Rare earth materials
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can describe what rare earth materials are, explain the challenges they create and potential solutions.
Key learning points
- Rare earth materials are essential to modern technologies but challenging to extract and refine.
- Open pit mining can lead to deforestation, habitat and biodiversity loss.
- Extracting just one tonne of rare earth materials can produce up to 2,000 tonnes of toxic waste.
- Local communities are at risk of respiratory illnesses, reproductive and heart issues.
- Solutions include circular mineral harvesting, new technologies to improve recycling rates and new synthetic materials.
Keywords
Rare earth materials - a group of 17 metallic elements that are essential to modern technologies but challenging to extract and refine
Reserves - the remaining extractable amount of resources, such as minerals or energy sources
Heavy metals - metallic elements with high density, atomic weight or atomic number, many are known for their toxicity
Common misconception
Rare earth materials are rare.
Despite their name, they’re not actually rare in quantity, they’re just rarely found in concentrated, economically viable deposits.
Teacher tip
Homework research project: Identify any specific rare earth materials in an item you own. Work out their likely origin and plot on a map.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the keywords to their definitions.
a resource that will run out one day
a resource that can be naturally replaced
using resources in a way that doesn’t cause harm
Q2.Which of these is a finite resource?
Q3.What is the main challenge of meeting Earth's resource needs?
Q4.What makes a resource use sustainable?
Q5.Which of these resources is renewable?
Q6.Why can’t we rely only on using less to solve the resource problem?
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.Match the keywords with their definitions.
17 metallic elements used in modern tech
remaining extractable amount of a resource
toxic, dense metallic elements
Q2.What are rare earth materials mainly used for?
Q3.Why are rare earth materials hard to extract?
Q4.Why are rare earth materials often wrongly assumed to be rare?
To help you plan your 9 geography lesson on: Rare earth materials, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 9 geography lesson on: Rare earth materials, 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 Natural resources: Can Earth meet our needs? unit, dive into the full secondary geography curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.