Environmental Processes

Overview

Lesson 7 in the unit “Exploring Landforms and Landscapes” builds students’ understanding that landscapes are shaped by geomorphological processes. Today focuses on explaining erosion, weathering and deposition, linking how these processes change landforms over time.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• Comprehend how geomorphological processes produce different landscape features.
• Describe how weathering, erosion and deposition work together to shape a landform.
• Explain one environmental process using geographical terms and a simple cause-and-effect sequence.
• Use evidence from a short video/diagram to support their explanation.

Success criteria

Students can:

• Explain weathering, erosion or deposition in their own words.
• Use at least three geographical terms correctly (e.g. weathering, erosion, deposition, sediments).
• Describe a cause-and-effect link (process → movement/material change → landform feature).
• Provide one example from a real place (locally or a case study they’ve seen in class).

Curriculum links

• AC9HG8K01: geomorphological processes that produce different landscapes and significant landforms.
• AC9HG8S06: create explanations using geographical concepts, terms and reference sources.
• AC9HG8K04 (light link): recognise that processes interact with the quality of environments (as a lead-in to later lessons on management).

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Conversation hook. Teacher shows a labelled image (rock face + river edge) and asks: “What do you think is happening to make the land change—today, not long ago?” Students turn-and-talk, then share one idea.

2. 5–13 min · Mini direct teach: 3-process chain. Teacher uses a simple “process chain” diagram: weathering → erosion → transportation/deposition, with quick examples (wind/waves/flowing water; freezing and thawing; abrasion; sediment build-up). Students complete a one-minute “process match” on scrap paper: pair each process with what it changes.

3. 13–22 min · Video investigation (differentiated). Teacher plays a short, silent-friendly clip showing one landscape change (e.g. coastal waves or river bank). Students watch once for gist, then for key evidence using a viewing sheet with sentence starters.

• Support: provide a version with fewer prompts and key words highlighted.
• Extension: ask students to identify the direction of sediment movement and what landform shape results.

4. 22–34 min · Small-group explanation practice (success criteria focus). Teacher assigns groups of 3–4 and provides a landform card (e.g. cliff/coastline, river bend, desert dune). Each group creates a 5–6 sentence explanation for one process, including: definition + what moves + what changes in the landform. Students use a “Key Terms bank” and reference the process chain diagram.

• Teacher circulates, checking for correct use of terms and cause-and-effect accuracy.

5. 34–42 min · Quick share: “Explain it in 30 seconds”. Each group nominates one speaker to deliver their explanation in 30 seconds, then the class completes a brief “glow and grow”: one thing that was accurate, one question to improve clarity.

6. 42–45 min · Exit ticket. Students answer: “Choose one process (weathering/erosion/deposition) and explain it using: (1) what it is, (2) what it does, (3) an example.” Teacher collects immediately for next lesson grouping.

Resources

• Image set: rock face/river edge/coastline with labels (print or digital)
• Short video clip (teacher-preselected) showing one geomorphological process in action
• Process chain diagram (weathering → erosion → transportation → deposition)
• Landform cards (coast, river bend, desert dune or similar)
• Student viewing sheet with sentence starters and a word bank
• Key terms bank poster (weathering, erosion, deposition, sediment, transportation)
• Coloured sticky notes or mini whiteboards for quick checks
• Dyslexia-friendly reading options: short text strips with larger font, high contrast, and reduced wording
• Timing visual on board (minute markers)

Assessment

• Formative checks during discussion: teacher listens for students’ initial ideas about “what changes the land”
• During video: review viewing sheets for correct identification of process evidence
• During group work: teacher uses an informal checklist aligned to success criteria (terms used, cause-and-effect stated)
• Exit ticket: used to confirm each student can explain one process accurately

Differentiation

• Support for varied ability: sentence starters (e.g. “Weathering is when…”, “This causes…”, “As a result, the landform…”), reduced prompt sets, and annotated process diagrams.
• Visual support: colour-coded process chain and key terms; allow students to write a “process plan” before sentences.
• Dyslexia-friendly options: provide audio read-aloud for instructions, short text strips, larger font worksheets, and a word bank on the same page as the writing task.
• Extension challenge: ask students to include transportation as part of the chain and predict what happens next if erosion continues (e.g. more sediment deposition downstream).
• EAL support: encourage students to use a bilingual dictionary for key terms and provide an example sentence frame; allow oral explanations recorded by the student to reduce writing load if needed.