Grade by Grade
A. Physical Patterns in a Changing World · Physical Patterns in a Changing World

Physical Patterns in a Changing World: Unit Review

A1.1 A1.2 A1.3 A1.4 A2.1 A2.2 A2.3 A2.4 A2.5 A2.6 A3.1 A3.2 A3.3 A3.4 A3.5 A3.6 A3.7 A3.8 A3.9 A3.10 A3.11About 40 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can describe and locate landforms, water bodies, climate regions and vegetation regions, and explain the processes that create and change them.
  • I can read topographic maps, cross-sections and climate graphs.
  • I can assess how people respond to challenges and opportunities of the physical environment, including different perspectives and sustainability.
  • I can use the geographic inquiry process.

Words to know

landform
A natural shape of Earth's surface, such as a mountain, plateau, plain or valley.
tectonic plate
A giant, slowly moving slab of Earth's crust and upper mantle.
erosion
The carrying away of rock and soil by water, wind, ice or gravity.
contour line
A map line joining points of the same elevation.
drainage basin
All the land that drains into one river, lake or ocean.
climate
The usual pattern of weather in a place over many years.
natural vegetation
The plants that would grow in a place if people had not changed it.
sustainable
Meeting needs today without harming future generations' ability to meet theirs.

Let's review!

In this unit you explored landforms and the plate tectonics, erosion and glaciers that shape them; read topographic maps; studied water systems, climate regions, the factors that shape climate and climate graphs; described vegetation regions; looked at how physical systems interact, at natural disasters and how people respond; compared the perspectives and sustainability of different responses; and carried out a geographic inquiry.

This review has a few questions from every lesson. Try each one, then press Show answer to check. If a part feels tricky, go back to that lesson for more practice.

BUILD THE LAND UPWEAR THE LAND DOWNPlates collide → fold mountainsSubduction → volcanoesPlates pull apart → new crust, rift valleys, ridgesDeposition → deltas, morainesWeathering (freeze-thaw)Running water → V-shaped valleysGlaciers → U-shaped valleys, lakesWind → sand dunesWaves, gravity, people
The big tug-of-war of this unit: forces that build landforms up and forces that wear them down.
LLatitudecloser to theequator = warmerOOcean currentswarm or coldwater nearbyWWinds and air massescarry heat, coldand moistureEElevationabout 6.5 °C coolerper 1 000 m upRReliefmountains: wet sideand rain shadowNNearness to watermilder winters,cooler summers
LOWERN: the six factors that shape a place's climate. Can you give a Canadian example of each?

Landforms Around the World

1

What is the difference between a plateau and a plain?

2

Name the mountain range with Mount Everest, and its continent.

3

What is elevation measured from?

Plate Tectonics: How Moving Plates Build Landforms

1

What happens at a convergent boundary between an ocean plate and a continental plate?

2

What kind of boundary is the San Andreas Fault?

3

Why does B.C. have more strong earthquakes than Ontario?

4

What is the Ring of Fire?

Changing Landforms: Weathering, Erosion, Glaciers and People

1

Weathering or erosion: a river carries sand downstream.

2

What carved Ontario's thousands of lake basins on the Canadian Shield?

3

Give one example of a human activity that changes landforms.

Reading Topographic Maps and Drawing Cross-Sections

1

On a topographic map, what do contour lines far apart show?

2

On a 1:50 000 map, how far is 5 cm on the ground?

3

When drawing a cross-section, where do you put each dot?

4

Contour lines labelled 50, 60, 70, 80: what is the interval?

Water Bodies and Systems: Patterns and Changes

1

What is a drainage basin?

2

Name Canada's five ocean drainage basins.

3

Give one natural and one human change to water systems.

Climate Regions of the World

1

Weather or climate: "Toronto usually has warm, humid summers."

2

Which climate region is near the equator?

3

Which climate does most of southern Ontario have?

What Shapes Climate? Natural Factors and Human Activities

1

What does LOWERN stand for?

2

Why is the side of a mountain range away from the wind often dry?

