Antarctica: A frozen wilderness
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can describe the location of Antarctica and explain how it is studied.
Key learning points
- Antarctica is a continent at the southern most point of the world.
- 91% of all glaciers are found in Antarctica.
- Scientists across the world work in Antarctica, but no-one lives there permanently.
Keywords
Glacier - a huge accumulation of ice and snow that moves slowly over land
Continent - a large continuous area of land on Earth
Antarctic Treaty - a natural area largely untouched by humans
Common misconception
Antarctica is an ocean covered in ice.
Antarctica is a continent, not an ocean. It has a landmass beneath its thick ice sheets, unlike the Arctic, which is sea ice floating on the ocean.
Teacher tip
There a lots of news articles documenting Antarctic research and recent changes to ice.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is the primary reason Antarctica is so cold?
Q2.Which of the following is true about the landscape of Antarctica?
Q3.Why is Antarctica often called a 'desert'?
Q4.Antarctica is a ...
Q5.Which hemisphere is Antarctica located in?
Q6.Which animal is famously associated with Antarctica?
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.Antarctica is ...
Q2.91% of all in the world are found in Antarctica.
Q3.What is the primary characteristic of Antarctica’s climate?
Q4.Who inhabits Antarctica?
To help you plan your 9 geography lesson on: Antarctica: A frozen wilderness, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 9 geography lesson on: Antarctica: A frozen wilderness, 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 Ice and glaciers: How are cold places affected by a warming planet? unit, dive into the full secondary geography curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.