Unit 2 - Lesson 4: What are the Significant Physical Features of Earth?

Big Ideas of the Lesson

The Earth has a wide variety of physical, or natural, features.

These include mountains, islands, glaciers, deserts, rainforests, oceans, rivers, grasslands,
volcanoes and lakes.
The location and characteristics of these natural features vary.
Natural features are likely to be connected to and/or nearby other natural features.
Mountains and volcanoes; islands and oceans; and rivers and river basins are examples of
natural features that may be connected to each other.
Knowing the location and characteristics of natural features helps us better understand our
world.

Lesson Abstract:
This serves as foundational knowledge for later lessons on human/environmental interaction. The
lesson begins with a short PowerPoint-based inquiry activity in which students try to guess the
physical features displayed on a set of world maps that have no map keys. Students then work in
collaborative teams to locate and organize information about significant physical features of Earth
including mountains, glaciers, deserts, rainforests, grasslands and volcanoes. They explore
latitude and longitude of their assigned natural feature and consider what other natural features are
likely or not likely to be nearby. Students share information on their assigned physical feature to
the class in a brief presentation accompanied with a one-quarter page fact sheet and a visual. The
lesson concludes with a class discussion of the different physical features of the Earth, including
their relative location to other natural features.
Content Expectations: G1.2.5; G1.3.1 G1.3.2; G2.1.1
Common Core State Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies: WHST.6-8.7 and 9
Key Concepts
human vs. physical geography/features
region
spatial patterns