This short, animated video shows how eco-engineering and natural solutions can protect coastal cities like Bangladesh from flooding, storms, and erosion.
The article includes more information and a number of links to additional information that can be explored.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The animation is easy to follow and demonstrates the step-by-step process.
The video conveys a hopeful, solutions-oriented description of tools that can be used to combat the impacts of climate change.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should be familiar with how flooding and storms can impact coastal regions.
Differentiation
Before watching the video, brainstorm possible solutions to flooding of coastal communities. After students propose solutions, ask them if they think natural resources or organisms could be used to help mitigate flooding.
Have students research other nature-based solutions that could help save lives, livelihoods, and other habitats.
Creating a visual vocabulary graphic organizer on the board or on paper may help students conceptualize some more challenging words or concepts such as: eco-engineering, dike, oyster reef, and erosion.
This resource is a short 1.5 minute animated video that describes an example of eco-engineering, which uses natural resources to manage or engineer the natural world. In this case, a method for protecting homes and habitats from storm surges using oyster reefs in Bangladesh is presented. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Science and Engineering
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
3-ESS3-1 Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.
4-ESS3-2 Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.
5-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
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.
ETS1: Engineering Design
HS-ETS1-3 Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics, as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.
