Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Geography
GeographyChanging landscapes: rivers, coasts and ice28 min★★★ difficulty

Glaciation and the landscapes it left

Much of upland Britain was carved by ice that vanished 11,000 years ago.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Human and physical geography: Understand how geographical processes interact to create distinctive human and physical landscapes that change over time
  • Human and physical geography: Understand rivers, coasts and glaciation and the physical processes that give rise to landscapes, and how they change over time

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand rivers, coasts and glaciation and the physical processes that give rise to landscapes, and how they change over time

Key learning points

  • • How glaciers erode
  • • The landforms
  • • What the ice left behind

This lesson at a glance

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

Words to know

riverscoastsglaciationphysicalprocesses

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 13 · Discover8%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 13

Watch first

Glaciation and the landscapes it left

An English teaching video on this topic from Oxford Education. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand rivers, coasts and glaciation and the physical processes that give rise to landscapes, and how they change over time

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 13

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · How glaciers erode

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

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 13

Learn

How glaciers erode

Plucking pulls rock away where meltwater has frozen onto the bed. Abrasion grinds the surface with embedded debris, leaving scratches called striations.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 13

Learn

The landforms

Corries are armchair hollows high on mountainsides. Where two corries meet, a knife-edge arête forms; three or more leave a pyramidal peak. Valleys become U-shaped rather than V-shaped.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 13

Quick check

Which process pulls rock from a glacier's bed?

6

Reset break

Part 6 of 13

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
7

Quick check

Part 7 of 13

Quick check

A glaciated valley is usually…

8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 13

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · What the ice left behind

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

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 13

Learn

What the ice left behind

Moraine is unsorted debris dumped as the ice melted. Ribbon lakes fill overdeepened valley floors — Windermere and Wastwater are both glacial.

10

Quick check

Part 10 of 13

Quick check

What is moraine?

11

Challenge round

Part 11 of 13

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

12

Mastery quiz

Part 12 of 13

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Glaciation and the landscapes it left

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

  1. 1. Which process pulls rock from a glacier's bed?

  2. 2. A glaciated valley is usually…

  3. 3. What is moraine?

13

Lesson round-up

Part 13 of 13

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

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 13 · Watch & discover

How this is going

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    Understand how geographical processes interact to create distinctive human and physical landscapes that change over time

  • Not looked at yet

    Understand rivers, coasts and glaciation and the physical processes that give rise to landscapes, and how they change over time

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