Rivers and Coasts

Isle of Wight Coastal Erosion mystery

This coasts mystery is based on a ‘theme park’ on the Isle of Wight, (for Y7) plus a follow up lesson based upon a write up in newspaper format. Lesson 1 (Powerpoint), mystery cards (MS Publisher), Lesson 2 (Powerpoint), newspaper template (MS Publisher file)
Nik Skilton, Wood Green High School, College of Sport, Maths and Computing.

IWB Resources for Rivers

Designed for AQA A GCSE (but applicable to other specifications too) as a revision activity to run on Promethean IWB.
The definition is provided in the box and pupils have to drag the correct word into the box below - if it stays in the box it is correct. Definitions are taken from Understanding Geography GCSE. There is lots of scope with these and they are great for revision lesson starters and can be used in a variety of ways - You can time pupils to see who is quickest, See who gets the furthest, Group keywords together
Rivers on the box (Activ Studio flipchart) with thanks to Howard Price, Failsworth School in Manchester

Jess Page, Launceston College, Cornwall, has sent this mystery for the Boscastle flood .... and its a true story, her friend's mum actually did find a brand new pair of walking boots! It provides quite a good link between rivers and coasts too. How did Mrs George come across a brand new pair of walking boots?

Boscastle flood defences
These photos (summer 2008) show how the river has been changed to cope with future flood threats. Basically they've deepened the channel and improved the confluence of the 2 rivers by creating an artificial channel.
Suzanne Ward , Mount St Marys High School, Leeds

A visual Coastal Dominoes is here from Kathy Brown, Ash Manor School Surrey. This will surely appeal to all the visual learners in your classes.

Why did the rock I sat on for lunch end up in my wellies? This is a rivers mystery, on erosion, transportation and deposition from Hannah Rowe, Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar school.

Old Harry rocks mystery is used with Y8 class to set the lesson up as a “who dunnit?”. Usually I introduce the lesson as a murder mystery, they have to think of questions to find out what happened to Mrs Rocks before going onto the mystery and then I introduce the real Old Harry and they then write an explanation of how it was formed using the cards, but using appropriate terms. Old Harry mystery cards with thanks to Dave Parrish, The Buckingham School.

Dan Denker, King Edward VI School, Handsworth, has created an Old Harry PowerPoint using stills from Geography in Animation.

Why is Sanjay’s home insurance so high? Sanjay lives in Bangladesh - sort the cards out to find out why his insurance is so high and design a poster to explain why. The mystery is here.

Jennie Denton, Whalley Range High School, Manchester

Rhine flooding mystery from Lizzie Canvin from Grays School Media Arts College, in Essex for this mystery which she created for her Y10 class, as part of the hazards unit.
1) In pairs or 3's, pupils take statements from envelope and sort into categories - Causes, Effects, Background info.
2) Next ask pupils to sort the causes pile into 2 categories - Human, Physical. Discuss flooding processes, key words etc. Focus on factors which increase surface run-off.
3) Pupils present statements on A3 paper, in categories, drawing arrows to show links, colour code etc.
This activity works well after a lesson on the basics of how rivers flood. I used it to try and encourage them to think of how human activity is affected by, but can also contribute to flooding (catch 22 situation). By answering the mystery question afterwards as well, pupils had to think about secondary/longer term effects of hazards, and links between human activity and hazards. They really enjoyed it, and it got them discussing/arguing about some of the statements.

Odd One Out Rivers - Alan Jeanes at Simon Langton Boys School Canterbury.

Odd ones out Coast Alison Bowers, Le Bocage International School, Mauritius

Get out of your seats geography! Find someone who ... Rivers can be used at the start, in the middle or at the end of a lesson; the activity is easily adapted and the questions can be changed according to the local situation. Gary Dawson, Fair Oak Business and Enterprise College, Rugeley, Staffs.

Why was Bob the builder not allowed to build in Stone? This mystery has been created by Bob Jones from Alleynes High School, which he used with Y9 pupils in conjunction with fieldwork in Stone. Don't forget to look at the Flood 2000 site too.

Journey down the River Severn is a card sort activity based on the Landmarks video, Follow the River, pupils are given a list of statements and descriptions which they have to put in order from source to mouth.

From Jackie Arundale, now FSS Consultant for Sheffield LEA, working with staff from schools in Sheffield, Doncaster and Rotherham as part of a G and T workshop run with Ann Hoyland of Stocksbridge School.
Why did the Chinese writer Dai Qing spend 10 months in prison? 3 Gorges Dam mystery
Why are Jim and Betty having problems getting house insurance? Coastal erosion mystery

More Domino activities for starters
These cards can be used like the pub game at the start of a lesson, either in small groups or as a whole class activity. When cutting the cards up, remember each card has two halves! Bangladesh flooding dominoes
Richard Allen, Weston Road High School, Stafford.

Dominoes These rivers dominoes are in Excel spreadsheet format. NB They print out onto 31 pages of paper - one domino per page!
Rivers With thanks to Joanne Booker Jones, from North Halifax Grammar School.

Odd ones out Coasts for AS / A2 - full list of words, sets of words, answers! Simon Renshaw, Roundhill Community College, Leicester has sent these

Mystery on Lynmouth floods
Over 50 years ago the most seminal flooding event in the UK happened. It still lingers.

Why did PC Harper nearly die one night in August 1952? (Please note: This is a Microsoft Publisher file) Amanda Roff, Uffculme School, Devon

Andy Pinks'

Effects of weather concept map This is based on a severe snowfall in the South East of England in January 2003. There is a set of web links to newspaper reports of the event. There are full instructions on how Andy used the concept mapping cards. He has also offered 2 PowerPoint presentations with before and after photos on them. he has found then really useful as lesson starters on

hurricanes and

flooding for KS4. Andy Pinks teaches at Caterham School in Surrey

Rivers, Coasts and Floods