Investigating rivers
Resources l Websites
Teaching Resources
 Aerial Photographs of rivers and lakes in Kent ( Now on the Kent NGfL website)
River World
A Kent ICT Resource by Susan Shears
River Severn
 River Visit ICT Link 5B Analysing databases
Use a digital camera to photograph features. Visit different sections along the river course and measure height, depth, width and speed. Also note down human use along the river and bank side features. On return to the classroom enter the information collected into a database and use it to find answers to simple questions. (See River World above for teaching plans and resources)
 Places along a river ICT Link 5B Analysing databases
Research the same set of information for each town along the course of a river. Enter the findings into a database. Ask the children to answer questions on how the river is used.
 Promethean Resource - (National Whiteboard Network)
 Powerpoint Resource - (National Whiteboard Network)
MultiMap website
You can zoom right in, look at aerial photographs, and even overlay a square of the street map on the aerial photograph (image on left). Follow the course of the river out to sea.
www.multimap.com |
  Write a Newspaper story about a river flooding
Multimedia newspaper about the 1989 flooding of Wildboarclough in Cheshire (pictured right)
Create a presentation about the journey of a river ICT Link 6A
Ask the children to work in pairs to research specific river vocabulary they have been studying in geography, e.g. meander, gorge, estuary. They could use the internet and a CD-ROM, saving appropriate images to use later in their presentation.
Divide the children into small groups and explain that they are going to produce a presentation about the journey of a river. The menu page will be a diagram showing the journey of the river from source to sea, with links at various stages to pages with further information.
Ask the children to work in small groups to produce a flow chart showing the links between pages. Each group should produce one diagram to be used as a menu page (see above), which could be scanned in or drawn on the computer. The children work in pairs within their groups to produce separate pages with information, including pictures, text and possibly sound, e.g. on meanders, river gorges. The pages should then be combined to form a presentation and links made to the menu page.
Show examples of work in progress to the class, and encourage children to modify their work in the light of others’ comments. Consider how easy the work is to read and understand.
How do the images help the audience understand the effects of rivers? What is the best way of presenting this type of information? How successfully does the presentation capture the audience’s attention?
Learning Outcomes
- design pages following the journey of a river, which present the audience with clear information about rivers and the effect they have on the landscape
 Observe river erosion creating waterfalls and chasms.
A variety of river videos
 Learn about Erosion - Interactive game (kineticcity.com)
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mapzone.ordnancesurvey.co.uk hosts GIS Zone, which features a series of role-play missions to help youngsters understand and enjoy working with digital map data. Pupils can try their hand at stopping flood waters rising, learn how to manage a farm, and decide where to site wind turbines. The real-life scenarios show how vital GIS is in the modern world. |
Useful Links
National Parks - River Habitats
A complete unit of work which covers habitats, making and using identification keys, water quality, life cycles, adaptation, food chains and conservation
There are a number of good animations on the BBC Rivers and Coasts web pages. Click for animations on: erosion; creation of a V shaped valley; how a meander is formed and flood plains.
 A set of photos showing rivers at different stages along their course.
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