ADA brings flood risk management into focus in schools

Today sees the launch of new educational resources that ADA has produced in collaboration with LEAF Education. ADA wants to help our members to engage with young people about their local water environment and the many career opportunities available in flood and water management. These Key Stage 4 and 5 geography curriculum resources will help secondary school and sixth form pupils to explore flood risk management across lowland Britain.

Flooding is often in the news in the UK, making it a topical issue that many students can relate to. We hope that our new resources can enable young people to get out and visit our members and learn about their role in reducing flood risk. Doing so will help students to analyse the challenges faced by our lowland landscape and evaluate the responses needed to manage water in our changing climate.

Learning materials

The three new resources packs are available on the Countryside Classroom website, which is a free resource that helps teachers to find readymade lesson plans, places to visit, and school support relating to the themes of food, farming and the natural environment. The website contains a range of quality assured educational content from hundreds of contributors, including the Environment Agency, Canal & Rivers Trust, National Trust, and CLA.

Two of the resource packs focus on helping GCSE and A Level geography students to understand the causes, effects and latest strategies being used to manage flooding in two of the best known lowland landscapes in England: The Fens and the Somerset Levels.

The third resources pack is aimed at helping students get out of the classroom and visit a local flood management professional. The materials in this resource provide everything needed for teachers to make contact with Education Ambassadors from our members who can give their students a valuable insight into flood management strategies and take them to see how watercourses, flood defences, and pumping stations all play an important role.

All of these new learning resources and advice can be accessed via www.ada.org.uk/education.

Welcoming the launch of these new learning resources, Ian Moodie, ADA’s Technical Manager said:

“The work of our members really matters to the many millions of people at risk of flooding. We’re excited about helping our members to share their knowledge with young people and provide an insight into   the different strategies we need to overcome the worst impacts of climate change. We hope too that through these resources they may be inspired to become the next generation of engineers, carefully managing our water environment.”

How to get involved

Education Ambassador Training | 28 April 2022

ADA will be hosting a free online training event on Thursday 28 April with LEAF Education for our members and teachers to help familiarise themselves with these learning resources and help them to become Education Ambassadors for delivering the material within local schools,   during field visits or as part of community engagement

The one hour session starting at 15.00 will also incorporate advice on communication with teenagers and their teachers, looking at strategies to engage the young people, use of appropriate vocabulary, principles of good communication, how to handle discussions and key ideas about classroom management.

ADA looks forward to welcoming a wide variety of our members and teachers to the Ambassador training who want to share their knowledge and experience with young people in the future. Anyone can become an inspiring Education Ambassador. Be confident in your knowledge, adapt how you talk to different people, and welcome a variety of questions.

Education Ambassadors’ Training Event Venue: Online (MS Teams) Date: Thursday 28 April 2022 Time: 15.00 to 16.00 Register Here

Thanks

ADA would like to extend its thanks to the following people and organisations for their help, support and guidance in delivering these new resources:

• LEAF Education and Elizabeth Lake
• Somerset Drainage Boards Consortium and Phil Brewin
• Lower Severn IDB and James Thomas
• Alcester Grammar School
• ADA Lincolnshire Branch and IDBs
• Lincolnshire County Council

---