Students use Internet research to gather data and images of the Red River Flood of 1997. They use NIH Image to determine flooding area form aerial photographs. Students work with a model of the Red River to simulate the 1997 flood and evaluate alternative remedial actions. Students are presented with the problem of determining the best solution to control the flooding problem of the Red. The class use a stream table with clay to develop a model of a river with a flood plain and experiment with varying amounts of flow through the system.
Students brainstorm factors that affect the flow of water in a river past a city.
They use these factors to develop simple Stella models of river flow. They add factors to their model and add concepts such as carrying capacity and graphed inputs. Students perform Internet research to gather data , images and text concerning the Red River flood. They calculate the volume of water that would be produced from varying amounts of rainfall and snow melt. Students use data of stream heights at locations along the Red River at different dates to prepare spread sheet graphs of the flooding event.