Geography / Year 7 / Geographical Knowledge and Understanding / Unit 1: Water in the world

Curriculum content descriptions

Classification of environmental resources and the forms that water takes as a resource (ACHGK037)

Elaborations
  • classifying resources into renewable, non-renewable and continuous resources, and investigating examples of each type
  • describing how water is an available resource when it is groundwater, soil moisture (green water), and surface water in dams, rivers and lakes (blue water), and a potential resource when it exists as salt water, ice or water vapour
General capabilities
  • Numeracy Numeracy
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and creative thinking
ScOT terms

Energy resources,  Water resources,  Energy use

Online

Catchment management: what’s in a drop?

Water is a precious resource, yet water is also wasted every day. This activity investigates water consumption and how you can reduce the amount of water wasted. OUTCOMES of this learning activity are for students to: understand the urban water cycle; learn different ways to reduce water usage; discover how much water is ...

Online

Catchment management: water sustainability

Water is an important resource, and is required by all living species to survive. Water is also important for many industries and businesses. This activity investigates the different land uses over time across your local catchment. OUTCOMES are for children to: understand the natural and urban water cycle; learn about the ...

Interactive

Sites2See – water education

Resources and information on water as a human right, global water equality, water management and water consumption, with a range of teacher resources for water education.

Video

Show me the water!

Where does the water in your tap come from? Fresh water accounts for only 3% of the earth's water supply and only 1% of that is available to us in lakes and rivers or in the atmosphere. But how much do we use for drinking water and what else do we use fresh water for? Watch this video to find out how NASA's Global Precipitation ...

Interactive

Renewable Energy Sources - Google Play app

Find out about renewable energies such as wind, water, solar and biomass energy including how they provide energy, development of energy technology and environmental impacts in the electronic book. scientists and inventors involved. Explore some real-world engineering feats involved in producing today's energy supplies, ...

Video

Science for a hungry world

How vital is water to food production? What would happen if we ran out of readily available water? This is a real possibility for some countries that rely heavily on groundwater to grow crops and sustain local population. By observing the gravity of the Earth, NASA satellites have been able to track the changes in the amount ...

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Water and human wellbeing

This is an online resource about water availability on Flores, an Indonesian island, highlighting the importance of access to sufficient safe drinking water for the wellbeing of a community. It describes a project carried out by a partnership between AusAID, World Vision and local communities, to provide access to a plentiful ...

Video

ABC News: Getting your facts straight about water use

We hear a lot about water use in Australia. What are the real statistics about water use? What is the breakdown of water use for different groups across Australia? Watch this clip to find out who uses water and how much, and consider the value of water and the 'return' on this use for the Australian economy. The figures ...

Video

Foreign Correspondent: Cenotes

The Yucatán Peninsula is located in south-eastern Mexico and covers a vast area of coastline south of the Gulf of Mexico. It is a popular tourist destination for people who travel to cities such as Cancún to enjoy sandy white beaches. Explore the subterranean freshwater caverns of this region and discover why this pristine ...

Video

Foreign Correspondent: Prehistoric evidence

Beneath the Yucatán Peninsula in south-eastern Mexico exists a karst aquifer, the largest underground river system in the world. Discover its deep caverns, which have been perfectly preserved for thousands of years, complete with prehistoric remains.

Video

ABC News: Population pressures in coastal towns

Stunning beaches and tourist-filled coastal towns are some of Australia's most important assets. But how do seasonal fluctuations in population affect these coastal communities? This clip focuses on a new push by the National Sea Change Taskforce to have visitor numbers properly counted in the next census, so that development ...

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The USGS Water Science School

This resource is a website with extensive information about water, including the water cycle, water properties, surface water and groundwater, droughts, floods and tsunamis, and water quality. It also includes a section on hydroelectricity. There is an emphasis on data from the USA. The resource includes a photo gallery, ...

Online

Explaining our catchment

This is a 28-page PDF unit of work for year 7 geography in which students use conceptual diagrams to demonstrate visually the water catchment process. Over eight lessons, students use these diagrams as an aid to identifying the relationships between features in their local waterways. The resource includes an explanation ...

Online

Creating a wildlife habitat: vision

This learning activity is the second part of a sequence of 5 individual learning activities focused on creating a wildlife habitat. The order of these learning activities are: research, vision, design, planting and monitoring and care. OUTCOMES for this learning activity are for children to: create a vision of what their ...

Online

Creating a wildlife habitat: design

Creating a wildlife habitat can provide a home for a variety of local wildlife from the smallest insects and spiders to birds, reptiles, mammals and frogs. These habitats can provide a sanctuary for species that have been displaced through urbanisation, as built structures replace natural areas. The Vision activity determined ...

Online

Creating a wildlife habitat: monitoring and care

Monitoring and care helps provide an understanding of how your garden grows. What does it need to be healthy, to support growth, and be a native habitat? This learning activity is the final part of a sequence of 5 individual learning activities focused on creating a wildlife habitat. The order of these learning activities ...

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Water In The World

This Teacher Guide provides teachers with a variety of resources and learning experiences to address the Year 7 Geography topic Water in the World. It uses teaching activities such as a feasibility funnel and a persuasion pyramid to engage students and structure ideas. The resource includes ideas for assessment as well ...

Downloadable

Groundwater Mini unit - Teacher and Educator notes and student activities

This unit focuses on water occurring naturally underground, known as groundwater. The unit introduces what an aquifer is and how it works, how water moves through the environment with a focus on groundwater, the Great Artesian Basin and human interaction with water. Students have opportunities to explore groundwater through ...

Downloadable

Visualising water quality

This lesson sequence provides a rich opportunity to discuss sustainable water management issues, particularly those related to a local catchment. Students gather and map data which allows them to answer questions and add simple environmental data such as water quality parameters to maps using Google Maps.

Downloadable

Explaining our catchment

In this lesson sequence students use conceptual diagrams to identify features and relationships between features in the local waterway. Students create a conceptual diagram, using a hypothetical waterway from 'The story of a river'. They then create a digital conceptual diagram online using data collected from their local ...