conduct some research into the current drought mitigation strategy in your area and different drought mitigation plans around the world. Health and safety To avoid any accidents, make sure you stick to the following health and safety guidelines before getting started: Things to think about • Find out if any of the materials, equipment or methods are hazardous using http://science.cleapss.org.uk/Resources/StudentSafety-Sheets/ to assess the risks. (Think about what could go wrong and how serious it might be.) • Can you make a list of the different types of drought? • Is your area at high risk of drought? • What are the likely consequences of drought in your local area? Which of these consequences are the most problematic? • What is the current drought mitigation strategy in your local area? • Which parts of the world have a similar situation? Are there aspects of their strategies you could incorporate into your own plan? • Why do drought mitigation strategies vary so much? • How can you evaluate which measures from other areas have been successful or unsuccessful? • What are the practical implications of your strategy? Have you thought about cost and who will be responsible for the different aspects of your plan? Where will the money, time and infrastructure come from? • Will any of the measures you plan to implement affect local people? How? What might the reaction be? • Decide what you need to do to reduce any risks (such as wearing personal protective equipment, knowing how to deal with emergencies and so on). • Make sure there is plenty of space to work. • Clear up slip or trip hazards promptly. • Make sure your teacher agrees with your plan and risk assessment. 13 Teacher guide Rain gauges Drought Climatologists use temperature and precipitation records to create a definition of the ‘normal’ climate for an area (typically using the average of 30 years of data), which then helps us to measure periods of unusual weather, such as flooding or drought. To collect this data, climatologists use a variety of tools. A rain gauge is a useful tool to track how much precipitation there is, and is one of several indicators to monitor the length and severity of a drought. In this project, students will design, make and test a rain gauge which can be used to help predict drought and the likelihood of having to use reservoirs or groundwater supply. Prompts • How could you evaluate how accurate your rain gauge is? Is there a way you could improve the design to make it more accurate? • How often do you need to take measurements to make your data useful? • Try comparing the amount of rain to the length of time the rain lasted. Was it a short and heavy rain shower or a long and light one? • How will you display the data you collect? What kind of graph(s) would be most suitable to display rainfall over a period of time? • How long would you need to collect data for in order to calculate average rainfall? 14 Student brief Rain gauges Drought (Engineering, data, drought, climate change) Have you ever wondered how to measure rain? Useful resources • How to Build a Rain Gauge https://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Rain-Gauge • Why Is a Rain Gauge Important? https://sciencing.com/rain-gauge-important6611576.html • Rain Gauges Helping Farmers Adapt to Droughts in Mwenezi https://www.scoreagainstpoverty.org/375-2/ • DROUGHT: The Importance of Drought Indicators https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/news/droughtimportance-drought-indicators • National River Flow Archive https://nrfa.ceh.ac.uk/ Imagine you are a climatologist. You are trying to calculate the average rainfall for your local area. You want your data to be as accurate as possible. Design and make a rain gauge, and then use your gauge to collect data about rainfall in your area. Getting started Start by researching how rain gauges work. You could look at some different products on the market to inform your design ideas. You will need to think about durability and functionality. Remember, your design doesn’t have to look like other rain gauges, as long as it can collect and measure rainfall data. Health and safety Things to think about To avoid any accidents, make sure you stick to the following health and safety guidelines before getting started: • Find out if any of the materials, equipment or Where will you put your rain gauge? How might the methods are hazardous using location affect the data you collect? http://science.cleapss.org.uk/Resources/StudentSafety-Sheets/ to assess the risks. (Think about what How can you measure/evaluate how accurate your could go wrong and how serious it might be.) gauge is? Can you think of any ways to improve your design? • Decide what you need to do to reduce any risks (such as wearing personal protective equipment, How long will you collect data for? How often do you knowing how to deal with emergencies and so on). need to take measurements to make your data useful? • Make sure there is plenty of space to work. Why not add to your data by using historical data • Clear up slip or trip hazards promptly. from a local rain gauge at the UKCEH Environmental • Make sure your teacher agrees with your plan and Information Platform, or from the National River risk assessment. Flow Archive? • Remember your rain gauge needs to survive outside for a long period of time in order to gather viable data. What materials will you use? • • • • 15 Teacher guide Evaporation experiments Drought Drought is sometimes described as an