Location and physical characteristics of cold environments
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can describe the location and physical characteristics of cold environments.
Key learning points
- Cold environments (polar and tundra) and located at high latitudes close to the poles.
- Cold environments have distinctive physical characteristics.
- The climate influences other physical characteristics of cold environments.
Keywords
Cold environments - environments found at higher latitudes and higher altitudes; they include polar, tundra and alpine biomes
Biome - a global land area that is characterised by its plants, animals and climate
Latitude - the angular distance of a place north or south of Earth's Equator
Tundra - a vast, flat, treeless Arctic region where vegetation growth is hindered by extreme low temperatures and short growing seasons
Climate - the average weather conditions of a place over a long period of time, typically 30 years or more
Common misconception
Cold environments receive a lot of precipitation (in this case snowfall).
While some areas of coastal tundra does receive a substantial quantity of precipitation, in reality most cold environment regions are extremely dry, with some areas receiving less than 250 mm of precipitation per year - defining them as deserts.
Teacher tip
The British Antarctic Survey have produced useful layers in ArcGIS which are free to access, including "Bedmap3 - bed topography of Antarctica", which shows the land area and topography of Antarctica: what is underneath the ice sheets.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is a cold environment?
Q2.Which of the following is a cold environment?
Q3.What is permafrost?
Q4.What is a key characteristic of the tundra biome?
Q5.What type of precipitation is common in cold environments?
Q6.What is an ice cap?
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.What are the main physical characteristics of polar regions?
Q2.Cold environments are biomes found at high and/or high altitudes. They include polar, tundra and alpine biomes.
Q3.Which two continents contain large cold environments?
Q4.How much precipitation do cold environments typically receive?
To help you plan your 10 geography lesson on: Location and physical characteristics of cold environments, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 10 geography lesson on: Location and physical characteristics of cold environments, 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 4 geography lessons from the Cold environments unit, dive into the full secondary geography curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.