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Natural Regions of the World
By Tapasya Saha | Dec 5, 2012
Through this lesson plan, the teacher will be able to impress upon students the factors that caused the formation of Natural
Regions.
Duration:
04 hours 00 mins
Introduction:
Most of the time we, as teachers, mainly stick to the descriptive part of the ‘Natural Regions’, barely discussing the basis of
such formation. It is important for the practicing teacher to have a clear understanding of the composition, conception and
impact of Natural Regions on nature, animals and human life. Through this lesson plan, the teacher will be able to impress
upon students the factors that caused the formation of Natural Regions.
Support Material:
en-lp-soc-natural_regions_-resource_1.pdf
en-lp-soc-natural_regions_-resource_2.pdf
en-lp-soc-natural_regions_-resource_3.pdf
en-lp-soc-natural_regions_-resource_4.pdf
Steps:
Teacher Preparation:
The concept/ topic is ‘natural region’ and the competencies to be developed are observation, reasoning, analytical thinking
and map work. Ask yourself these questions:
What are the main factors in the formation of natural regions?’
‘How do these factors interplay to form natural regions?’
Which are these regions?’, ‘where are these located?’
Step 1: Introduction of the concept of ‘Natural Regions’
Show a number pictures of birds/animals, natural vegetation and tribes and asks the students to group these.
(Resource 1)
Ask the students to discuss the rationale for making such groups.
After the task is done, make the students curious by asking questions. Start by asking leading questions like,
Where do you think a monkey would live?
What kind of a forest needs heavy rainfall and sunshine?
Why do some places have dense forests with broad leaved trees and some forests have needle like
leaves?
Allot time for the activity and once the activity is over, collect and keep the sets,
which the students and you can look into, at the end of the lesson. This activity
demonstrates the relationship between the various factors like climate, forests,
animals, and human life.
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Step 2: Model making
This is one way to make the children understand the concept of natural regions. You can help the students construct the
model by following the instructions given in Resource 4.
Explain the role played by sun, prevailing winds, latitudes, distribution of land and water. The students should have an
understanding that:
1. Wind blowing from the sea/ocean carry moisture and bring rainfall.
2. Prevailing winds blowing only from the west in the Temperate zone are called Westerlies. Hence rainfall occurs only
along the western parts of the continents between 30 to 60 degrees north and south of the equator.
3. Prevailing winds blowing from the east in the Tropical zone are called North East Trade winds and South East Trade
winds in the Northern and Southern hemisphere respectively.
4. Because of these winds, rainfall occurs along the eastern parts of the continents between 10 to 30 degrees north and
south and along the west part of the continents between 30and 60 degrees north and south of the equator.
5. High temperature causes air masses to heat up and rise. Moisture present in the air mass leads to
precipitation. Heavy showers occur every day in regions between 0 to 10 degrees north and south of the equator.
Step 3
Discuss the points (the role played by sun, prevailing winds, latitudes, distribution of land and water) with students to
correct any misconceptions and reinforce their learning on natural regions. Guide the students while they practice their
newly acquired skill of identifying the relationship between climate, vegetation, animals and original people living in any
particular natural region.
You could do this by asking the students to:
mark the different natural regions on a map.
draw/paste pictures of vegetation, animals, tribes, human activities on maps to make a pictorial presentation of
natural regions of the world.
make paintings/collage/projects/ or write about a natural region of their choice.
You could also initiate discussions, conduct a quiz or give them questions, as given in Resource 2.
Ask questions like:
countries have fur?
why do we feel cold in winter? Why do animals in cold
Why do some trees shed leaves in the dry season? Does vegetation in deserts
have leaves? Why not?
Why are trees on high mountains cone-shaped?
Revision: If the concept of the occurrence of different natural regions on earth is
not understood by some students you could explain it by comparing behaviour
changes from season to season, for instance, how we dress differently in different
seasons, or how trees look in different seasons. Then introduce the topic of effects
of climate on crops, vegetation, animals and human life.
Assessment:
You can assess how much the students have grasped by:
Asking them to shade 'Natural Regions' on a world map and naming them (to be done in groups for formative
assessment)
Giving them home work based on identifying the characteristics of the Natural Regions (Resource 3-Work sheet )
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Personal Reflection:
You can connect this lesson to other subjects.
i. In the Biology class, the plant species like xerophytes in deserts, aerating roots of Mangrove forests, epiphytes of the
Rain forests etc.
ii. In the Environmental Science class, link the lesson to concepts like natural habitat and ecology.
iii. Essay writing
Objective:
1. Students should understand the meaning of ‘natural region’ and the underlying factors for the formation of natural
regions.
2. They should be able to identify the various natural regions and list the characteristics.
3. They should appreciate the interplay of climate with the natural vegetation, and animals.
4. They should be able to mark the location of all the natural regions on a world map.
5. They should be able to identify plants and animals and tribes present in various natural regions.
6. They will understand the corelation between the position of the sun, the prevailing winds, latitudes, and distribution of
land and water, in the formation of the natural regions.
Category:
Classroom Resources
Subject: Environmental Science
Social Studies
Board: All boards
Grade/Standard: Class 6-8
License: CC BY-NC-SA
Source URL: http://www.teachersofindia.org/en/lesson-plan/natural-regions-world
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