Glacial proccesses

I used to use this website quite a bit when I was at school during my GCSE days for science, but I found some glacial processes on here with definitions and videos which are helpful. They do a revise it, test it and remember it sections so it is a good tool for either Incorporated into lessons/power points/work sheets or even as a go to for students for revision/home work purposes.

Simple pictures, definitions and video for processes, land forms, terminology and human processes as well. I will probs come back to this site to expand on it more/commit the information to my own memory, but it's just something I thought about on the off chance and thought I best put it down whilst I remember.

http://www.s-cool.co.uk/gcse/geography/glaciers

Glacial Processes/landforms

To be honest, I do not know a thing about glacial processes or landforms. To make things more interesting to learn, I had a quick search on YouTube for glacial processes/landforms. The results were not exactly fun things to watch, although there were a few which could be of use for revision purposes and recommendations to help students when writing or revising these sections. The videos appear designed for this, but are not the most entertaining clips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-btMFrlHXA
For example, this is a GCSE one. The voices on it are a bit boring, but the information is there. The video is like a Q&A with definitions and annotated pictures. However I do not think the video is really classroom friendly as it is a bit boring.

However, I found these next two which are a bit more fun and hopefully more memorable! They could be referred back to in latter lessons and be remembered due to the simplistic pictures and one the second one due to the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQhtlddskDs&feature=related
This one is by far more simplistic, but could be played a few times and talked through to show how a glacier is made. Students could then create their own simplistic drawings and annotations alongside in their books to remember how a glacier is formed. Could set a task e.g. pick the three/four key moments in glacial formation and draw them as simplistically as seen in the video. (Video needs to be started from about 33 seconds in. The intro is pointless).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cBcMfaSxpk
(For some reason, the blog cannot find the video but the link should work!)
This second one has more detail and words which would need explaining either during or before. The video also explains glacial movement so depending on what is needed only half or all the video can be used or even used over two lessons. Same idea as above, but maybe with a higher age group or once the basics have been covered. The two videos could even work together to get students to memorise how glaciers are produced. (Video only actually 3 mins 20 the rest is just credits. The video has the Benny Hill music playing continuously. However, as stated above, even though it would drive you crazy, it should hopefully be a memory prompt for some students.)

First attempt...

OK, so here is my first blog! Hopefully I am doing the right thing. I am focusing on extreme landscapes as I have never really studied this area, especially glacial processes as I have never looked into this area. 

Initially, I thought I would just google what ‘extreme landscapes’ came up…it’s mainly pictures of glaciers, mountains and dry desert landscapes. This could be a useful starting point for a lesson as students could identify why areas are designated as ‘extreme’.  For example, some of the reasons why this picture may be seen as extreme is…

This type of thing could be done for any landscape with ideas from students. I think using a visual to help see different types of landscapes will help ideas flow, rather than imagining a landscape. Different aspects could be looked at e.g. why is is an extreme landscape physically/for humans/for animals to see how the landscape affects different things and the role the physical plays in this. This could be done with any age group. Older students could comment further (maybe like a domino effect) rather than just stating the facts e.g. little growth of plants - due to the harsh climate and terrain. Plants favour different climates. No plants = no animals living here etc.

Quite a simple start for me on this topic :).