008 - Desertification

Factual Question

What is desertification?

How does desertification occur?

Debatable Question

Is desertification always made worse by human activities? Discuss

Key Terminology

  • Desertification
  • Degradation
  • Erosion
  • Agriculture
  • Aquifer

Using the links below and your own knowledge define the key words above.

Useful Links

Activity One - Describe

  1. Describe the photo.
  2. Why do you think that there are few crops able to grow in this photo?
Taken From: http://i.unu.edu/media/ourworld.unu.edu-en/article/5769/Desertification.jpg

Activity Two - Jigsaw

In teams you will be asked to research a certain aspect of desertification. You will become experts in that 'field'. Once your team become experts you will decide on one person to pass on that information to the rest of the group. The other members of the team will then rotate around the other groups learning about their areas of expertise. Once your team has visited all of the groups they will come back to their expert to inform he/she of what they have learnt.

Team One - What is desertification? How does it occur?

Team Two - What problems are caused by desertification?

  • Use the slightly blurry pictures in this YouTube clip to give you start.

Worksheet - Use the worksheet below to record your notes.


Activity Three - Essay

Your task is to write an essay that brings together all the information that you have just learnt on desertification. You will be answering the question:

"Desertification is caused by human" Discuss

To help you with this use the google doc guide below.

Desertification Essay

How will I be assessed?

How will I be assessed? Desertification Essay

Criterion A: Knowing and Understanding

Criterion C: Communicating

Criterion D: Thinking Critically