3

Name one human activity that changes climate.

Reading and Making Climate Graphs

1

Warmest month 25 °C, coldest −12 °C. Range?

2

Monthly precipitation: 40, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40 mm. Total?

3

A place is coldest in July. Which hemisphere?

Natural Vegetation Regions and How They Change

1

Why are there no trees on the tundra?

2

Name the vegetation region with the most kinds of plants and animals.

3

Give one example of an invasive species in Ontario.

Connected Systems: Challenging Environments, Natural Disasters and Human Responses

1

Explain one way climate and landforms interact in a desert.

2

What is the difference between a hazard and a disaster?

3

Give one short-term and one long-term effect of a levee.

Different Peoples, Similar Environments: Perspectives and Sustainability

1

What does sustainable mean?

2

Compare one response to desert life in the Sahara and in Las Vegas.

3

Why might Cree hunters and a hydro company see a new dam differently?

Be a Geographer: Investigating the Impact of a Natural Event or Human Activity

1

Name the four concepts of geographic thinking.

2

Is an interview you do yourself a primary or secondary source?

3

What does a spatial boundary on an inquiry map show?

4

What makes a conclusion strong?

Just for fun

Riddle: I have mountains but no rocks, rivers but no water, and cities but no people. What am I?

A map!

How to use this review

  • Do the review over two or three short sittings. Each section matches one lesson.
  • Keep an atlas or online map open, and find every place you name.
  • For climate graphs and topographic maps, show your calculations (ranges, totals, scale).
  • For "explain" questions, use the vocabulary words and give a reason, not just a fact.
  • Put a star next to any question you got wrong, and go back to that lesson's practice.
Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

A high, fairly flat landform is a...

2.

Fold mountains like the Himalayas form where...

3.

A wide U-shaped valley was most likely carved by...

4.

On a topographic map, contour lines very close together mean...

5.

Most of southern Ontario drains through the Great Lakes to the...

6.

Which LOWERN factor explains why places beside big lakes have milder winters?

7.

Warmest 18 °C, coldest −9 °C. The range is...

8.

The boreal forest is mainly...

9.

Keeping new homes off floodplains is an example of...

10.

The first step of the geographic inquiry process is to...

For parents and teachers

Use mistakes to choose what to revisit. Each review section matches one lesson.

  • Mixes up plateaus and plains, or gives landforms without locations: revisit Landforms Around the World.
  • Mixes up divergent, convergent and transform boundaries: revisit Plate Tectonics: How Moving Plates Build Landforms. Redo the cracker activity.
  • Confuses weathering and erosion, or forgets human changes to land: revisit Changing Landforms: Weathering, Erosion, Glaciers and People.
  • Thinks close contour lines mean high land, or has trouble with map scale: revisit Reading Topographic Maps and Drawing Cross-Sections. Make the potato contour map.
  • Mixes up source and mouth, or can't explain a drainage basin: revisit Water Bodies and Systems: Patterns and Changes.
  • Mixes up weather and climate, or can't classify a climate: revisit Climate Regions of the World.
  • Explains climate with latitude only, or reverses the rain shadow: revisit What Shapes Climate? Natural Factors and Human Activities.
  • Gets ranges with negative numbers wrong (22 − (−6) = 16), or mixes the two axes: revisit Reading and Making Climate Graphs.
  • Confuses coniferous and deciduous, or thinks all fire is bad for forests: revisit Natural Vegetation Regions and How They Change.
  • Treats hazards and disasters as the same, or names only one effect of a response: revisit Connected Systems: Challenging Environments, Natural Disasters and Human Responses.
  • Judges responses as simply good or bad, or describes Indigenous peoples only in the past: revisit Different Peoples, Similar Environments: Perspectives and Sustainability.
  • Writes yes-or-no questions, uses one source, or overclaims trends: revisit Be a Geographer: Investigating the Impact of a Natural Event or Human Activity.

A few mistakes are normal. Praise careful map reading, clear reasons and respect for different perspectives, not only right answers.