Geography
Year 7
Unit : Rivers and Flooding
About the unit
Key aspects
This unit focuses on a river’s function and the landforms created by rivers.. Pupils consider
the effects of flooding and how people deal with them. They compare the impact of flooding
in a UK location with the impact of a similar flood in Bangladesh. Pupils are given an
opportunity to study their local area and investigate the work of the flood defence team of
the Environment Agency. The unit encourages pupils to use and apply what they already
know, to practise skills of classifying and comparing, and to consider value-laden questions
about the effects of floods, thus developing their thinking skills.
Geographical enquiry and skills
This unit is expected to take 12 hours.
Pupils will:
• ask geographical questions
• collect/record/present evidence
• analyse evidence and draw conclusions
• communicate appropriately
• use extended geographical vocabulary
• use fieldwork techniques
• use atlases/globes/maps
• use secondary evidence
Knowledge and understanding of places
Pupils will:
• locate places and environments
• describe scale contexts
• investigate change in places
Knowledge and understanding of patterns and processes
Explored through:
• geomorphological processes
• weather and climate
• development
Knowledge and understanding of environmental change and sustainable
development
Not focused on
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Geography - Unit 4 Flood disaster – how do people cope?
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Expectations
Language for learning
At the end of this unit
Through the activities in this unit pupils will be able to understand, use and spell correctly
words relating to:

Rivers, e.g. hydrological cycle, meanders, gorges, erosion, deposition etc

flooding, eg rainfall, saturation, infiltration, deforestation, run-off, interception,
catchment/drainage basin, flood plain, embankments, contamination, water-borne
diseases

