Natural Environments and Landforms

Physical features are the naturally occurring landforms of environments. They include:

• hills

• mountains

• valleys

• bodies of water, e.g. streams, rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, coasts

• natural resources, e.g. the site of copper, tin, zinc, cobalt (although mines that are created to extract them are human features).

The world is shaped by physical processes which give rise to the physical features we see in spaces and environments. It is important that pupils understand that these processes sometimes take millennia to happen and that they are ongoing.

Some important processes that may be included in this knowledge category are:

• erosion and deposition associated with rivers and coasts

• the water cycle

• ocean circulation

• climate change

• earthquakes and volcanoes.

Climate

Climate is an important concept that children must understand.

Aspects of knowledge that may be included are:

• the main difference between weather and climate is time. Weather is only temporary. For example, a blizzard can turn into a flood after just a few warm spring days. Climate, on the other hand, is more than just a few warm or cool days. Climate describes the typical weather conditions in an entire region for a very long time — 30 years or more.
• climate change describes a change in the typical weather for a region — such as high and low temperatures and amount of rainfall — over a long period of time. Scientists have observed that, overall, Earth is warming. Earth's climate has warmed up and cooled down many times. In the past, Earth often warmed up when the Sun was very active. But nowadays, we can carefully measure the Sun’s activity. We know Earth is warming now, even when the Sun is less active.
• different parts of the world have different climates. Some parts of the world are hot and rainy nearly every day. They have a tropical wet climate. Others are cold and snow-covered most of the year. They have a polar climate. Between the icy poles and the steamy tropics are many other climates that contribute to Earth’s biodiversity.
• the most familiar features of a region’s climate are probably average temperature and precipitation. Changes in day-to-day, day-to-night, and seasonal variations also help determine specific climates.

Population and Migration, Trade and Tourism

Geographical diversity involves looking at how physical, human and cultural elements are differentiated from each other. This is noticeable at a variety of scales: global to local. Even places that are relatively near to each other can have a great deal of geographical diversity.

Some aspects of diversity that may be included are:

• various physical characteristics of a region or space, e.g. climate, vegetation, fauna, bodies of water, existing types of relief and landscape

• various human characteristics of a region or space, e.g. population density, migration patterns, the nature of the built environment and poverty levels.

Human processes both influence and are influenced by the physical features of environments which offer both possibilities for and constraints to human activity. In this knowledge category it is important to make links between the two as often as possible so as to explore interconnection, connection and change.

Some of the human processes that may be explored are:

• transport

• trade

• migration

• settlements

• industry

• travel

• leisure and tourism

• pollution.

Built environments, settlements, and land use

Human interactions with landscapes, categorisations of food production, ideas of surplus, deficit, abundance and scarcity, how this links to climate and distribution is key for understanding relationships in geography.

Understanding geographical location is an essential part of geography.

Aspects of knowledge that may be included are:

• continents

• oceans

• regions

• countries

• capital cities

• global position, e.g. northern and southern hemispheres, the equator and the tropics

• compass directions

• distances.

Built environments and settlements are the things made by or altered by people. They include:

• urban and suburban settlements, e.g. cities and towns

• rural settlements, e.g. hamlets and villages

• leisure facilities

• manufacturing facilities, e.g. factories and workshops

• transport hubs, e.g. bus stops, stations, railway stations, airports and ferry ports

• transport infrastructure, e.g. roads, railways and canals

• farming and agriculture

• reservoirs and dams

• any aspects of an environment that have been put there by people, e.g. pavements, street furniture and signs.