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Year 8

Physical geography and development

I can explain how physical geography influences development.

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New
New
Year 8

Physical geography and development

I can explain how physical geography influences development.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Physical geography can help or hinder development.
  2. Relief, natural resources, natural hazards, climate and location may all be barriers to development.
  3. Countries can overcome physical barriers to development in a variety of ways.
  4. HICs are often more able to overcome physical barriers than LICs due to having more financial resources.

Keywords

  • Relief - the physical shape of the land in an area, including its height and steepness

  • Natural resources - materials or substances occurring in nature, such as minerals, water, forests, and fossil fuels

  • Landlocked - a country with no coastline

  • Natural hazards - extreme natural events that have the potential to cause harm to people, property, and the environment

  • Climate - an average of weather conditions (e.g. rain, sun, wind) in a place taken over a long period of time (usually 30 years or more)

Common misconception

Economic development can be fully explained by physical geography.

Physical geography is one factor in influencing a country’s development. Other factors such as history and politics often have a greater influence.


To help you plan your year 8 geography lesson on: Physical geography and development, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

The practice task in learning cycle 2 could be made into a much larger activity where the pupils do significant research into each country and then make more extensive suggestions based on their context.
Teacher tip

Equipment

atlases

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is the meaning of inequality?
The number of people in each country
A measure of a country’s climate
The amount of pollution in a country
Correct answer: Differences in wealth and access to resources
Q2.
What does ‘development’ mean in geography?
The amount of land a country has
Correct answer: The improvement of people’s quality of life
The number of people in a country
Q3.
Which measure is often used to compare wealth between countries?
Life expectancy
Correct answer: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita
Literacy rate
Q4.
What is physical geography?
Correct answer: The study of natural features like landforms, climate, and ecosystems
The study of how people live and interact
The study of cities and transport
Q5.
What is human geography?
The study of mountains and rivers
Correct answer: The study of people, cultures, economies, and how they interact with places
The study of plants and animals
Q6.
How has global wealth changed over the past 100 years?
It has stayed the same everywhere
All countries have become equally wealthy
Correct answer: It has generally increased, but unevenly across countries

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
How can physical geography impact a country's development?
It has no impact on development
Correct answer: It can affect resources, trade, and agriculture
Only climate matters for development
Countries with mountains are always richer
Q2.
Which physical factor can make trade and development easier?
Being completely landlocked
Having extreme weather all year
Having no rivers or lakes
Correct answer: Being near a coastline with good ports
Q3.
Can economic development be fully explained by physical geography?
Yes, physical geography is the only factor that determines development.
Correct answer: No, while important, human factors like politics and technology also matter.
Yes, countries with good physical geography always develop faster.
No, physical geography has no impact on development.
Q4.
What is one way countries can overcome physical geography challenges?
Ignoring the environment
Moving all people to cities
Correct answer: Investing in technology and infrastructure
Relying only on farming