Human geography of North and South America
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can describe key features of the human geography of the Americas, including population distribution and major cities.
Key learning points
- Settlements are established and grow for different reasons.
- Some areas of North and South America are more populated than others.
- There are many major world cities in North and South America.
- The key human features of North and South America can be investigated using a wide range of resources, atlases and maps.
Keywords
Settlement - Settlements are places where groups of people live and work.
Population - The population is the total number of people living in a particular area.
Major city - A major city is a large city with a population of over 100,000 people.
Landmark - A feature in the landscape which has a particular meaning attached to it, for example to help with directions, is called a landmark.
Common misconception
The capital city is always the country's largest city.
Use examples to explain that capital cities are chosen for various reasons.
Teacher tip
Digital mapping tools could be used to investigate the population distribution in North and South America. Learners could also explore and make comparisons with population distribution in the UK.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.__________ geographical features are natural features.
Q2.Which of these is not a human geographical feature?
Q3.What is a settlement?
Q4.What does population distribution describe?
Q5.A landmark can be a natural or human geographical feature
Q6.Why is a capital city important?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Order these types of settlement from smallest to biggest.
Q2.__________ resources are things that are produced by the environment.
Q3.Which of these is not a natural resource?
Q4.Where are major cities often located?
Q5.Match each North American capital city with its country.
Cuba
Jamaica
Canada
USA
Q6.Match each South American capital city with its country.
Brazil
Argentina
Uruguay
Ecuador
To help you plan your 5 geography lesson on: Human geography of North and South America, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 5 geography lesson on: Human geography of North and South America, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 geography lessons from the North and South America: how diverse are their places and landscapes? unit, dive into the full primary geography curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.