Agriculture and habitat loss
I can explain how growing crops for food is linked to the loss of habitats and a decrease in biodiversity.
Agriculture and habitat loss
I can explain how growing crops for food is linked to the loss of habitats and a decrease in biodiversity.
Link copied to clipboard
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.
These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Growing crops to feed animals and humans requires significant land use
- Converting land for agricultural use is one of the major causes of deforestation
- Deforestation results in habitat loss for many species
- Conversion of land for agriculture is a major cause of habitat loss and biodiversity loss
- Mitigation strategies include changing diets and positive land use change (e.g. reforestation and rewilding)
Keywords
Agriculture - using land to raise farm animals and grow crops to feed humans and farm animals
Deforestation - the removal of trees, often to use the land for agriculture or building
Habitat - the place where an organism lives, which provides the organism with food, shelter and a place to reproduce
Biodiversity - the range of different living organisms (species) in an ecosystem
Ecosystem - all the living organisms in a place interacting with each other and their non-living surroundings
Common misconception
Thinking that agriculture just means growing crops.
The lesson explores the idea that agriculture also includes using land to rear animals, and that this has destroyed more habitat than using land to grow crops.
To help you plan your year 9 science lesson on: Agriculture and habitat loss, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 9 science lesson on: Agriculture and habitat loss, 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 science lessons from the Climate change and biodiversity unit, dive into the full secondary science curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
Licence
Lesson video
Loading...
Starter quiz
6 Questions
Exit quiz
6 Questions
the removal of trees to use the land for agriculture or building
the place where an organism lives
the range of different species in an ecosystem
