Year 6 - Geography
Coasts and the future
Coasts: what happens where the land meets the sea?
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit explores how coastal landscapes form and change. Pupils learn about erosion, habitats and human activity at the coast, and investigate how coastal environments are used, protected and managed in the face of ongoing change.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to discuss the impacts of climate change on the coast and explain what we can do to protect it.
Key Notes
- Increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as a result of human activity are causing rapid climate change.
- Rapid climate change is a problem as people and animals can't adapt quickly enough to change.
- Sea level rise is one change caused by increased temperatures as ice caps melt and water expands.
- Increased energy in the atmosphere and oceans increases the risk of extreme weather.
Vocabulary To Learn
- carbon dioxide: Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere that traps heat
- fossil fuels: Fossil fuels are natural substances that were formed over millions of years from the buried remains of ancient organisms; they include coal, oil and gas
- renewable energy: Renewable energy is sources of energy that can be re-used and will not be used up or run out
- sustainable: If something is sustainable it is able to continue over a long time
- atmosphere: The atmosphere is the layer of gases that surrounds Earth. It includes the oxygen we need to breathe, so it is essential for life on Earth
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- The melting of sea ice will contribute to rising sea levels.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this geography topic using two clear key points.
Increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as a result of human activity are causing rapid climate change. Rapid climate change is a problem as people and animals can't adapt quickly enough to change.
2. Define this geography term and use it in an example. 'carbon dioxide'
Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere that traps heat.
3. Correct this common geography misunderstanding.
Mistake: The melting of sea ice will contribute to rising sea levels. Correction: There are some great videos of experiments used to demonstrate that only the melting of land ice (e.g. glaciers, ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica) will exacerbate sea level rise.
More Lessons In This Unit
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