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Year 7

Causes of climate change

I understand the physical and human causes of climate change.

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New
New
Year 7

Causes of climate change

I understand the physical and human causes of climate change.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

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

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These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. There are both human and physical causes of climate change.
  2. Volcanoes, sunspots and Earth's changing orbit around the sun can change the climate.
  3. Human activity since the industrial revolution has been blamed for climate change.
  4. Greenhouse gases absorb energy from long-wave radiation and re-emit it back into our atmosphere.

Keywords

  • Climate change - a large-scale and long-term change in the planet’s climate, including weather patterns and average temperatures

  • Cause - the reason why something happens

  • Greenhouse gas - gases in Earth's atmosphere that trap heat

  • Greenhouse effect - the retention of heat in the atmosphere caused by the build up of greenhouse gases

Common misconception

Climate change is entirely caused by humans.

Students will recognise that our climate changes naturally and there are physical causes of this. Humans have intensified the process in recent years.


To help you plan your year 7 geography lesson on: Causes of climate change, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Reinforce that climate change is not just caused by humans, and that we do expect climate to change naturally over time.
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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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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is climate change?
A temporary change in the weather
Correct answer: A long-term change in Earth's temperature and weather patterns
The difference between summer and winter
The daily weather forecast
Q2.
Which of these is a natural cause of climate change?
Correct answer: Volcanic eruptions
Driving petrol and diesel cars
Burning fossil fuels
Cutting down forests
Q3.
What are greenhouse gases?
Correct answer: Gases that help trap heat in Earth's atmosphere
Gases that only exist in greenhouses
Harmless gases that have no effect on temperature
Gases that make the air fresher
Q4.
Which human activity releases the most carbon dioxide (CO₂)?
Watching TV
Correct answer: Burning fossil fuels for energy
Drinking bottled water
Q5.
True or false? Earth's climate has never changed before humans existed.
This is true because climate change is caused by humans
Correct answer: This is false because Earth's climate has changed in the past, e.g. Ice Ages
This is true because the climate changes every day
This is false because climate change is made up
Q6.
As the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, the temperature of Earth...
Correct answer: increases
decreases
stays the same

Exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
Which of these are examples of natural causes of climate change?
Correct answer: volcanic eruptions
burning fossil fules
Correct answer: sunspots
population increase
Correct answer: changes in Earths movement around the sun (Milankovitch Cycles)
Q2.
Put the greenhouse effect in the correct order.
1 - The Sun sends heat to Earth, some of which is reflected back into space.
2 - Gases like carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) trap heat, keeping Earth warm.
3 - Extra greenhouse gases stop more heat from escaping, making Earth warmer.
Q3.
When erupt they release ash and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In the short-term, ash cools Earth, in the long-term, the greenhouse gases add to global warming.
Correct Answer: volcanoes
Q4.
Why are humans causing climate change?
1 - The Sun sends heat to Earth, some of which is reflected back into space.
2 - Gases like carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) trap heat, keeping Earth warm.
3 - Human activities like burning fossil fuels add more greenhouse gases.
4 - Extra greenhouse gases stop more heat from escaping, making Earth warmer.