This project is an engineering and environmental science challenge that tasks students with designing and testing solutions to protect a simulated community from natural disasters.

Activity Description

The Flood & Landslide Mitigation Challenge is a hands-on STEM lab where students act as civil engineers. After a brief literacy exercise defining floods, landslides, and mitigation, students select a specific strategy to defend their "city" on a sloped landscape. By choosing between structural barriers (gravel), biological solutions (craft-stick "trees"), or topographical changes (water channels), students observe the immediate impact of gravity and water flow on their designs. The lab concludes with a class-wide comparison to identify which strategies were most effective at reducing property damage and soil erosion.

Flood & Landslide Mitigation Challenge Vocabulary Cloze A ________________________________ happens when water overflows onto normally dry land. A ________________________________ happens when rock, soil, or debris slides downhill due to gravity. Communities use __________________________ strategies like levees, trees, and barriers to reduce damage. Word Bank (mixed): flood, mitigation, landslide City Setup ● City Name: ___________________________ ● Chosen Mitigation Strategy: (circle one) Gravel layer Craft stick “trees” Water channel/diversion (dug groove) Sketch Section � � Draw your city’s location along the “river.” ✏ Sketch your mitigation strategy. Class Discussion ● How did your city’s flood protection compare to other cities? ● Which strategies scored the highest? ● Did any strategy fully protect a city? ● If you could build a city anywhere, where would you choose and why