Great Landforms in Our World & Our State:
Formation, Adaptation & Conservation

Lauri Sparks
Briarhill Middle School
2100 Briarhill Blvd.
Highland Village, TX 75067
(972) 317-2733

Overview: After examining the various types of physical landforms, and the greatest of each of these in the world, students will have the opportunity to find examples of the greatest landforms within their own state. Once the great places have been found -- with their diverse climates and environments -- students will study how people can adapt to live in each of these places. Finally, students will appraise the value of each place in terms of both the physical beauty and available resources.

Grade Level: Grades 6-10 (Best suited for a course on state or local geography)

The Greatest Places Theme: Connection to local place, Diversity, Adaptation

Geography Standards Alignment:

Primary:	Throughout the Unit) 4: The physical and human characteristics of places.

Secondary: Part 1) 7: The physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth's surfaces.

Part 2) 1: How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools and
technologies to acquire, process and report information.

Part 3) 14: How human actions modify the physical environment.
15: How physical systems affect human systems.

Part 4) 16: The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution and
importance of resources.

Unit Objectives: The students will be able to:
Examine the variety of physical landforms which have developed on Earth's surface.
Examine the ìgreatest placesî in the world from the OmniMax film The Greatest Places.
Evaluate what may be the ìgreatest placesî in their own state -- one for each landform.
Design homes using available resources in each area which would allow human habitation.
Appraise the value of an environment's physical beauty and its available resources.

Materials: The Greatest Places film or animatic; classroom atlases or GIS software.


Activity 1: A Look at Landforms Around the World


Objectives: The students will be able to:
Examine the variety of physical landforms which have developed on Earth's surface.
Examine the ìgreatest placesî in the world from the OmniMax film The Greatest Places.

Overview: Divide students into eight groups, one to research each of the following landforms: desert, plateau, ice cap, waterfall, river, delta, island, and canyon. It is the task of the group to answer the following questions about their landform, prepare a poster and present the information to the class.

Questions:
What physical processes (weather, wind, etc.) were responsible for the formation of your type of landform?
Describe the role and presence of water in your landform.
Sketch your landform.
Give three specific examples of where this type of landform is found.
What generalizations can you make about climate, elevation, flora and fauna in this landform?

While the information is being presented, students should take notes in the first three columns of the chart which follows.

After the presentations, each student should imagine that they were going to visit each of the seven landforms for a week-long stay. They can take only one item to each place which would enable them to maximize their visit -- or just survive. Students should record their ideas and their reasons in the fourth column of their chart.

Have students watch the film or the animatic The Greatest Places. As they watch the film, they should examine each place, looking for A.) the characteristics they researched and B.) unique characteristics which make the places shown the greatest of these. In addition, they should C.) determine if the object they selected would enable them to survive and enjoy their visit to the fullest. (Since a canyon is not included in the film, you might show a clip of the Grand Canyon.) Class discussion should follow the film based on the three topics above.

Evaluation: Completed charts, including selection of object to take
Discussion about the film The Greatest Places
Application of knowledge in Activity 2



Landform
Characteristics &
Sketch
How This Landform
Developed
Generatizations:
Climate, Elevation,
Flora & Fauna
What I'd Take with
Me & Why
Desert
Plateau
Ice Cap
Waterfall
River
Delta
Island
Canyon

(I realize this is very small. Either make it two-sided or have the students copy it on larger paper.)

Activity 2: A Look at Landforms in Our State


Objective: The students will be able to:
Overview: Working in groups of 2 or 3, students are given the following task: Locate the ìgreatest placesî in your state. From the eight types of landforms, groups must choose the greatest of at least six of these in their state. The eight types of landforms are: desert, plateau, ice cap, waterfall, river, delta, island, and canyon.


Groups must first establish the criteria which they will use to determine the greatest of each landform: longest, most diverse plant-life, biggest, best climate, etc. Then, using atlases, state tourism books and any other available resources, they will locate their greatest places. They should write down their criteria, their selection and their justification including why another place was not selected, if applicable.

Once the groups have established their greatest places, they will compare and contrast these with the world's greatest places from the film The Greatest Places. (Use the Grand Canyon as the comparison for the canyon.) Their comparisons should include:

These exercises will give the students a great opportunity to practice atlas skills or to use GIS software.

Evaluation: Written justification of places selected
Accurate comparison of world and state places
Application of knowledge to Activity 3



Activity 3: Adapting to Life in Various Landforms


Objective: The students will be able to:

Overview: Students can work individually or in small groups for this part of the unit. Their task is to design a home which could be built in each of the places which were researched in Activities 1 and 2.


Students may choose to build homes in either the world or state ìgreatest placesî or be assigned to one or the other, depending on the needs of the course. (In a state history course, for example, designing homes for the state places would be an excellent link to looking at Native American homes in the region.)

The students must look at two things in order to design their homes: A.) available natural resources and B.) climate and environment. Their homes must allow for comfortable human habitation and must be made using only natural resources.

