NIWA Township Flood Challenge Game
Provided by: Earth Sciences New Zealand|Published on: October 31, 2025
Grades: 6, 7, 8
Type: Games
Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences, Geography
Authors: NIWA
Region: Global
Languages: English
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this game from NIWA, students will play as a character in a community along a river that is threatened by extreme weather and flooding.
- Students will make financial decisions and spend money on adaptation measures to protect their homes and community from flooding.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- Students will enjoy playing the game and seeing how their decisions influence gameplay.
- Because students can get through a game rather quickly, there are opportunities for students to see how playing the game differently can get them different results or discuss parallels to real life within one class period.
Prerequisites
- It may benefit students to understand how extreme weather impacts rivers and the communities that surround them.
- Playing one game should take students about ten minutes.
Differentiation & Implementation
- Teachers can assign students different characters, ensuring that there is a relatively similar number of students for each character. After playing, teachers can put students in groups where every student has played as a different character. Students can then compare their gameplay experience and determine how different characters determine the experience.
- To make connections to climate change, teachers can explain how climate change can impact the severity and frequency of extreme weather events that can cause a river to flood. This video can help explain the connection.
- Other connections to climate change include sea level rise due to the thernal expansion of sea water and glaciers melting, and storm surge flooding from more intense or prolonged storms.
- Teachers can use this game to make connections to the Sustainable Development Goals, such as SDG 9, Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure.
This interactive game models adaptations to flooding in a riverside township. Four learning "supports" provide background on climate change, and notably address the common misunderstandings on the difference between weather and climate. Support #4 allows extension into climate change mitigation, with its focus on protecting the environment and responsibilities to future generations. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
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