Unit 1: Louisiana's Physical and Cultural Geography Activity 9: Physical Change (GLEs: 7, 8)
CC: Divide students into pairs or teams to develop questions and answers addressing physical process/natural disasters and its impact on coastal erosion. Content could include wetlands, Mississippi River, Atchafalaya River, flooding, hurricanes, and the Gulf of Mexico. In a class discussion, have students come to a consensus about how and why specific regions change as a result of physical phenomena.
Then, have students work in pairs or teams to identify and describe three to five factors that cause a Louisiana region to change. They should articulate these factors in an informal narrative, again presented in class discussion, as an opportunity to increase and modify understanding.
Expanded Activity: Create a wall chart or use Inspiration software to list how humans have created environmental problems in Louisiana. Have students brainstorm ways to correct these problems.
Use Inspiration for the students to create their concept maps of how humans have created environmental problems in Louisiana. Human Impact on Louisiana's Environment List: A fully zoomable Louisiana road map is available at: http://www.dotd.state.la.us/maps/2004_Official_Louisiana_Highway_Map.PDF. Students should type their directions and landmarks into MS Word documents.
Below are links to state map sites. http://www.netstate.com/states/maps/la_maps.htm http://wwwlamap.doa.state.la.us/
Below are some links to Louisiana coastal wetland sites. http://www.americaswetland.com/ http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature5/?fs=www3.nationalgeographic.com
Web Resources: Log in to World Book Online and search "Louisiana", select the "Louisiana" article, then select the "Louisiana Map". http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Home This article and its subsections will be used in multiple Units and Activities. |