Coasts and Rivers: Waves and Weathering

A free, complete one-hour lesson for AQA GCSE Geography’s Physical Landscapes in the UK: coastal landscapes (Paper 1, Section C): what attacks a cliff, from the sea and from above? It is Lesson 2 of an 18-lesson Coasts and Rivers sequence and works as a stand-alone lesson, with a starter quiz that needs only KS3 knowledge. Try it with a class before deciding whether to use the rest.

The big question: what changes a cliff? Students explain how waves form and describe constructive and destructive waves, then explain how weathering (freeze–thaw, salt weathering and carbonation) and mass movement (rock falls, sliding and slumping) change cliffs, and finish by writing a 4-mark answer on how weathering and mass movement make a cliff retreat.

What is in the lesson:

• A 38-slide PowerPoint: a five-question starter quiz with answers, an outcome and big question, key words, three learning cycles, a summary, a video slide and an exit quiz.
• Each learning cycle has short explanation slides built around original diagrams, a check for understanding with a reveal slide, and a practice task with a feedback slide.
• Three tasks: Where do the biggest waves hit? (storm wave heights at five UK sites, with a fetch explanation), Odd one out (a pairs activity that makes students justify classifications) and Diagnose the cliff (three cliff scenarios to identify the mass movement and its causes). Every task carries a Challenge for higher attainers, answered on its feedback slide.
• Original exam-style questions (02.1 [1 mark] and 02.2 [4 marks]) with a writing frame, a student-friendly mark scheme for peer marking, and an example answer.
• A video slide linking to a short tutor2u clip, with a QR code and watch-for questions.
• Teacher notes (Word and PDF): a minute-by-minute plan for 60 minutes, answers to every task and Challenge, the levels mark scheme for 02.2, common misconceptions, a table of commonly taught figures to check, a specification map and sources.

Specification: AQA GCSE Geography (8035), 3.1.3.2 Coastal landscapes: wave types, weathering (mechanical and chemical) and mass movement. The teacher notes include a specification map. (Erosion, transport and deposition are taught in the next lesson of the full sequence.)

Want the rest? Coasts and Rivers: 18 AQA GCSE Lessons continues with erosion and transport, landforms, the Jurassic Coast, coastal defences, Walton-on-the-Naze, river processes and landforms, the River Tees, flood risk, flood management, the Jubilee River, exam technique and a printed assessment.