• about the water cycle, including condensation and evaporation

Use the Water Cycle Explorer with the whole class to identify (or reinforce) the different stages of the water cycle, and to discuss each stage in detail. This page is interactive and pupils can use the mouse to explore and reveal the process or click to find out more. Use the River Basin Processes pages to compare and contrast the different water processes that occur in 'natural' and 'urban' areas.

• about how site conditions can influence the weather

Visit the school playground or field and ask children to note run-off - water collection areas - after rainfall. Also ask children to identify areas of poor drainage, and to measure how puddles change over time (evaporation) by photographing or tracing changes and by carrying out controlled experiments in the classroom. Maybe compare the results from the playground (concrete) to those of the playing field (soil).

• to undertake fieldwork
• to make plans and maps
• how rivers erode, transport and deposit materials producing particular landscape features
• to use secondary sources of evidence
• to use ICT to handle data

Visit the Canterbury Environmental Education Centre (details) and undertake one of the relevant programmes, 'Water Cycle at Broad Oak Lakes' 'Weather Days' or the 'Great Stour River Study.'

The Great Stour River Study programme involves walking along a section of the river refering to maps, noting relevant geographical, man made and biological features and undertaking simple experiments (for example measure differing speed of channel flow). Visit the Virtual Tour pages to take this walk along the Great Stour, which can be used to prime or reinforce the field work.

The Photo and Map pages are a good source of secondary information. The photographs focus on the Great Stour River along its course and the maps show the catchment area, topography and geology of the Gt Stour River basin.

Use the Gt Stour Case Study pages as a secondary source of information on pollution, farming, industry and development and the potential impacts upon the Great Stour. These pages are aimed at Key Stages 3 to 4, but can be of some use to Key Stage 2.

Click here to explore the Virtual River Walks

Click here to explore the Photo and Map pages

Click here to explore the Gt Stour River Case Study

• to investigate plaves
• to annalyse and communicate
• to use geographical vocabulary
• to use atlases and globes
• to use secondary sources
• to use ICT to access and present information
• about links with other places
• about river systems
• about environmental impact

Help the children select a river to study. Help them locate it using maps, atlases and globes and to research it using books, articles, CD-ROM and the internet. Use our Wider World Pages to find relevant links to other websites where information on international rivers and case studies can be found.

Ask the children to use ICT to produce a multimedia presentation on their river. This may include connections between farming, industry and climate, annotated maps, causes and effects of changes in the river and descriptive accounts of a journey along the river.

Click to return to Investigtating Rivers home page