Geography / Year 8 / Geographical Knowledge and Understanding / Unit 1: Landforms and landscapes

Curriculum content descriptions

Geomorphic processes that produce landforms, including a case study of at least one landform (ACHGK050)

Elaborations
  • describing the influence of folding, faulting or volcanism on a chosen landform
  • researching the effects of rock type, weathering, erosion by water and wind, and transportation and deposition on the chosen landform
General capabilities
  • Numeracy Numeracy
ScOT terms

Environmental management,  Environmental hazards,  Earth movements,  Disaster relief

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 ...

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What is a volcano?

This is an online resource about volcanoes that provides important information about what a volcano is, describes the three most common volcanoes and explains hazards caused by volcanic eruptions. Links in the right-hand menu provide additional volcano-related resources including publications, a volcano library catalogue ...

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Landforms from space

This is an online resource containing satellite images of nine distinctive landforms across Australia. The images, taken from the Landsat satellite series, are of the landforms: Roper River, NT; Lake Eyre, SA; Gulf Country, Qld; Channel Country, Qld; Cairns, Qld; Liverpool Plains, NSW; Snowy Mountains, NSW; Gippsland, Vic; ...

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What causes volcanoes?

This is an online resource about the causes of volcanoes, part of a larger resource about volcanoes. It includes sections on the Earth's tectonic plate margins spreading, the Earth's tectonic plate margins subducting, and predicting volcanic eruptions. The image at the top of the screen illustrates the inside workings of ...

Online

GeogSpace: years 7-8 - inquiry and skills

This is a web page consisting of an overview and two illustrations of practice on the GeogSpace website, a resource for teachers. The illustrations relate to the Geographical inquiry and Skills and the Geographical Knowledge and Understanding strands of the Australian Curriculum: Geography. In Illustration 1, year 7 students ...

Downloadable

The Australian Coast - Teacher notes and student activities

This 100 page booklet explores the major physical environmental characteristics of the Australian coast. It also provides an outline of the major physical processes which shape the coast and introduces the human-induced processes which impact upon Australia’s coast. The booklet contains a glossary, links to online resources, ...

Downloadable

Geological Timewalk Booklet

This 58 page booklet explores geological timescales in the context of the Australian continent. Each section discusses a single geological time interval, and outlines the major geological, climatic and biological events which occurred in that interval, including continental drift, the break-up and amalgamation of continental ...

Downloadable

Volcanoes : Teacher notes and student activities

This 80 page booklet covers a range of topics concerning volcanoes. It includes information about causes of volcanic eruptions, volcano types, where volcanoes are found and why, Australia's hot spot volcanoes and the hazards and benefits of volcanoes. Activities cover the science of eruptions and their impact on people, ...

Downloadable

Weathering, erosion, landforms and regolith - Teacher notes and student activities

This 112 page booklet explores the processes of weathering, erosion and deposition. It highlights the different types of weathering, erosion and transport and provides examples of famous landscapes to enhance the understanding of these processes. It includes case studies about the formation of many Australian landforms ...

Downloadable

Volcanic hazards: What would an Emergency Manager do?

This activity examines a hypothetical city and its vulnerability to volcanic hazard risk. It includes background information for teachers, PowerPoint presentation, student activity sheet and worked answers.

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Work sample Year 8 Geography: Landscapes and landforms

This work sample demonstrates evidence of student learning in relation to aspects of the achievement standards for Year 8 Geography. The primary purpose for the work sample is to demonstrate the standard, so the focus is on what is evident in the sample not how it was created. The sample is an authentic representation of ...

Downloadable

Landslides: Teachers Notes and Student Activities

This 50 page booklet explains the nature of landslides and gives examples of various historical landslides that have occurred in Australia. It contains a glossary, links to online resources, activity ideas and answer sheets.

Video

Liquefaction In Action

This short video examines the process of liquefaction and its impact on buildings and other structures. The video encourages students to investigate some of the ways engineers lessen the impact of earthquakes on buildings and to make their own liquefaction demonstration and extend it into an inquiry activity.

Downloadable

Earthquakes - Teacher Notes and Student Activities

This 85 page booklet explores earthquakes. The booklet includes the causes and types of earthquakes, how earthquakes are recorded, magnitudes of earthquakes and case studies of significant Australian earthquakes. The booklet contains a glossary, links to online resources, activity ideas and experiments for students and ...

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Sample Teaching and Learning Outline: Humanities and Social Sciences Year 8

Find ideas and relevant links for teaching Year 8 History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship and Economics in this resource.

Interactive

Sites2See – earthquakes

Resources on the topic of earthquakes to help explore the human and physical dimensions. Links to maps and interactive activities on plate tectonics, with a particular focus on the Caribbean plate, the movement of which caused the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, and links to news and information about the ...

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.

Downloadable

Ice Power

This activity demonstrates how much water expands when frozen. Students quantify water's expansion when it freezes and establish how this can lead to weathering (breakdown) of rocks in areas exposed to frequent freezing and thawing temperatures. It is best to set up the demonstration one day ahead and examine the results ...

Downloadable

See how they run

This activity introduces lava viscosity and influence on volcanic cone shape. The download includes background information for teachers and an activity sheet for students. The activity involves making lava slime and racing this down a slope. Participants are asked to predict how lava viscosity might influence volcanic shape ...

Online

GeogSpace: year 8 - exemplar

This is a web page consisting of an overview and four illustrations of practice on the GeogSpace website, a resource for teachers. The illustrations relate to the Geographical Knowledge and Understanding, and the Geographical Inquiry and Skills strands of the Australian Curriculum: Geography. The four illustrations investigate ...