BURREN CENTRE EDUCATION PACK

Geography – Module 2

The geography worksheets provide the context for discussion of environmental issues on a local and global level. The primary resource for both teaching and learning geography is the environment, and the Burren Centre is an ideal curricular support location and resource.

Burren Centre Primary Outreach Geographic Resources

The geography worksheets provide the context for discussion of environmental issues on a local and global level. The primary resource for both teaching and learning geography is the environment, and the Burren Centre is an ideal curricular support location and resource.

Strands:
The Local and Natural Environment;
Environmental Awareness and Care
Skills and Concepts Developed:

  • A sense of place and space
  • Exploring and becoming familiar with the distinctive natural features of the Burren.
  • Acquiring an understanding of the relative location and size of major natural and human features of the Burren.
  • Awareness of contrasting environments in Ireland
  • Map work skills; developing familiarity with and engaging in the practical use of maps
  • Geographical Investigational skills
  • Instilling a sense of personal and community responsibility as custodians of the Earth.


BURREN CENTRE TEACHER CARD 1A

Geography Pupil Worksheet 2A
Formation of Life in the Burren
Strand: The Local and Natural Environment
Strand Units:

  • The local natural environment
  • Land, Rivers and Seas of Ireland
  • Rocks and Soils

Content Objective:

  • Investigate and learn about the main natural features in the Burren
  • Become aware of the ways in which people, animals and plants have interacted with the main natural features in the Burren.

Question Options

  • Examine the placenames of the Burren; can you link any of them to the natural features in the area, e.g. Corkscrew Hill, Caherconnell, An ?
  • What placenames can pupils link to the natural features in their locality?
  • Observe and discuss the physical landscape of the Burren. Identify and name the main local
    features e.g. hill, stream, river, turlough, valley, headland, bay and cave.
  • Make connections between topographical features and that of the region, e.g. a well known cave being part of an overall underground system.

BURREN CENTRE TEACHER CARD 2B

Geography Pupil Worksheet 2B
Winterages & Hidden Burren Word Search
Strand: Environmental Awareness and Care
Strand: The Local and Natural Environment
Strand units:

  • People and Communities.
  • People at work – explore importance of winterages to the Burren.
  • People and other lands – pick one region and compare and contrast with the Burren.

Content Objective
Become aware of the ways in which people, animals and plants have exploited and /or
altered the main natural features in the Burren.
To Do:
Pupils can carry out a ‘Land Use’ survey in their locality, surveying the surrounding area.
What activities are carried out here- how has the use changed in urban areas and rural areas
e.g. is the land used for residential, commercial, industrial, manufacturing or recreational
purposes? Is it used for farming, forestation or quarrying purposes?

BURREN CENTRE TEACHER CARD 2C

Geography Pupil Worksheet 2C
Map Work
Content Objectives:
Investigate and learn about accessing the Burren.
Pupils can record and present information about the Burren environment if they have
visited and/or have learned about the region through the geography programme; they can
use the maps to find out about and interpret the world around them in a critical, informed
way.

Strand unit:
People at work, – explore the importance of the Burren as a tourist feature
Suggested classroom activities:

  1. Discuss the importance of human activities such as tourism in the Burren and identify three tourist attractions in the region such as the Cliffs of Moher, Poulnabron and The Burren Centre
  2. Identify three tourist attractions and natural features in your locality.
  3. Compare three similar and different attractions of urban tourism and rural tourism in urban regions such as Galway city, Limerick city, Dublin, Nenagh, Birr, Ennis, or Listowel and a rural region such as the Burren.
  4. In less than one hundred words, ask the pupils to write a tourism advertisement for the Burren.

Suggested Fieldwork Activities:
Use old photographs of your area and possibly old maps to establish how changes to
the natural environment have taken place in your locality. Discuss the importance of
conservation of the natural features of the locality. Investigate ways in which human
activities have improved or adversely affected the natural environment locally.