

Explain how waves form, break and change the shape of a beach with this Cambridge IGCSE Geography 0460 module.
The lesson connects wind, fetch, swash and backwash with the difference between constructive and destructive waves. Seasonal examples from the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia help students explain why the same beach can lose sand during the monsoon and regain it in calmer conditions.
Learning covered
- Describe wave height, wavelength, crest and trough
- Explain how wind speed, duration and fetch affect wave energy
- Explain why a wave breaks in shallow water
- Compare constructive and destructive waves
- Link swash and backwash to erosion and deposition
- Use maps and seasonal evidence to explain beach change
Teaching options
FOCUSED teaches the syllabus core with a matching workbook. COMPLETE includes the same core, followed by More skills and Go deeper tasks. Both PowerPoints link teaching, workbook questions and feedback. Separate Essentials Notes provide completed sentences for revision.
Included
- FOCUSED and COMPLETE PowerPoint presentations
- Matching Word workbooks in colour, black and white, and typed-answer versions
- Essentials Notes in Word
- A Start Here guide and access to the module’s interactive website activities
- Fetch Lab collaborative lesson presentation and printable pack
- Exam practice in print and typed-answer versions, a mark scheme and a mini assessment
- Blooket import CSV and spreadsheet
Classroom activity
Teams become a wave forecasting lab for an imaginary island. They use wind cards, measure fetch, compare wave-energy scores and produce a forecast map explaining which beaches are likely to gain or lose sand.
Designed for ages 14 to 16 and adaptable to other secondary geography courses. Files are PowerPoint (.pptx) and Word (.docx). Written content is editable. Photographs and illustrations are images.
Part of the eleven-module Coasts unit. A review helps other teachers find the resource.
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