Depressions
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain the weather associated with a depression.
Key learning points
- Depressions are areas of low pressure where air is rising.
- Warm air and cold air meet at depressions causing changeable temperatures and rain.
- Depressions bring windy conditions shown by closely spaced isobars.
- Typically the passage of a depression over the UK can last between 1 and 5 days.
Keywords
Pressure - a force pushing or pressing on a given area
Air mass - a mass of air with the same levels of temperature, humidity, and pressure
Depression - an area of low pressure characterised by rain, wind and cloud
Front - a weather front is the boundary between a warm air mass and a cold air mass
Common misconception
The weather associated with an anticyclone stays the same all year around.
Students will analyse images to identify how anticyclones may bring different weather in the summer and winter.
Teacher tip
Students may remember the weather associated with depressions if you say "depressions are depressing, because it rains!"
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is weather?
Q2.What latitude has the warmest climate?
Q3.Which weather pattern is typically associated with calm conditions?
Q4.The UK is located in the __________ hemisphere.
Q5.Rain, snow, hail and sleet are examples of ...
Q6.What is an airmass?
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.Air is the force exerted by the weight (or mass) of the column of air above us.
Q2.Put these three sentences together to describe how pressure changes cause winds to blow.
Q3. form where cold and warm air masses collide. They are areas of low pressure where air is rising and bring unsettled weather.
Q4.Which of these are features of depressions?
To help you plan your 7 geography lesson on: Depressions, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 7 geography lesson on: Depressions, 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 Weather and climate: how do they vary? unit, dive into the full secondary geography curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.