LOOKING BACK: CHAPTER 1

L A N D F O R M S
WH Y A R E
R T A N T ?
IMPO

LEARNING GOALS
As you worked through this chapter, you had opportunities to
• describe landform characteristics and their patterns around
the world
• describe how natural and human activities create and change
landforms
• describe how landforms provide opportunities and challenges
for humans
• formulate questions to guide investigations

As you learned in this chapter, landforms are created by natural forces.

Landforms and the land itself are changed by the actions of people and
natural forces. Sometimes the changes cause natural disasters. Think back
to the question that started the chapter: why are landforms important? How
does your answer to this question now compare with your answer before you
read the chapter?

Summarize Your Learning

Select one of these tasks to help summarize your learning:
• Develop a storyboard for a 60-second educational video that profiles a
landform type. The video will describe the physical characteristics of the
landform, where it is located, how it is created, and how it is changed.
Make sure it includes at least 12 frames, with appropriate dialogue, music
cues, and graphic elements.
• Write copy for a tourism agency that tells about four or five of the world’s
most spectacular landforms. The copy must explain what makes each
landform special and include a map showing its location, how it was
created, and how it has changed, as well as other important information.

42 UNIT 1: Physical Patterns in a Changing World NEL

 APPLY YOUR LEARNING
1. COMMUNICATE Some people find it hard to believe
that the parts of Earth’s crust are moving. Reread
pages 26 to 28. Working with one or two others,
design a way to show how the plates move.
You might make a model, draw a cartoon strip,
or create a dance or play. Make sure that you
include information about transform, convergent,
and divergent plate boundaries in your design.
2. SPATIAL SIGNIFICANCE “Some of Canada’s
population—those people in British Columbia—
may experience the damaging effects of plate
tectonics. Most of Canada’s population, however,
will likely not.” Research evidence you need to
prove that this statement is true. Show your
evidence to a neighbour or family friend. Conduct
an interview about whether or not knowing this
information would help him or her decide where
to live in Canada.
3. FORMULATE QUESTIONS The chapter starts with
the question“Why are landforms important?”
Read the ideas for asking research questions on
page 36. Use them to make up research
questions that might help answer the question.
4. EVALUATE AND DRAW CONCLUSIONS Write a
paragraph with the following topic sentence: “The
patterns of landforms on the surface of Earth
are always changing.” Use information from this
chapter as evidence to prove your topic sentence.
UNIT1
CHALLENGE
CHECK-IN
1. Review the Unit 1 Challenge on page 15. The first
step in creating your disaster response plan is to
select a community to create a plan for. You can
pick a location from anywhere in the world. Think
about a location that interests you and that you
would like to learn more about.
2. Your next step is to select the natural disaster
that you will create your plan for.
NEL
5. GATHER AND ORGANIZE Using multiple sources
of information, research a recent earthquake
or volcanic event somewhere in the world
to understand why this event occurred and
where it did. Or check Google Earth Real-Time
Earthquakes to find hour-by-hour data on current
earthquake or volcanic activity. Be sure to
consider patterns of landforms in your research.
Organize your notes to make the information
easier to understand.
6. INTERRELATIONSHIPS Suppose that you live
somewhere around the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Which tectonic event—volcanic eruption or
earthquake—would you find most frightening?
Explain your answer.
7. INTERRELATIONSHIPS Create a sketch or other
visual representation of a landform of your
choice. In your work, show how the landform
impacts people living near it.
3. Keeping in mind what you learned about
landforms in Chapter 1, do some research to find
out if your chosen community is likely to be at
risk from your selected natural disaster.
4. Review the Focus On: Formulate Questions on
page 36. Formulate research questions to start
your disaster plan.
CHAPTER 1: Looking Back 43