Physical Geography – Volcanoes is a topic resource provided by BBC Bitesize that may well be of interest to children at the moment, as the recent news has been covering evacuations due to volcanic eruptions occurring in Iceland and in the Caribbean.
“This collection contains curriculum relevant videos, quizzes and games to help Years 5 and 6 / P6 and P7 Geography students with:
- understanding what volcanoes are
- the importance and risks of volcanoes
These educational resources are hand-picked from BBC Bitesize and the wider BBC.” (BBC)
There are videos explaining how volcanoes form, what happens when they erupt, what is happening when they are dormant and lots more. There is a quiz to test children’s knowledge about volcanoes. There are videos covering the gases emitted into the atmosphere and there is a labelling the part of a volcano sheet. This whole set of information has been gathered together as part of the catch-up project – children could use it for self-study and make a presentation about the topic to share with their class.
Volcano Discovery
Another really useful website about volcanoes comes from Volcano Discovery. The site provides masses of information about volcanoes – it has not been written for children but has many images that would inspire and teach. It gives information on the currently active volcanoes and the site includes many photographs that show the nature of an eruption and links to their video channel. I can see that there is an eruption happening right now – and to look at how any volcanoes are active is quite an eye-opener. There is also a lot of satellite imagery. This information, chosen carefully, would be fascinating to children studying the physical geography of volcanoes.
There is so much in the way of images and videos available on the Internet, most of which are not designed for children but all are rather wonderful and would help bring the subject to life. It certainly may be worth incorporating some of these into lessons about volcanoes.