imbalance between precipitation and evaporation over a long period of time. During a drought, evaporation from open bodies of water generally increases, and the land is drier than usual. Moisture still evaporates into the atmosphere, but not enough to form rain clouds. This effectively causes the land to ‘bake’ and removes additional moisture, which further intensifies dry conditions. As average temperatures rise due to climate change, the Earth’s water cycle accelerates as a result of an increased evaporation rate. This increased evaporation rate makes more water available in the air for precipitation in some parts of the world, and creates drier land areas in other parts – exacerbating both flooding and drought. In this project, students will design an experiment to measure the ongoing evaporation of water set up with different variables, e.g. water alone, water in different types of soil, water in soil with plants growing in, simulating different weather conditions, and so on. They will use their results to assess what factors may affect evaporation. Prompts • What different variables will you measure? What environmental conditions will you need to control? Support students to think about their methodology and how to create fair test conditions. • Do you have any innovative ideas about how we could slow down evaporation? Encourage students to be creative and test out different variables. • What do your results tell you? Which factors affect the speed of evaporation? How could your research be used in the development of drought mitigation solutions? Encourage students to think about the wider purpose of their project and how their research could be taken further. 16 Student brief Evaporation experiments Drought (Physics, evaporation, drought, climate change) Have you ever wondered if we can slow down evaporation? Useful resources • UKCEH Water Resources Portal https://eip.ceh.ac.uk/hydrology/water-resources/ Imagine you work for an organisation that conducts drought research. You are concerned about the pattern • Evapotranspiration and Droughts of more intense and longer-lasting droughts in some https://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/changes/natural/ regions, and how this will evolve in the future. You want et to find out if all types of land have the same rate of • UKCEH: What is a drought? evaporation, and investigate what kinds of changes https://www.ceh.ac.uk/news-andmight help mitigate the severity of drought. You are media/blogs/what-is-a-drought particularly interested in finding out how land use and land cover (e.g. plants, forest, grass and crops) affect • Royal Meteorological Society the rate of evaporation. https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.10 02/wea.67 Getting started Health and safety Start by planning out your experiment. You will need to decide what different variables you will test, e.g. water alone, water in different types of soil, water in soil with plants growing in, and so on. Think about how you will measure the speed of evaporation. To avoid any accidents, make sure you stick to the following health and safety guidelines before getting started: • Find out if any of the materials, equipment or methods are hazardous using http://science.cleapss.org.uk/Resources/StudentSafety-Sheets/ to assess the risks. (Think about what could go wrong and how serious it might be.) Things to think about • How many different tests will you run? • How will you measure the evaporation rate? • How often will you take measurements? • How will you create a controlled environment for your testing? • As well as soil types and the presence of vegetation, what else might be interesting to test? • Is there a way you could test out the impact of different weather conditions on the rate of evaporation? • How will you record and present your results? • How could this project be taken further? If you were trying to engineer drought mitigation solutions, what would be the next step? • Decide what you need to do to reduce any risks (such as wearing personal protective equipment, knowing how to deal with emergencies and so on). • Make sure there is plenty of space to work. • Clear up slip or trip hazards promptly. • Make sure your teacher agrees with your plan and risk assessment. 17 Teacher guide Flood management Flooding Flood Risk Management (FRM) is constantly changing and evolving. In recent years, many countries have developed a more integrated FRM approach, but there is still a great deal of local and regional variation. For example, some countries have one body responsible for managing flood risk, whereas in others this responsibility is devolved to regional or local authorities. Some countries focus more on building flood defences, whereas others focus on land use planning or encouraging individuals to prepare their properties. These differences might be due to different needs, different political focus or different budgets. Not all countries have the financial means to build flood defences. In this project, students will research and evaluate different local flood management plans, and then make recommendations for their own local area based on its specific needs. Prompts • Is your area at high flood risk? What kind of flooding is it most at risk of? What are the likely consequences of flooding in your local area? Which of these consequences are the most problematic? Students could create their own risk assessment, rating the different flood risks by likelihood and by potential