planning for disasters, eg cause, effect, land use, management, short term, long
term, more economically developed country (MEDC), less economically developed
country (LEDC), infrastructure, evacuation, personal response, government
response, emergency and rescue services
most pupils will: Identify many of the functions of a river and the landforms created by
rivers; identify many of the causes of flooding and how people contribute to their
frequency and intensity and also how the responses of individuals will differ from those of
larger bodies; appreciate that short-term response is different from long-term planning to
reduce flood risk and that MEDCs are better positioned than LEDCs to devote more
resources to both; begin to suggest relevant geographical questions about the causes of
floods and to suggest plausible conclusions about the differences in their impact in Britain
and Bangladesh; transfer some understanding to other hazard contexts and use a range
of skills to investigate and compare them; begin to understand the importance of using
more than one characteristic for description
some pupils will not have made so much progress and will: Begin to recognise some of
the functions of a river and some of the landforms created by rivers; begin to recognise
some causes of flooding and how people may contribute to them; begin to recognise that
the responses of individuals and larger bodies will be different; view short-term response
as more urgent than long-term planning for flood risk and begin to recognise that MEDCs
have more resources to do both; begin to suggest suitable geographical questions about
the causes of floods and to communicate their responses in the comparisons of their
impact in Britain and Bangladesh using appropriate vocabulary; transfer some knowledge
about hazards to other contexts; recognise that description involves using more than one
characteristic
some pupils will have progressed further and will: Identify most of the functions of a
river and most of the landforms created by rivers; identify most of the causes of flooding
and explain how people contribute to their frequency and intensity and also explain why
the responses of individuals will be different from those of larger bodies; recognise that
short-term response is different from long-term planning to reduce flood risk and why
MEDCs are better positioned to devote resources to both; suggest relevant geographical
questions about the causes of floods and to suggest conclusions that are consistent with
evidence about the differences in their impact in Britain and Bangladesh; apply their
understanding to other hazard contexts and select a range of skills to investigate and
compare them; understand the importance of using more than one characteristic for
description
Prior learning
It is helpful if pupils have:
• carried out research using ICT skills on the internet and CD-ROMs
• developed some confidence in sharing ideas and listening to others in discussion
Speaking and listening – through the activities pupils could:
• share information and discuss ideas in group work
Reading – through the activities pupils could:
• identify the main points in each paragraph, distinguishing between key points and
supporting material
Writing – through the activities pupils could:
• make notes, summarise, etc, to clarify ideas and thinking which can be used later
• develop ideas and plans into continuous text (250 words minimum)
Resources
Resources include:
• Geog.1. Chapter 8
• Geog.1 Homework sheets
• videos stored in the department
• Flood Alert website: www.flood-alert-yhrbc.co.uk
• ‘Singleton floods’ in Thinking through geography, ed David Leat (Chris Kingston
Publishing, 1998 )
The story of Sue and Ian at www.ncl.ac.uk/education/think/
Geography department worksheets
Newspaper reports of 1999 local floods
Future learning
This unit provides an introduction to how people respond to hazards and to the factors that
cause flooding – to be developed further in later units such as at GCSE level. The strategies
used in this unit to develop pupils’ thinking skills can be integrated into other units, to
develop them further, to motivate pupils and increase their personal confidence and
responsibility for learning.
Links
The activities in this unit link with:
• other geography units – unit 2 ‘The restless earth’, unit 24 ‘Passport to the world’
• ICT – using internet search engines, word-processing work
• thinking skills – taking part in group discussion, classifying and amending classification
• social development – working collaboratively
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• science – work on the water cycle, developing their investigative skills
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
PUPILS SHOULD LEARN
POSSIBLE TEACHING ACTIVITIES
LEARNING OUTCOMES
PUPILS
POINTS TO NOTE
Why are we studying rivers and flooding? ( 4 lessons)
• to ask geographical questions Lesson1
•
Starter: Use photographs of the effects of the flooding of the river Derwent
and make predictions
• to investigate and understand
for a 5Ws activity to introduce the unit on rivers and flooding – what 5
the hydrological cycle and the
questions would you like to ask about the photos/what 5 questions do they
drainage basin
suggest? Mini Plenary: take feedback from pupils
Main Activities: Teacher explanation to establish importance of the topic –
• to summarise their
understanding in annotated
The link between rivers and flooding. Read together a newspaper report of
diagrams
Local flooding – on laminated copies ask the pupils to identify and underline
• to share and refine ideas and
causes of the flooding. Feedback causes.
Plenary: Look at a local map of the flood plain – why in this area are we
information in small groups
• what happens to water when it
interested in studying rivers and flooding?
reaches the ground
Lesson 2
• to describe the components
Starter: Show a simple diagram of the hydrological cycle – identify inputs
and links in the water cycle
And outputs of a river.
Main Activities: Use a storyboard activity to review the hydrological cycle –
the story of Ronnie the Raindrop. Pupils will match captions describing key
phases in the cycle to pictures on the storyboard.
Study and label a simple diagram describing the drainage basin
Plenary: Pair and share activity – identify links between the hydrological cycle
and the drainage basin.
Lessons 3 and 4 can be used to examine the functions and forms of
rivers.
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• Language for learning: this activity
provides opportunities for pupils to
read a passage and use coloured
markers to locate main and
supporting points.
• Some pupils may have carried out an
infiltration exercise in key stage 2 and
will remember what they did. This can
be used to plan a more exacting
experience of data collection, timing
for fair testing, etc.
• Science pupils will be able to develop
their investigative skills if they carry
out practical work on the part played
by evaporation and condensation in
the water cycle.
• Pupils can work collaboratively to plan
the activities, design a recording
sheet, allocate tasks, etc.
• Language for learning: through group
discussion and interaction, pupils
should take different views into
account and modify their own views in
