In this lesson students will analyze the roles of climate and other physical processes in shaping places. Although this lesson focuses on places in the United States, the lesson can easily be adapted to other regions of the world.

Geography, language arts

Standard 4: "The physical and human characteristics of places"

Five to six hours

• Computer with Internet access
• Wall map of the United States
• Blank outline maps of each state (available at the Xpeditions atlas)
• Pencils, pens, or other markers
• Climatic and tectonic maps of the United States and the world (or access to maps online)
• Encyclopedia or other printed reference materials (or access to online research materials)

Students will

• analyze the roles of climate, tectonic forces, and glaciation in creating and altering places; and
• use climatic and tectonic maps of the world and compare U.S. locations with other locations in the world.

Ask students to identify natural processes that could form or alter the physical characteristics of a place. Focus on physical systems, not human systems. For example, have them think of changes caused by transient weather conditions. What would happen if those conditions were climatic (that is, long-lived or common in a given place)? List possible causal processes, including

• tectonic processes (e.g., volcanism and earthquakes);
• weather (e.g., wind, temperature changes, and precipitation); and
• glaciation.

Assign each student one or two states and have them research and analyze how places were created or altered by physical processes. For each of the states, have students try to find one large-scale example (e.g., the Hawaiian Islands were created by volcanism; the New York Finger Lakes were created by glaciation) and one small-scale example (e.g., mud slides altered Malibu; sand dunes alter the landscapes of west Texas and New Mexico).

Have the students describe how the physical characteristics identified by them have changed over time. Has a mountain been worn down by wind? Has a shoreline shifted because of erosion? Have students explain the changes in journal entries or in detailed sketches showing stages of change.

Have students create a bulletin board display of the United States. Print state outline maps and draw or add photographs of places that were, and are, influenced by physical processes.

Piece together the students' state maps. Examine the final large map and look for patterns that cross state lines (e.g., physical processes are not static, and wind does not recognize political boundaries).

Have students examine the final large map with younger pupils and explain the physical processes that affect the local area.

Have students use climatic and tectonic maps of the world to locate an area outside the U.S. that could be similar to a U.S. location. After researching both locations, students should write about the similarities and differences of the two places. Their essays should explain how the character of a place was changed by a physical process and describe the reasons why.

Examples: Compare the sudden changes in landscape caused by two volcanoes in recent history—the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State in 1980 and the eruption of Krakatoa in Indonesia in 1883. Or two earthquakes—the San Francisco Bay earthquake on October 17, 1989, compared with the Kobe, Japan, earthquake on January 17, 1995. The essays should focus on the physical effects, not on how humans reacted to the physical changes.

Have students research three rivers to identify how each of them is changing the physical environment.

Examples: The Mississippi River in Louisiana is changing the landscape by depositing silt; the Yellowstone River in Wyoming is rapidly deepening; and the Snake River in Wyoming is meandering and widening its floodplain.

Aaron Doering of Century High School in Rochester, Minnesota, contributed classroom ideas for Standard 4.

About.com: Physical Geography
NOAA: Climatic Extremes and Weather Events
USGS: Understanding Plate Motions