damage caused. • What is the current flood management strategy in your local area? Encourage students to evaluate the current strategy – do they think this is effective? Why, or why not? • Encourage students to think about other implications of their ideas, e.g. cost and infrastructure. Will any of the measures they plan to implement affect local people? How? What might the reaction be? 18 Student brief Flood management Flooding (Geography, flooding, climate change, environment) Have you ever wondered if flood management is the same everywhere? Useful resources • Check the long term flood risk for an area in England https://flood-warninginformation.service.gov.uk/long-term-flood-risk Imagine you work for a local council. You have been asked to write a flood management strategy for your local area. You will need to consider both mitigation and adaptation measures, and think about who will be responsible for these. • Flood Maps (Scotland) https://sepa.org.uk/environment/water/flooding/flo od-maps/ Getting started • Flood risk maps (Wales) https://naturalresources.wales/evidence-anddata/maps/long-term-flood-risk/?lang=en Start finding out about the flood risks in your local area, and think about which strategies would be appropriate in light of this. Conduct some research into the current flood management strategy in your area, and different flood management plans around the world. • Check the risk of flooding in your area (Northern Ireland) https://nidirect.gov.uk/articles/check-the-risk-offlooding-in-your-area • Development and Flood Risk Practice Guide https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government /uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/777 2/pps25guideupdate.pdf • Managing flood risk: roles and responsibilities https://local.gov.uk/topics/severeweather/flooding/local-flood-riskmanagement/managing-flood-risk-roles-and • Beach Nourishment https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-andplanetary-sciences/beach-nourishment Things to think about • Is your area at high flood risk? What kind of flooding is it most at risk of? • What are the likely consequences of flooding in your local area? Which of these consequences are the most problematic? • What is the current flood management strategy in your local area? • Which parts of the world have a similar situation? Are there aspects of their strategies you could incorporate into your own plan? Health and safety • Why do flood management strategies vary so much? • How can you evaluate which measures from other areas have been successful or unsuccessful? To avoid any accidents, make sure you stick to the following health and safety guidelines before getting started: • Find out if any of the materials, equipment or • What are the practical implications of your strategy? methods are hazardous using Have you thought about cost and who will be http://science.cleapss.org.uk/Resources/Studentresponsible for the different aspects of your plan? Safety-Sheets/ to assess the risks. (Think about what Where will the money, time and infrastructure come could go wrong and how serious it might be.) from? • Decide what you need to do to reduce any risks • Will any of the measures you plan to implement (such as wearing personal protective equipment, affect local people? How? What might the reaction knowing how to deal with emergencies and so on). be? • Make sure there is plenty of space to work. • Clear up slip or trip hazards promptly. • Make sure your teacher agrees with your plan and risk assessment. 19 Teacher guide Permeable pavements Flooding Floods happen when the soil can no longer absorb the water falling directly onto the ground or overflowing from a river, pond or dam. Instead of soaking into the soil, the water runs off. Too much runoff and you have a flood. When natural vegetation is replaced with an impervious surface, like concrete or brick, for example, the water cycle is altered – not only does water run off these surfaces, but the groundwater is not replenished. This can lead to more frequent flooding and lower water table levels. With an increasing population and, more importantly, an increasing urban population, more and more of us live surrounded by impervious surfaces. Coupled with more frequent and intense rainfall as a result of climate change, surface water flooding is an ever-growing risk. In this project, students will investigate the permeability of different surfaces and use their findings to design a permeable pavement or road. Prompts Porous vs. permeable. Porosity and permeability are both to do with how much and how easily water can flow through a space. Ask your students to find a definition for each. What are the differences? Do you want your pavement to be porous or permeable, or both? Why? You might like to set up your students with the following experiment method for testing permeability. Students will need to consider how to make the test fair (e.g. ensuring that the same volume of the material they are testing is placed in the bottle, using the same amount of water, pouring the water at the same rate, and so on), and how to measure their results (e.g. the amount of time it takes for a set volume of water to flow through the substance). • Cut the base off a plastic bottle. • Cover the mouth with a cheesecloth or similar material – something tightly woven enough to allow water through but not sand. • Fix the bottle to the edge of a table with the cheesecloth covered mouth at the bottom and the open base at the