the light of what others say.
Geography - Unit 4 Flood disaster – how do people cope?
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
PUPILS SHOULD LEARN
POSSIBLE TEACHING ACTIVITIES
LEARNING OUTCOMES
PUPILS
POINTS TO NOTE
How do individuals and communities respond to flood hazards? (1 lesson)
• how individuals and
communities respond to a
hazard over different
timescales
• to observe and speculate
(about hazard damage)
• to share ideas
• to classify
• to evaluate critically
© QCA 2000
• investigate and record
• Homework activity: the initial exercise
possible flood damage
is best done as homework, during
Starter: Ask pupils to imagine that their home is flooded to a depth of 0.5
• listen to and share ideas
which pupils are encouraged to crawl
metres. Get them to list what damage and problems this would cause to/for
• classify people’s responses to
around on the floor to investigate what
their home. Ask them to consider what further problems would be created for
floods
would be damaged by floodwater. The
them and their families if the flooding lasted for a week. Get them to list all
• evaluate and amend their
homework data can then be pooled at
the things that could be done to deal with the damage and problems. Get
classification
the start of the next lesson.
groups of four to pool their ideas.
• Language for learning: when pooling
Main Activities:Now ask pupils to classify their ideas about dealing with the
their ideas pupils can make notes,
problems and damage into between three and six groups.
summaries, etc, to clarify ideas and
Ask pupils to read The story of Sue and Ian. Discuss with them the causes
thinking which can be used later.
of their flood. Get them to consider and identify the main points in
• During the classification exercise and
pairs/groups, and assess whether the information in the story fits the agreed
discussion the teacher needs to be
headings – encourage them to amend or edit their headings.
very tentative about imposing their
Plenary: Conduct a whole-class discussion to compare critically classification
own classification.
systems. The main criterion to highlight is that the headings should be
• Language for learning: the reading
useful in considering all floods.
activity provides the opportunity for
pupils to identify the main points in
each paragraph, distinguishing
between key points and supporting
material.
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
PUPILS SHOULD LEARN
POSSIBLE TEACHING ACTIVITIES
LEARNING OUTCOMES
PUPILS
POINTS TO NOTE
Are the effects of flooding greater on the UK compared with Bangladesh? ( 2/3 lessons)
• to develop a range of thinking
skills, eg to make predictions,
to evaluate, to compare, to
discuss and share ideas, to
transfer and adapt learning to
new contexts
• to use an atlas to locate
places and analyse
photographs
• to determine Bangladesh’s
global context
• to identify the effects of floods
in Bangladesh
• to assess the relationship
between development and
flood response
© QCA 2000
• describe Bangladesh’s global • Pupils should be helped to appreciate
economic context
that a UK/Euro-centric viewpoint for
Starter: Provide for pupils or ask them to research the general physical and
• make reasoned predictions
making judgements might be
economic characteristics of Bangladesh, which they locate with the aid of an
about the effects of floods in
inappropriate in an Asian context
atlas. Ask them to predict what the consequences would be in that country
Bangladesh
where values might be different.
of a flood of the size considered earlier. Encourage them to use their
• make a comparison of
• ICT: some websites have some good
classification headings as the basis of that prediction.
images of the 1998 flood, eg
prediction and actual events
Main Activities: Ask pupils to read and discuss an account of floods in
www.drik.net/flood2k. Newspaper and
• make a realistic comparison of
Bangladesh from an appropriate source, preferably one with illustrations.
the effects of floods on
TV websites often contain topical
Ask them, in pairs, to decide whether the effect of the flood will be worse in
societies with different levels
information on disasters.
Bangladesh than in Britain. Lead a whole-class discussion, encouraging
of economic development
• Language for learning: this activity
pupils to give extended reasons for their views and to recognise the criteria
provides pupils with the opportunity to
or values they are using.
plan and develop ideas in continuous
Plenary: Ask selected pupils to summarise key points from the learning
text (250 words minimum
Lesson 2
recommended). This writing will build
on literacy work from year 6, term 2 –
Starter: Card sort activity on effects of flooding in Britain and Bangladesh
non-fiction writing composition – of
Main Activities: Teacher to model use of Venn diagrams to examine
the National Literacy Strategy:
relationships between relative effects of floods in North and South of England.
Framework for teaching.
Using a Venn diagram, ask pupils to compare the relative effects of floods in
This activity could become a formal
Britain and in Bangladesh. Ask them to use this and other sources to write a
assessment and involve pupils in
newspaper article to compare flooding in Britain and Bangladesh. Pupils’
peer assessment. It could develop
writing can be planned as a class, with the features of the text type identified.
into three lessons if a more formal
A writing frame may need to be provided for weaker writers.
exploration of text types is
Plenary: Ask pupils in pairs to identify assessment criteria for the article,
undertaken using principles from
compare with the teacher’s criteria.
literacy across the curriculum
guidelines and following the
sequence for teaching writing.
Lesson 1
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Geography - Unit 4 Flood disaster – how do people cope?
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
PUPILS SHOULD LEARN
POSSIBLE TEACHING ACTIVITIES
LEARNING OUTCOMES
PUPILS
POINTS TO NOTE
How is the Environment Agency dealing with the problem of flooding in the local area? (3 lessons)
• to gain a understanding of
how the hazard of flooding is
being dealt with in the local
area and to examine the work
of government and other
agencies in response to
natural hazards
• to brainstorm their knowledge
of/or research human
response to a natural hazard
• how to make a critical
evaluation



describe and explain
the human response
flooding
.

recognise the
importance of the work
of the Environment
Agency in planning a
response to flooding in
the local area
develop critical
reasoning skills


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This section will help to support
the citizenship curriculum
through gaining an
understanding of the work of a
government agency and the
role local pressure groups can
play in effecting change. It will
also encourage an
understanding of the links
between groups in responding
to natural hazards
Language for learning:
collaborate with others to share
information and ideas, and
solve problems.
ICT: word-processing software
can be very effective to
encourage editing of
researched information and
analysis of facts before
completing the short report.
Geography - Unit 4 Flood disaster – how do people cope?
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