



Teach students to measure a river channel, calculate discharge and judge how well fieldwork supports downstream patterns.
The River Channel and the Bradshaw Model links channel vocabulary with practical geographical skills. The classroom River Alden dataset gives students width, depth and velocity measurements to work with, while comparisons between sites help them test the model rather than simply memorise its trends.
Learning includes
- Identify channel width, depth, bed, banks and wetted perimeter.
- Calculate mean depth, cross-sectional area and discharge with correct units.
- Describe changes in gradient, channel size, velocity and load downstream.
- Construct and interpret channel cross-sections and graphs.
- Evaluate how measurement conditions affect a fieldwork conclusion.
Teaching options and resources
Choose Full Lesson for core teaching, deeper explanations, skills and a collaborative lesson, or the separate Essentials presentation for focused core content with a matching booklet.
- Student Workbook in colour, black and white and typed-answer versions.
- Complete and notes Essentials Booklets, with colour and black and white options.
- Exam practice, mark scheme and mini assessment.
- Field Notebook presentation and supporting materials.
Collaborative lesson
Groups divide the work of sketching a channel, calculating discharge, graphing results and writing a verdict. They bring their findings together before receiving a change in the fieldwork conditions that challenges their conclusion.
For Cambridge IGCSE Geography (0460), generally ages 14 to 16. Supplied in PowerPoint (.pptx) and Word (.docx). Text and instructions are editable; photographs and some illustrations are inserted images.
Module 2 of the Rivers unit. A review helps other teachers find useful resources.
Website activities included as a bonus
An access slide supplies a clickable link, QR code and purchaser code for this topic’s interactive Geography Oasis activities. Keep the code to sign in on another device. On the website, this topic appears as Module 3; the supplied link and code take you to the matching activities.
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