Year 7 - Geography
Causes of climate change
Weather and climate: how do they vary?
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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 teaches pupils about the physical processes that help explain our weather and climate. Pupils will use fieldwork to investigate weather in their local area. Pupils will also learn about how and why our climate is changing.
Lesson Summary
You understand the physical and human causes of climate change.
Key Notes
- There are both human and physical causes of climate change.
- Volcanoes, sunspots and Earth's changing orbit around the sun can change the climate.
- Human activity since the industrial revolution has been blamed for climate change.
- Greenhouse gases absorb energy from long-wave radiation and re-emit it back into our atmosphere.
Vocabulary To Learn
- Climate change: a large-scale and long-term change in the planet's climate, including weather patterns and average temperatures
- Cause: the reason why something happens
- Greenhouse gas: gases in Earth's atmosphere that trap heat
- Greenhouse effect: the retention of heat in the atmosphere caused by the build up of greenhouse gases
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Climate change is entirely caused by humans.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this geography topic using two clear key points.
There are both human and physical causes of climate change. Volcanoes, sunspots and Earth's changing orbit around the sun can change the climate.
2. Define this geography term and use it in an example. 'Climate change'
a large-scale and long-term change in the planet's climate, including weather patterns and average temperatures.
3. Correct this common geography misunderstanding.
Mistake: Climate change is entirely caused by humans. Correction: Students will recognise that our climate changes naturally and there are physical causes of this. Humans have intensified the process in recent years.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Actions to tackle climate change Study Guide
- Anticyclones Study Guide
- Depressions Study Guide
- Fieldwork: Analysing, concluding and evaluating microclimate data Study Guide
- Fieldwork: Planning and collecting microclimate data Study Guide
- Fieldwork: Presenting microclimate data Study Guide
- Impacts of climate change on the UK Study Guide
- Past climate change Study Guide
- The UK's climate Study Guide
- Types of rainfall Study Guide
- Weather and climate Study Guide
- Weather and climate forecasting Study Guide
- World climate zones Study Guide
Browse all guides in the Year 7 Geography guide library.