Year 7 assessment – Waterfall Display Board
Your task is to design a display board to be placed on the viewing
platform by a waterfall. You can choose any waterfall you wish. In the
past, students have produced particularly good work about High Force on
the Rivers Tees and Niagara Falls on the River Niagara.
Your display board will help people visiting the area to understand how
the waterfall has formed and how the landscape is likely to change in
the future. It must be presented on one (large!) sheet of paper. If you
need some sugar paper to mount your work on, please ask your
geography teacher.
You must include the following things on your display board:
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Basic facts about the waterfall – for example, information about where it is, how much water falls over the crest at
peak flow, types of rock, height of the crest above the river below.
A map to show the surrounding area – the river and the waterfall should be clearly labelled on this map.
An aerial photo for the same area as your map – again, label the river and the waterfall and any other landscape
features that you think are important.
An oblique photograph showing the waterfall– you will need to label this with the key features such as hard rock,
soft rock, plunge pool, overhang, crestline, undercutting. This could be accompanied by a paragraph describing the
waterfall (or, if you wish, this could be done as a poem).
An explanation of how the waterfall formed – you might want to use a series of diagrams to help you with this but
must also include some writing (at least one paragraph). Make sure you include plenty of geographical vocabulary
here! Your diagrams must be hand drawn – you cannot just download diagrams from the internet as this doesn’t
allow you to show your understanding.
A description of how you would expect the waterfall to change in the future and an explanation of why you would
expect this to happen. This is also a good place to show off how much geographical vocabulary you can use. You
might include old maps and photos here to show how the waterfall has already changed over time.
A section to tell people about things they might like to do while they are visiting the area – you could link this to
your aerial photo and map by marking some of these locations on them.
Here are some useful weblinks to information about High Force and Niagara Falls:
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High Force, River Tees
http://www.geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk/topics/river_upper_course.html
http://www.stpetershigh.org.uk/DEPARTMENTS/GEOGRAPHY_DEPT/ASandA/waterfalls.htm
http://www.tourismleafletsonline.com/pdfs/High_Force_Leaflet.pdf
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Niagara Falls, River Niagara
http://www.niagarafallsstatepark.com/History_FormationDiscovery.aspx
http://www.niagarafallslive.com/Facts_about_Niagara_Falls.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall
How will your work be marked?
You will be given a National Curriculum Level for this piece of work. You should study the levels below very carefully to
make sure you achieve your potential. If you are not sure what level you should be aiming for then please ask your
geography teacher.
Level 3
You successfully locate the waterfall on your aerial photo and map.
You describe the main features of the waterfall by adding labels to your oblique photograph.
You identify some places that people could visit in the local area.
You use a limited range of geographical words.
Level 4
You successfully locate the waterfall on your aerial photo and map and give a brief description of its location in your
factfile.
You identify some places that people could visit in the local area and locate these on your aerial photo and/or map.
You describe the main features of the waterfall by adding labels to your oblique photograph.
You describe how the waterfall was formed but your work lacks explanation.
Level 5
You successfully locate the waterfall on your aerial photo and map and give a brief description of its location in your
factfile.
You identify some places that people could visit in the local area and locate these on your aerial photo and/or map.
You describe the main features of the waterfall by adding labels to your oblique photograph.
You explain how the waterfall was formed, using a range of geographical vocabulary in your answer. You might include
diagrams here but they are not really linked to your written work.
Level 6
You successfully locate the waterfall on your aerial photo and map and give a brief description of its location in your
factfile. Your factfile also contains additional information about the waterfall.
You identify a variety of places that people could visit in the local area and locate these on your aerial photo and/or
map. These are varied. You give some additional information about some of these places.
You describe the main features of the waterfall by adding labels to your oblique photograph. You also write a
paragraph/poem to describe the falls.
You explain how the waterfall was formed, using a range of geographical vocabulary in your answer. You use diagrams
to support your explanation and they are linked to your writing.
Your spelling, punctuation and grammar is of a high standard and your display board is professionally presented.
Level 7
You successfully locate the waterfall on your aerial photo and map and give a brief description of its location in your
factfile. Your factfile also contains additional information about the waterfall.
You identify a variety of places that people could visit in the local area and locate these on your aerial photo and/or
map. These are varied. You give some additional information about some of these places.
You describe the main features of the waterfall by adding labels to your oblique photograph. You also write a
paragraph/poem to describe the falls.
You explain how the waterfall was formed, using a wide range of geographical vocabulary fluently in your answer. You
use diagrams to support your explanation and they are linked to your writing.
You explain in detail how you expect the waterfall to change in the future, giving reasons for your predictions. You back
up your predictions by examining what has happened at your chosen waterfall in the past. This might include using old
maps and photos.
Your spelling, punctuation and grammar is of an exceptionally high standard and your display board is professionally
presented.
How should I tackle the task?
If you know that you are not very good at writing a work plan and sticking to it then you might like to use the plan
below.
Week 1
Choose which waterfall you are going to study.
Think carefully about the layout of your display board. Remember, everything must fit on one side of a large piece of
paper/card. This will have an impact on the size at which you print your maps and photos and draw your diagrams so it
is important that you plan the layout now.
Week 2
Find an aerial photo and a map of the surrounding area. You could use Google Maps to do this. Print them out and label
them with key features such as the waterfall and the river. Find an oblique photo of the waterfall and print it. Label your
oblique photo to show the key features of the waterfall. Write a paragraph/poem to describe the waterfall.
If you cannot find these images then you need to choose a different waterfall as it will be impossible to complete your
project without them! If you do not have a computer and printer at home then you will need to complete this homework
in the resource centre at school.
Week 3
Find out some basic facts about the waterfall and write up a factbox for your display board.
Week 4
Work on your explanation of how the waterfall formed. Make sure you write at least one paragraph and that you
include plenty of geographical words. You might want to use some diagrams to help you here – if so, make sure you
refer to them in your writing. Your diagrams should be hand drawn rather than being printed from the internet.
Week 5
Write up your description and explanation about how the waterfall will change in the future. You could also include
some diagrams in this section – again, they need to be hand drawn. Make sure you use plenty of geographical
vocabulary here!
Week 6
Write your section about what people can do while they are in the area. Remember, you could link this to your aerial
photo and map by locating some of the places that people could visit.
Week 7
Ask someone to check your work for spelling errors and readability and then do any editing that is necessary. Now put it
all together. Remember, everything must fit on one side of a (large!) sheet of paper/card.