Social SciencesFreePrintable

Environmental Change Introduction

A free social sciences worksheet ready for your classroom. Open in Kuraplan to grab the print-ready PDF, customize it for your students, or generate a fresh version in seconds.

Download now

Name:Date:

Environmental Change Introduction

Read the case study and data table to investigate environmental change at a fictional Australian coast. Distinguish natural processes from human causes, and support your conclusions with evidence.

Case study: Wattle Bay

Wattle Bay is a fictional coastal town in eastern Australia. Its beach and dunes are shaped by waves, currents and storms. After a powerful cyclone, the eastern end of the beach became narrower. Over the following years, some sand returned during calmer seasons. The town has also built a seawall beside shops and a walking path. The wall protects buildings directly behind it, but waves can scour sand from its base and nearby beaches. A new car park and more visitors have increased pressure on dune plants. Local Traditional Owners have cared for Country in this region for generations; their knowledge includes observing seasonal changes and the health of plants, animals and waterways. Environmental change means a change in the characteristics or functioning of an environment over time. It can result from natural processes, human activity, or interactions between both.

1.Which statement best defines environmental change?

A change in an environment’s characteristics or functioning over time
Any change caused only by people
A weather event that lasts less than one day
A change that always damages an environment

2.Using the case study, identify two features likely to be affected by coastal erosion. For each, give one reason.

3.The car park is near the southern dunes. Suggest one environmental impact of this location and one practical way to reduce it.

Evidence from the coast

The monitoring team measured beach width at the same marked site each year. Width is the distance from the back of the beach to the usual low-tide line. Values are rounded to the nearest metre.

Year

Beach width (m)

2018

2020

2022

2024

4.What was the change in beach width from 2018 to 2024? Show how you worked it out and state whether the beach became wider or narrower overall.

5.The width increased between 2020 and 2022, then decreased by 2024. What does this pattern suggest about coastal change? Give one reason the measurements alone cannot prove what caused the changes.

6.Sort each example as mainly natural, mainly human-caused, or a combination: (a) a cyclone removing sand, (b) visitors trampling dune plants, (c) a seawall changing where waves remove sand.

7.What does the word anthropogenic mean? Choose the correct answer.

Caused by human activities
Caused only by weather
Caused by the movement of tides
A change that cannot be measured

8.A council says, “The seawall has solved coastal erosion.” Is this conclusion supported by the case study? Explain using one possible benefit and one possible limitation of a seawall.

9.In one sentence, explain why the coastal change at Wattle Bay is best understood by considering natural processes and human activities together.

10.Explain one way that working with Traditional Owners and their knowledge of Country could strengthen coastal management. Avoid treating all First Nations knowledge or communities as the same.