High tide in the schoolyard?

The Dutch have little or no awareness of the danger of serious flooding in their area. Geography teacher Adwin Bosschaart has developed teaching materials to get high school students thinking about the Netherlands' vulnerability to flooding. The teaching package won the Water Innovation Award in 2015.

Serious game

The teaching material includes seven lessons and is intended for 3rd grade havo/vwo. The content covers the sequence of events during a flood (high water > dike breach > flood water > consequences > prevention and disaster relief). At the center is a web application that allows students to explore what happens when dikes or dunes breach in their own environment: the Flood Risk Atlas. On a digital Map , they can click on dikes and see how the land behind them floods over the course of several hours or days. The accompanying teaching materials also include historical Maps, old photos and stories about floods in the past. But it also includes a field trip on and around the dike. In this way, students are encouraged to think about flood threats and the need to prepare for them.

The lesson series is attributed to three different subareas in North Holland:

• Coastal zone of North Holland
• West Friesland and Wieringen
• Zaanstreek and Waterland

The lesson series was created with support from the Ministry of Infrastructure & Environment, Hoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier and Waterschap Rivierenland. For more information, see the video below (from 1:29m):