Threats to the UK's coastline
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can describe how the UK's coastline is at risk from threats such as rising sea levels.
Key learning points
- The UK's coastline is at risk due to sea level rise as a result of climate change.
- Rising sea levels are speeding up rates of erosion, leading to the east coast of England eroding quickly.
- When cliffs erode quickly they put homes and buildings on top of the cliffs at risk of falling into the sea.
- Some parts of the UK's coastline are eroding at a rate of more than 2 metres a year.
Keywords
Global warming - Global warming is the increase in Earth's average temperature over a long period of time.
Climate change - Climate change is a large-scale and long-term change in the planet’s climate, including weather patterns and average temperatures.
Sea level - Sea level is the average height reached by the sea or an ocean, mesaured between high tide and low tide.
Erosion - Erosion is the process of Earth’s surface, e.g. rock or soil, being worn away and transported from its original site.
Risk - Risk means the possibility that something bad or unpleasant might happen to either the built or the natural environment.
Common misconception
That climate change causes global warming, or that climate change and global warming are the same thing.
Global warming is the rise in average temperatures as a result of the greenhouse effect. Climate change is changes to weather patterns (including temperatures and rainfall patterns) as a result of global warming.
Teacher tip
Use old and new maps to work out distances of settlements from cliffs in different time periods as evidence of coastal retreat. Students could also track and list buildings, roads or entire settlements that have been lost to the sea as a result of coastal erosion.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is erosion?
Q2.The is the boundary between the land and the sea or ocean.
Q3.Match the key terms, they all mean something different and all have an effect at the UK's coastline.
The long-term average of weather patterns in a specific region
The day-to-day atmospheric conditions, e.g. it's raining today
A long-term shift in global or regional climate patterns
The gradual increase in Earth’s average temperature
Q4.What is weathering?
Q5.What is sea level?
Q6.What could be done to protect the coastline from erosion?
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.Global is the increase in Earth's average temperature over a long period of time.
Q2. change is the large-scale, long-term change in the planet’s climate, including weather patterns and average temperature.
Q3.What is happening to sea levels around the world?
Q4.The east coast of England experiences some of the highest rates of in the UK. As sea levels are rising, they are contributing to the increase.
To help you plan your 7 geography lesson on: Threats to the UK's coastline, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 7 geography lesson on: Threats to the UK's coastline, 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 3 geography lessons from the Coasts: what shapes life at the coast? unit, dive into the full secondary geography curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.