This interactive resource allows students to view and build maps of the United States with data about coastal flooding hazards, vulnerable populations, infrastructure, and ecosystems.
Students can search for addresses and zoom in on specific coastal neighborhoods to view the data for each region.
Teaching Tips
Positives
Students can learn more about each layer by clicking on the information (i) icon.
Students can save, export, and share the maps they create.
Additional Prerequisites
The legend button is located at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
Some of the layers are difficult to see together, but students can change the color gradients to make it easier to differentiate between the layers.
Differentiation
Geography classes could look at the development patterns and discuss how risk of flooding has impacted more recent development. Students could consider the following questions:
Should people develop areas that FEMA has identified as flood zones?
What should happen to established neighborhoods that are at high risk for frequent flooding?
Why might people choose to live on the coast?
Science classes could layer "coastal flood hazard composite" with "potential pollution sources" and discuss how flooding could impact areas that overlap.
Other resources on this topic include this video from WION on rising sea levels in New Jersey, this Vox video on building a sea wall to protect New York, and this article and video about flood prevention in Venice and Holland.
Scientist Notes
This is a map that shows the level of coastal flooding from tsunamis, storm surges, and sea level rise in the USA. This is relevant to respond to extreme weather events and natural disasters. This is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Science and Engineering
ESS2: Earth’s Systems
HS-ESS2-5 Plan and conduct an investigation of the properties of water and its effects on Earth materials and surface processes.
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-2 Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects.
HS-ESS3-1 Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.
Social Studies
Geography
Geography 1 (F1): Students understand the geography of the community, Maine, the United States, and various regions of the world, and geographic influences on life in the past, present, and future by using the geographic grid and a variety of types of maps, including digital sources, to locate and access relevant geographic information that reflects multiple perspectives.
Geography 1 (D2): Students understand the geography of the community, Maine, the United States, and various regions of the world, and geographic influences on life in the past, present, and future by describing the impact of change on the physical and cultural environment.
Geography 2 (F1): Students understand geographic aspects of unity and diversity in Maine, the United States, and various world cultures, including Maine Native Americans, by explaining how geographic features have impacted unity and diversity in Maine, the United States, and other nations.
