Cause of Erosion

6th Grade – Geography  – Swedish Educational System

Materials for the class

–       Newspaper for each student

–       Music player and a song, which the students can dance or move freely with.

Layout of the classroom

Some free space for the students to make a line .

1^st Phase

The teacher gives a page of the newspaper to each student. They all put the newspaper pages on the floor one next to each other. Then they stand on it.

The teacher starts the music. When the music is on, the students can dance freely on the newspaper. When the music stops, all students should freeze. Then the teacher asks the students to fold the newspaper in two (smaller size). Music is on again. The students can dance or move freely on the surface of the newspaper until music stops. The students fold again the newspaper. The game continues until the students fold the newspaper in the smallest size possible.

All students gather in a circle. The teacher asks the students to point out what is decreasing in our Natural Environment, such as:

–       Forests

–       Animals

–       Fresh air

–       Topsoil (upper layer of soil where vegetation grows)

If the students do not suggest topsoil the teacher can.

2^nd Phase

The teacher explains that today’s topic is‘cause of erosion’ and what we people can do to prevent it.

The teacher divides the class into 4 groups and lets them discuss the cause of the erosion.

The groups have 5 minutes discussion and if they do not come with a cause the teacher suggests one cause for each group.

–       When we cut down the trees

–       Animals are allowed to bet away vegetation too much

–       Strong wind

–       And heavy rain

3^rd Phase

When the groups have decided their reason/cause for the erosion, the teacher explains that each group should prepare a role-play to show others what they have decided as cause to the erosion.

Each groups gets 10 minutes to prepare themselves for the role-play. Then each group presents their improvisation to everybody.

The teacher asks questions to the audience if they understand what each group is presenting (the cause). Then the teacher lets each group explains it also.

4^th Phase

After the improvisations and the role-playing, students go back to their desks. The teacher asks the students to write down two solutions that they think can be helpful to stop the erosion. Each student writes down on a piece of paper and they all put them in a jar. The teacher collects all and opens them one by one.

The teacher writes all the solutions on the board. Then the teacher sorts similar solutions and discusses about common solutions.

5^th Phase

When all solutions have been discussed the teacher takes a picture of the board to post it on the school’s Facebook page to share the solutions with the other classes.