Name ______________________________ Class ___________________ Date __________________
Skills Worksheet
Active Reading
Section: Urban Land Use
Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow.
Environmental conditions in the center of a city are different from
those of the surrounding countryside. Cities both generate and trap
more heat. The increased temperature in the city is called a heat
island. Heat is generated by the infrastructure that makes a city
run. Roads and buildings absorb more heat than vegetation does.
They also retain heat longer. Atlanta, Georgia, is an example of a
city that has a significant heat island.
Scientists are beginning to see that heat islands can affect local weather
patterns. Hot air rises over a city, cooling as it rises, and eventually
produces rain clouds. In Atlanta and many other cities, increased rainfall is a
side effect of the heat island. The heat is land effect may be moderated by
planting trees for shade and by installing rooftops that reflect rather than
retain heat.
IDENTIFYING MAIN IDEAS
One reading skill is the ability to identify the main idea of a passage. The main
idea is the main focus or key idea. Frequently, a main idea is accompanied by
supporting information that offers detailed facts about the main idea.
Read each question and write the answer in the space provided.
1. Authors often include a main idea in one sentence of a passage. In the space
below, write the sentence that you think best summarizes the main idea of this
passage.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
2. Why does the author mention Atlanta, Georgia?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
3. Scientists use conditional words such as many, sometimes, could, and might
when they are writing a statement of probability rather than of fact. What
conditional word does this author use? Which sentence is it in?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
4. What does this conditional word suggest about the statement in which it is
used?
_______________________________________________________________
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Holt Environmental Science
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Name ______________________________ Class ___________________ Date __________________
Active Reading continued
VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
Read each question and write the answer in the space provided.
5. What is the condition that causes increased temperatures in a city called?
_______________________________________________________________
6. The prefix infra- means “within” or “below.” A structure is something that is
built. Use this information to define the infrastructure of a city.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
RECOGNIZING SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
One reading skill is the ability to recognize similarities and differences between
two phrases, ideas, or things. This is sometimes known as comparing and
contrasting.
Read each question and write the answer in the space provided.
7. How is temperature in urban areas different from temperature in surrounding
rural areas?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
8. How might the weather be different in the city than it is in the surrounding
countryside?
_______________________________________________________________
RECOGNIZING CAUSE AND EFFECT
One reading skill is the ability to recognize cause and effect.
Read each question and write the answer in the space provided.
9. What is the result of increased temperature in a city?
_______________________________________________________________
10. Explain how heat can affect a city’s weather.
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
11. What can city dwellers do to counteract the heat-island effect?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
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Holt Environmental Science
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Land
TEACHER RESORCE.PAGE
Answer Key
13. Accept any reasonable answer.
Sampleanswer: Disagree; although
reforestation has been known to occur on
itsown in some cases, such as
whenunproductive farmland has been
abadoned, the speed at which land isbeing
developed and logged suggeststhat deliberate
human intervention isneeded to slow or
reverse the environmental damage caused by
the loss ofso many trees.
14. Accept any thoughtful answer.
Sampleanswer: Agree; many urban areas
weredeveloped around the use of
automobiles. Many urban areas were
builtwithout regard to future traffic
congestion. Better urban land-use
plansinclude more public transportation.
Concept Review
MATCHING MULTIPLE CHOICE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
g
e
f
a
d
b
c
h
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
a
c
d
a
d
a
b
d
c
a
Critical Thinking
ANALOGIES
1.
2.
3.
4.
d
a
c
d
5.
6.
7.
8.
REFINING CONCEPTS
b
b
c
c
15. Sample answer: Selective cutting oftrees,
while more expensive to do, is far less
destructive to forestecosystems.
16. Sample answer: Rural areas supporturban
areas. Resources such as cleanwater, clean
air, food, wood products,and scenic beauty
are provided byrural areas.
17. Accept any reasonable answer.Possible
answers include infrastructure problems such
as constructingnew highways; widening
existingroads; developing new shopping
centers, houses, schools; or building anew
airport. Overcrowding could alsohave an
impact on power supply,waste treatment, fire
and police protection, schools, libraries,
hospitals,and the water supply.
INTERPRETING OBSERVATIONS
9. Sample answer: The lower temperature may
indicate a rural area or openspace. The
higher temperature mayhave been recorded
in an area withasphalt or similar surfaces that
absorband reradiate heat.
10. Plant more vegetation. Plants lower
thetemperature of the surrounding area.
11. Yes; plants absorb carbon dioxide, produce
oxygen, and filter pollutants fromthe
surrounding air and water. Plantsalso add
scenic beauty.
AGREE OR DISAGREE
Active Reading
12. Accept any thoughtful answer.Sample
answer: Agree; although preserving tracts of
land decreases theamount of land that can be
developed, people like to live and work
inareas that include open space.Therefore,
developers can attractmore people to buy
homes by developing land in
environmentally sustainable ways. Open
space alsoreduces drainage problems
byabsorbing and slowly releasing
largequantities of precipitation.
SECTION: HOW WE USE LAND
1.
2.
3.
4.
what you find on a patch of land
a forest, a field of grain, and a parking lot
2,500 or more
a governing body
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Holt Environmental Science
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Land
TEACHER RESORCE.PAGE
5.wood, crops, and minerals
6. large areas of open space; few
7. buildings; roads; 2,500 or more
8. If it is not classified as urban, it isrural.
9. Urban areas use land for buildingsand roads.
In rural areas, land isopen and may provide
resources forhuman consumption.
10. b
11. a
12. c
13. a
14. b
15. a
16. b
17. c
18. c
19. a
9. The author compares the amount ofwood the
average person in the UnitedStates uses to
each person cuttingdown a 30 m-tall tree
every year.
10. In both, trees are removed from anarea of
land.
11. In clear-cutting, all the trees areremoved; in
selective cutting, onlymiddleaged or mature
trees are used.
12. Clear-cutting—Advantages: It is
lessexpensive than selective
cutting;Disadvantages: It destroys
wildlifehabitats and causes soil
erosion.Selective cutting—Advantages: It
isless destructive than clearcutting;Disadvantages: It is more expensive.
Map Skills
SECTION: URBAN LAND USE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
1. “Environmental conditions in the center of a
city are different from those ofthe
surrounding countryside.”
2. The author is using Atlanta as anexample of
a city that is experiencingthe heat-island
effect.
3. may; the last (sentence 11)
4. It is a statement of probability; inother
words, trees and reflectiverooftops may
moderate the heat-island effect, but they may
not.
5. a heat island
6. anything that is built within or belowa city
7. The temperature is often higher in a citythan
it is in the surrounding countryside.
8. It might rain more often.
9. a heat island
10. Hot air rises over a city, cools, andproduces
rain clouds.
11. plant trees and install rooftops that donot
retain heat
Quiz
SECTION: HOW WE USE LAND
Matching
1. h
2. c
3. g
4. e
5. d
6. a
7. f
8. b
SECTION: HOW WE USE
LANDMATCHING
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
marshes and swamps
crops and grazing, pastures and woods
urban areas, crops and grazing
grassland or pastures and woods
Answers may vary but will likelyinclude the
suggestions that forestsprovided lumber for
construction,while land suitable for crops
andgrazing made agriculture near
urbandwellers possible.
Multiple Choice
9. a
10. d
h
c
g
e
d
a
f
b
SECTION: URBAN LAND USEM
Matching
1. b
2. d
3. f
4. e
5. b
6. c
Multiple Choice
7. d
8. d
9. d
10. a
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Holt Environmental Science
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