By working with teachers, young people and the Environment Agency we have been able to produce a new set of digital resources. We have incorporated links to the National Curriculum and the Sustainable Development Goals, exploring how the immersive videos can contribute to better understanding and action on flood risk among a new generation of young people.
The resources enable schools and teachers to explore an informed approach to flood risk that complements their existing learning outcomes. They include guidelines for how teachers can use these resources in their lesson planning. Teachers have told us that the project’s unique approach of combining real children’s experiences with immersive storytelling techniques is a powerful catalyst to engagement with, and subsequent action on, flood risk among their students.
Engagement with these resources builds young people’s sense of agency, motivating them to want to better understand flood risk in their local community and to explore actions they, their families and decision makers can take to prepare for future floods.
Furthermore, engagement with the resources by those involved in flood response prompts thinking about what would have helped the children and how we could all be better prepared for flooding.