top. • On the floor underneath, place a measuring jug to catch the water, and place a tray on the floor under the bottle and jug to catch water splashes. • Fill the bottle with the substance you are testing. • Pour the water through. • Have paper towels and maybe a mop nearby to deal with any splashed water, which should be cleared up ASAP. 20 Student brief Permeable pavements Flooding (Physics, materials, flooding, climate change, environment) Have you ever wondered which type of soil Useful resources is the most absorbent? • First the heat, then the rain: The problem of surface water flooding in England Imagine you work for a company that designs https://theccc.org.uk/2018/07/30/first-the-heatpavements. You are hired to design the pavements for a then-the-rain-the-problem-of-surface-waternew housing estate. The area already suffers from flooding-in-england/ regular surface water flooding, so your client wants to make sure that the pavements do not further reduce • Protecting property from flooding the amount of land that can absorb rain water – they https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warningswant a permeable pavement. and-advice/seasonal-advice/your-home/protectingyour-property-from-flooding • Evaluating the Infiltration Performance of Eight Getting started Dutch Permeable Pavements Using a New Full-Scale Infiltration Testing Method Permeability is the degree to which liquids are able to https://mdpi.com/2073-4441/6/7/2070/pdf flow through a material. Different substances have varying levels of permeability. Start by investigating the • Evaluating the potential benefits of permeable permeability of different types of soils, rocks and manpavement on the quantity and quality of stormwater made materials (e.g. asphalt and concrete), either runoff through research, or by designing and conducting an https://usgs.gov/science/evaluating-potentialexperiment. benefits-permeable-pavement-quantity-and-qualitystormwater-runoff?qt-science_center_objects=0#qtAs well as being permeable, your pavement still needs science_center_objects to meet all the other design criteria that a pavement normally has. • What do people do on a pavement? Think about Health and safety whether your pavement design can accommodate these activities. To avoid any accidents, make sure you stick to the following health and safety guidelines before getting • How will your pavement hold up over time? started: • How will it fare in different weather conditions? • Find out if any of the materials, equipment or methods are hazardous using http://science.cleapss.org.uk/Resources/StudentThings to think about Safety-Sheets/ to assess the risks. (Think about what could go wrong and how serious it might be.) • How will you make sure your permeability experiment is fair? What variables will you need to • Decide what you need to do to reduce any risks control? (such as wearing personal protective equipment, knowing how to deal with emergencies and so on). • How many different types of materials will you test? You might also like to test out different mixes of • Make sure there is plenty of space to work. materials (e.g. half sand/half clay), and some existing • Clear up slip or trip hazards promptly. permeable paving solutions. • Make sure your teacher agrees with your plan and • What other factors influence pavement design? risk assessment. Think about all the different ways people use pavements. 21 Teacher guide Flash floods Flooding There are many factors that affect the likelihood and severity of flooding, including the amount of rainfall, the intensity of rainfall, topography, soil conditions and ground cover. In this project, students will look at soil conditions and ground cover, and explore whether changes can be made to the local environment to reduce flood risk. Soil and rock type can have a big influence on what happens when it rains. For example, impermeable soils and rocks such as clay or shale do not allow water to infiltrate, and this forces water to run off, increasing flood risk, whereas permeable rocks allow water to infiltrate into them. Vegetation can also affect the likelihood of flooding. By intercepting and slowing precipitation hitting the ground, vegetation substantially reduces the volume and rate of stormwater runoff. This helps to protect soil from erosion and reduces flash flooding. In this project, students will design and run a series of experiments, including a channel, to investigate the relationship between flood velocity and the rate of erosion. Prompts Ideas for what to test inside the channel. If students are stuck, suggest some ideas such as: • Fill the channel with different types of soil, e.g. silt, sand and clay. • Fill the channel with different types of stone or rock. • Fill the channel with small plants. • Pour water through a second time, or even third, to see what happens when there is already some water absorbed in the ground. How will you measure erosion? Encourage students to think about what observations and measurements they can make to quantify the differences between their experiments. For example, they might like to time how long it takes for water to stop dripping out of the end of their channel. They might also like to measure the volume of water that they collect at the end of their channel and compare this to the amount they poured in, to see how much water has been absorbed by the contents of their channel. How will you make sure your experiment is fair? Encourage students to think about using the same volume of water, and how they will control the rate at which they initially pour the water into the channel, using the same volume of filling, taking care to spread the filling similarly through the channel, and so on. How do the width and slope of your channel affect the speed of water? Students could build a second model with a different width and slope to compare. What if the width of the channel changes part way down the slope? Encourage students to look at the depth of the water as well as the speed. If your model was a river would it be at risk of overflowing its banks? 