From flood experience to scientific understanding: engaging students with natural hazards through active learning

This project aims to foster scientific literacy, environmental awareness, and understanding of natural hazards among secondary school students living in a high flood-risk area in the Mediterranean basin. The impacts of the floods in the Valencia Province on October 24^th 2024 are still present in the students’ community, which makes it essential to address natural hazards through an educational approach that is both scientifically rigorous and emotionally safe. The experiences presented at the Geosciences Information for Teachers (GIFT) programme of the European Geosciences Union were implemented at IES Albal the school year 25/26 and belong to the Biology and Geology learning units.

The methodology is based on hands-on, playful and inquiry-based learning, allowing students to actively engage by building models, experimenting, and observing processes within the risk-free environment of the classroom. Through these activities, students learn to understand the Earth as a dynamic system and to integrate key concepts such as risk-aware land-use planning, disaster prevention, and resilience in order to better cope with future natural hazards.

This approach is aligned with the current educational framework in Spain, shaped by the LOE (2006) and LOMLOE (2020), which emphasises the development of active, critical, and socially responsible citizens. This marks a shift away from earlier models con content transmission and standardised assessment, towards a competency-based and participatory model that promotes critical thinking through experiential learning. In this context, several practical activities from the Earth Science Teachers’ Association website (www.earthlearningidea.com) resources were selected, as they strongly align with these pedagogical principles.

The 2024 Valencia flood was a severe hydrometeorological event caused by an episode of exceptionally intense and persistent rainfall, associated with a cut-off low pressure system (DANA) over the western Mediterranean. Such systems are recurrent in the Valencian region and constitute a significant source of flood hazard. However, while flooding represents a major risk in this area, it is not the only natural hazard: desertification, landslides, wildfires, coastal erosion, earthquakes, volcanic activity, and tsunamis pose significant threats in different parts of the Spanish territory – beyond Valencia. Students therefore participate in experiments and simulations related to those risks, gaining a broader and more integrated understanding of natural hazards and human vulnerability.