Thread by @lcgeography

1. Today we were evaluating the accuracy of our forecasts of the routes taken by the Geldingadalur lava flows.

A THREAD ON TEACHING GEOGRAPHY *WITH* GIS

2. Yesterday, pupils had been using ArcGIS Scene Viewer to read the topography of the land to try to forecast & justify possible routes.

Reference made to
• thalweg
• how lava can rewrite the underlying topography to effectively flow up hil and overcome topographical barriers

3. We then compared our predictions with what has actually happened and discovered three categories of evaluation.

A surprise flow further to the west had happened. Currently it is feeding into the Nattahagi valley. But could it go elsewhere...?

4. We needed to be careful to re-evaluate places at risk from the - including ascertaining if there is a possible route towards the town of Grindavik, especially if the lava overtops a small ridge and flows into the valley to the west.

5. Some pupils predicted that it might flow more to the south, using the Elevation Profile tool to read the topography and find the thalweg route to the sea.

6. Some, however, saw topographical routes further west, potentially threatening the town of Grindavik.

7. Next up, we will examine, evaluate and choose management options.
• Hard engineering - can you control a lava flow? What are the options? How effective are they?
• Soft engineering - should we adopt a 'managed retreat' style approach with Grindavik?

The drama unfolds...

8. Using Scene Viewer unleashing powerful, generative learning with my pupils. They take the theoretical knowledge we've been building up & apply it in an evaluative manner.

Great geographical skills & understanding being developed.