Resources by Royal Geographical Society

Changing climate zones

In this activity students are required to interpret information contained in a series of graphs to investigate the claim that “Changes in the land biosphere since 1970 are consistent with global warming: climate zones have shifted poleward in both hemispheres, and the growing season has on average lengthened by up...

Changing polar climate

This resource highights the impact of human activity on glaciers and sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic using four different student activities:

1. Students explain the reason, using their knowledge of global warming, for 4 changes seen in changes and forecasts for the Polar regions.
2. Students...

Climate change in Africa

These information sheets and mind-map are based on part of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) report from 2022 looking at the impact of climate change across Africa: environmentally, socioeconomically and politically. The extended student information sheet identifies specific climate hazards and...

Comparing arctic and global temperatures

In this activity students are required to test the following statement:  “It is very likely that the Arctic has warmed at more than twice the global rate over the past 50 years”  Students calculate different averages, complete graphs and interpret the results.

Comparing arctic and global temperatures using excel

In this activity students are asked to test the statement: “It is very likely that the Arctic has warmed at more than twice the global rate over the past 50 years”

Students are asked to use an Excel spreadsheet to calculate averages, maximum values and minimum values and draw line graphs. Students use a...

Energy security in Africa

The focus of these resources explores climate change and the energy security of Africa. It provides information and activities to highlight how hydro-electric-power is the sustainable way for Africa to achieve energy security in the future, but how this might be impacted by climate change. The student activities in...

Evidence for past climate change

In this activity pupils are asked to research sources of evidence of climate change from instrumental observations from the 1800s and geological changes over 100,000 years. (This is known as the paleoclimate.) They are then asked to compete a series of questions based on their research.

Extreme heat in urban Africa

Climate change has increased heat waves and drought on land, and doubled the probability of marine heatwaves around most of Africa. This resource contains a PowerPoint presentation, a graphing skills activity drawing and interpreting line graphs and a spreadsheet containing data. This is a good source of material...

How do CO₂ emissions link to global temperatures?

The aim of this resource is to answer the question how do CO₂ emissions link to global temperatures? This lesson, linked to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, explores the concept of a carbon budget. To answer the question, students create a pie chart to...

How often will a heatwave hit the UK?

This lesson, linked to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, aims to answer the question 'How often will a heatwave hit the UK?'

Students examine datasets to explore the frequency with which hot events occur and are required to interpret and draw box and whisker plots. Students are...