Science · Grade 3

Active learning ideas

Identifying Landforms

Active learning helps students grasp the abstract concept of landforms by making them tangible. Engaging with physical materials and visual representations allows students to build a concrete understanding of Earth's diverse surface features and their characteristics.

• Ontario Curriculum Expectations
• 2-ESS2-2

• 30–45 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Inside-Outside Circle
• 45 min · Small Groups

Landform Creation Station

Provide students with materials like playdough, sand, and small rocks. Have them work in small groups to sculpt different landforms, labeling each feature with index cards. Encourage them to explain the characteristics of their creations to other groups.

Differentiate between various types of landforms based on their characteristics.

Facilitation Tip

During the Landform Creation Station, circulate to ensure groups are discussing the formation and characteristics of the landforms they are building, not just the construction itself.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Activity 02

• Inside-Outside Circle
• 30 min · Pairs

Map Detective: Landform Hunt

Give students simplified maps of a region, highlighting various landforms. Students work in pairs to identify and list the different landforms they find, using a provided key or legend. Discuss their findings as a class, pointing out features on a larger projected map.

Analyze how different landforms might have been created.

Facilitation Tip

For the Map Detective activity, when students are working in pairs, listen for their justifications as they 'hunt' for landforms, checking if they are using descriptive language related to elevation and shape.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Activity 03

• Inside-Outside Circle
• 40 min · Individual

Virtual Field Trip: Landform Tour

Utilize online resources or videos to take students on a virtual tour of famous landforms around the world. After the tour, have students draw their favorite landform and write 2-3 sentences describing its key features and location.

Construct a model of a specific landform, highlighting its key features.

Facilitation Tip

When facilitating the Virtual Field Trip, pause at key moments to ask students to predict what landform they might be seeing next based on clues, or to compare it to one they've already visited.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

A few notes on teaching this unit

To effectively teach landforms, move from concrete to abstract. Start with hands-on models and visual aids before introducing more complex map interpretations. Emphasize comparative analysis, showing how different landforms vary in scale, slope, and elevation, which is key to avoiding common misconceptions.

Students will be able to accurately identify and describe common landforms based on their physical attributes. They will demonstrate this understanding by classifying features and explaining the differences between similar landforms, using precise geographical vocabulary.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During the Landform Creation Station, watch for students who build identical mounds and label them as both hills and mountains.

  Redirect students by asking them to compare the height and steepness of their models, prompting them to add more dramatic elevation changes for mountains and to describe the slope differences.

• During the Map Detective: Landform Hunt, students might identify any low-lying area on the map as a valley, regardless of surrounding features.

  Guide students to look for valleys specifically as areas *between* higher elevations like hills or mountains, and to consider if a river or stream is depicted, but not essential for the definition.

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Methods used in this brief

• Inside-Outside Circle