How to do the Land Slide
Land slides are natural disasters that engineers must be aware of. This resource teaches us what a landslide is and how to predict which areas are most susceptible to them. The Mystery has a series of videos and one worksheet.
The activity itself encourages critical thinking and imagination. Tackling solutions like landslides are something engineers in real life have to think about constantly especially here in California. This is perfect for 3rd to 5th graders. One minor complaint I have is I wish the resource itself linked to some innovative solutions to protecting our cities from landslides. The last slides have outside links to some of these projects but I feel it would have been beneficial to be included along with the main video series. To compliment this activity, consider propping a large plastic container up so that it’s slanted at a thirty five degree angle. Fill this container with rocks and poke holes on the bottom of the container. Build a city or town using any household objects or toys you might have. Make sure this town is going to be safe from a landslide. To simulate a landslide, pour water on the top of your plastic container and watch what happens to your town. Now that’s what I call Erosion Engineering,