Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Geography
GeographyThe changing human world25 min★★ difficulty

Primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary sectors

Every job fits somewhere in a chain from raw material to finished idea. Tracking that chain reveals how economies develop over time.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Human and physical geography: Understand economic activity in the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary sectors, and the change in their inter-relationships in different economic settings

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand economic activity in the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary sectors, and the change in their inter-relationships in different economic settings

Key learning points

  • • Primary and secondary
  • • Tertiary and quaternary
  • • Changing balance
  • • Global inter-relationships

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 15 parts to scroll through
  • 3 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

economicactivityprimarysecondarytertiary

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 15 · Discover7%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 15

Watch first

Primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary sectors

An English teaching video on this topic from BBC Earth Science. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand economic activity in the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary sectors, and the change in their inter-relationships in different economic settings

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 15

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Primary and secondary

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 15

Learn

Primary and secondary

Primary industry extracts raw materials, such as fishing off Scotland or cocoa farming in Ghana. Secondary industry manufactures goods from those materials, like car assembly in Sunderland turning steel and components into vehicles.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 15

Learn

Tertiary and quaternary

Tertiary industry provides services, such as retail, teaching or healthcare. Quaternary industry involves research, design and information, such as software development in Cambridge's Silicon Fen or pharmaceutical research.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 15

Quick check

Which sector involves extracting raw materials, such as fishing or farming?

6

Quick check

Part 6 of 15

Quick check

Which sector includes research, design and information technology?

7

Reset break

Part 7 of 15

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 15

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Changing balance

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 15

Learn

Changing balance

As countries develop, employment typically shifts from primary towards secondary, then tertiary and quaternary sectors — the UK now employs over 80% of workers in services, compared to under 2% in agriculture.

10

Explore the idea

Part 10 of 15

Learn

Global inter-relationships

Sectors depend on each other across the world: primary materials mined in one country may be manufactured in another and sold as services or designs in a third, linking economies through global supply chains.

11

Quick check

Part 11 of 15

Quick check

As countries develop, employment typically shifts most towards which sectors?

12

Challenge round

Part 12 of 15

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

13

Challenge round

Part 13 of 15

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

____ industry extracts raw materials, such as fishing off Scotland or cocoa farming in Ghana.

____ industry manufactures goods from those materials, like car assembly in Sunderland turning steel and components into vehicles.

____ industry provides services, such as retail, teaching or healthcare.

14

Mastery quiz

Part 14 of 15

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary sectors

3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Which sector involves extracting raw materials, such as fishing or farming?

  2. 2. Which sector includes research, design and information technology?

  3. 3. As countries develop, employment typically shifts most towards which sectors?

15

Lesson round-up

Part 15 of 15

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

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Games

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Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Flooding on the River Calder

The town of Harbrook sits where a steep valley opens onto a flat floodplain. In December 2015, 120 mm of rain fell in 36 hours onto ground that was already saturated. The river rose 2.4 m in five hours, and 380 homes and 54 businesses flooded. Two roads and the railway closed for eleven days.

Geographers pointed to physical causes — steep slopes, impermeable rock, heavy rainfall — and human causes: moorland drained upstream, new housing built on the floodplain, and drains designed for smaller storms.

Since then the town has planted 40 hectares of woodland upstream, built leaky dams in small streams, and raised flood walls to 1.8 m. In the storm of 2020 the peak river level was 0.3 m lower and 40 homes flooded, not 380.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. List two physical and two human causes of the 2015 flood.
  2. Explain how planting woodland upstream lowers the river's peak level.
  3. Using the figures, judge how successful the scheme has been. Quote data in your answer.

  • Case study notes

    Writing

    Write the place, the facts and the figures from this lesson so you can revise them later.

    Half a page

  • Explain answer

    Writing

    Answer in full sentences, giving causes and effects. Use one figure or place name as evidence.

    8–10 sentences

  • Map or sketch

    Diagram

    Draw the map, cross-section or field sketch with a key, title and labels, then photograph it.

    1 map with a key

  • Data work

    Working out

    Plot your figures as a graph on paper and write one sentence about the pattern.

    1 graph + 1 sentence

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 15 · Watch & discover

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    Understand economic activity in the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary sectors, and the change in their inter-relationships in different economic settings

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