Students should create a labeled sketch for each home. The materials used to make the home should be labeled as should the features of the home which make the home habitable.

Evaluation: Use the following rubric to assess the home design sketches:

1	Outstanding!  Project goes above and beyond the set criteria.  Includes all of the 	
components for a 2 plus some. Work is truly memorable!

2 Great job! Home designs meet all of the set criteria. Homes appear habitable and
are creatively designed. Resources were used to their fullest. Work is neat and
creative.

3 Good work! Home designs meet the criteria. Homes appear habitable and
resources were used. Needs more detail.

4 Pretty good! Most of the criteria has been met. Not clear that the resources
have been used to their full potential. Some of the homes appear only borderline
habitable. Suggestions: ____________________________________________________


5: Needs some work. It appears that attempts have been made to meet the
criteria, but the homes do not really appear habitable and it is not clear that the
resources have been effectively used. Suggestions: ______________________________
_______________________________________________________________________.

6: Not acceptable. Please review the criteria. Suggestions: _________________________




Activity 4: Preserving Natural Beauty vs. Utilizing Natural Resources


Objective: The students will be able to:
Appraise the value of an environment's physical beauty and its available resources.

Overview: Divide students into groups. Four groups to be included in the debate are listed below, more can be added, if necessary. The groups will develop and present a plan of action at a town meeting. The debate will center on the following scenario:

An area near one of the state ìgreatest placesî has fallen on hard times recently. The city cannot pay its employees. Many businesses have moved away from the area and others may have to close because people are moving away. The area is physically beautiful, though not well-visited by tourists. It is home to several different endangered species. However, a valuable natural resource (oil, gold, uranium, etc.) has been discovered. All eyes are looking to the discovery of the valuable resource in this place -- either as a problem or a possibility. A town meeting is being held to determine if the ìgreatest placeî will be kept in its natural state or if the resources will be mined/refined. Many groups have an opinion about this topic. The following groups will appear at the town meeting to discuss the fate of this ìgreatest placeî:

In their preparation, groups should develop the following:
A suggested debate format would be as follows:
	I. Opening Statements
II. Questioning Rounds
A. Assign each group a different group to question each round so that all
groups have the chance to answer questions.
B. Allow one or two rounds for a group to ask any other group a question.
C. All questions should be open-ended.
D. Establish rules about asking follow-up questions.
E. Provide groups a round in which they may clarify their stance.
F. Have a round in which all groups answer the same question.
III. Closing Statements

Extension: Other roles to include in the debate:
Students will want to know who won the debate. I would suggest telling them that all of their ideas were presented wonderfully and will be considered and that A.) it may be another year before a decision is made by the town council or B.) that the town citizens -- the students -- will vote on the issue.

A discussion can follow about which is more important -- preserving natural beauty or utilizing natural resources, especially when human economic well-being is at stake. Discuss the exploitation of some of the world's ìgreatest placesî as listed above. Discuss also the exploitation of resources and land throughout United States history.

Evaluation: Have students write a paragraph about which proposal they personally would support and explain the factors which went into their decision.


Implementation Timeline


Course: Texas History and Geography
I plan to tie The Greatest Places into my state history curriculum primarily using the theme of connecting to local places. I will start the year with a unit on geography which I have outlined below:

First Six Weeks: Geography
Week #1: Local Culture and Place
Develop bags of information which tell about the student's place and their world.
Create stereotypical Texan characters to include: homes, head covering, animals, hobbies, pests, etc.
Discuss fact, opinion and fiction. Create a true Texan culture box.

Week #2: Regions of Texas
Analyze the four primary regions of Texas. Create ìpaper dollsî to compare these regions.
Create contour maps from clay models of Texas' physical landscape.
Study primary and secondary source descriptions of Texas. Predict locations for each writing.
Write a story: A Texan visits somewhere shown in National Geographic, or vice versa.

Week #3: Location
Locate cities and sites in Texas.
Locate cities and sites in the United States.
Locate cities and sites in the world.
Locate hemispheres, continents and oceans. Create styrofoam ball or orange globes.
Create a tear art world map.

Week #4: The Greatest Places
Research and present types of landforms.
Examine the world's greatest of each type of landform in the film The Greatest Places.
Select the ìgreatestî of each type of landform in Texas.
Develop adaptations for living in the various types of landforms.

Week #5 and 6: Native Americans and Their Adaptations to the Land

Second Six Weeks: Spanish, French and Mexican Influence in Texas

Third Six Weeks: The Republic of Texas, Statehood and the Confederacy

Fourth Six Weeks: The People (of all cultures) Who Have Shaped Texas

Fifth Six Weeks: Economic Growth & Development of Texas: Oil, Railroads and Cowboys
This unit will include the environmental debate concerning preserving natural beauty 6vs. utilizing natural resources, and will include case studies from The Greatest Places.

Sixth Six Weeks: Texas Government & Effective Citizenship