22 Student brief Flash floods Flooding (Physics, flooding, climate change, environment) Have you ever wondered how fast a flash flood is? Useful resources • What difference could natural flood management techniques make? Imagine you are a town planner. You are thinking about https://www.ceh.ac.uk/news-andbuilding a new school at the bottom of a hill in your media/blogs/what-difference-could-natural-floodtown. You are worried about the risk of flooding and management-techniques-make want to know whether there is anything you can do on the slope or around the school grounds to reduce the • Urban Flood Risk Reduction by Increasing Green risk of flooding. Areas for Adaptation to Climate Change https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S 1877705816330570 Getting started • Types of flooding https://floodguidance.co.uk/what-isUsing a channel for the water to travel down, set up resilience/types-flooding your experiment. Your channel will need to be open at the top (i.e. not a closed tube), so that you can easily • Stream Flow and Sediment Transport set up different ‘soil conditions’ and ‘ground cover’. Set http://www.columbia.edu/~vjd1/streams_basic.htm up your channel at a slight slope, and make sure to put a bucket or tray at the bottom of the channel to catch • River Processes any water or other materials as they flow out. https://geographyas.info/rivers/river-processes/ Decide what measurements and observations you will make for each test. You might like to start by pouring Health and safety the water with nothing in the channel. To avoid any accidents, make sure you stick to the following health and safety guidelines before getting Things to think about started: • What different things will you fill your channel with? • Find out if any of the materials, equipment or You might like to make some predictions about what methods are hazardous using materials will perform best in terms of slowing or http://science.cleapss.org.uk/Resources/Studentabsorbing the water. Safety-Sheets/ to assess the risks. (Think about what could go wrong and how serious it might be.) • What measurements will you take? How will you record your results? • Decide what you need to do to reduce any risks (such as wearing personal protective equipment, • Is it just the amount of water that matters? Try knowing how to deal with emergencies and so on). testing pouring the water at different speeds – what difference does it make? • Make sure there is plenty of space to work. • How do the width and slope of your channel affect • Clear up slip or trip hazards promptly. the speed of water? What if the width and slope of • Make sure your teacher agrees with your plan and the channel changes part way down the slope? risk assessment. 23 TOP TIPS For completing a Silver project 1. Understand the problem Do your research! Make sure you plan your time effectively and find out as much as you can about climate change, drought and flooding before you start. And make sure you are clear about the problem you need to solve. If you are developing you own project idea, discuss your ideas with your teacher or mentor before you start your project. 2. Plan your approach Draw or write a plan showing how you will approach the problem, the tasks you will complete, the resources you’ll need and how long you will spend on each task. Ask your teacher or mentor for feedback on your plan. 3. Watch out! Identify any risks to health and safety or ethical concerns you think there will be. Decide how you will limit or overcome these risks. Show your risk assessment to your teacher. 4. Research 5. Use your research to improve your plan and generate ideas Use your research to help you come up with a possible solution or to select the best experiments to use in your practical work. 6. Finalise your idea and carry out practical work Carry out any practical work including experiments, surveys, designing and making activities. When testing your ideas, make sure you make it a fair test and record all your results clearly. You could also use photos and a diary to record your project activities. 7. Concluding your project Find a professional mentor: What have you found out by doing your project? https://www.stem.org.uk/stemambassadors/local-stemambassador-hubs Did you come across any problems? How did you overcome them? Find out more by doing some research using the suggested links on the project page. What is the impact of your project for other people? How could it be developed further? Research relevant news articles, blog posts and other media sources. Has it changed how you feel about climate change, drought or flooding? 24 8. Choose the best way to communicate it Tell others about what you did. You could use a written report, a digital presentation, a blog or a poster display. Make sure you include each stage from planning through to the conclusion. 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