Grade 9 · Social Studies · Unit 7 of 8
Canada's Landscapes
Mountains, plains, the Shield and the people who live there
What your child practises
Canada's main landform regions, how glaciers, erosion and plate tectonics shaped them, and how landscape and resources have influenced where and how people live.
BC Curriculum learning standard: Physiographic features of Canada and geological processes; how the physical environment influences settlement and change
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Why are the Hudson Bay Lowlands wet and poorly drained?
- Rivers do not flow there.
- They are mountain peaks.
- The land is flat and frozen ground keeps the water from draining.
- They are deserts.
Show answer
The land is flat and frozen ground keeps the water from draining.
Hint: Flat land and permafrost create marshes and bogs.
Question 2
What is permafrost?
- An ice road
- A kind of snow
- Ground that stays frozen for at least two years in a row
- Frozen food
Show answer
Ground that stays frozen for at least two years in a row
Hint: Buildings and roads in the north must be designed for it.
Question 3
Why is the Interior Plains economy linked to farming and energy?
- Its fertile soils support crops, and it has oil, gas and potash.
- It has only forests.
- It has no soil.
- It is covered in glaciers.
Show answer
Its fertile soils support crops, and it has oil, gas and potash.
Hint: Wheat, canola and energy resources are important there.
Question 4
Which ocean borders Canada on the west?
- the Southern Ocean
- the Indian Ocean
- the Pacific Ocean
- the Atlantic Ocean
Show answer
the Pacific Ocean
Hint: Canada also borders the Atlantic on the east and the Arctic on the north.
Question 5
How does the physical environment influence where people settle in Canada?
- People choose the coldest places.
- People avoid rivers.
- People tend to settle where farmland, water, resources and transportation are available.
- Landscape has no effect.
Show answer
People tend to settle where farmland, water, resources and transportation are available.
Hint: Rivers, lakes and fertile land have shaped settlement for thousands of years.
Question 6
How did glaciers shape Canada's land?
- They built all the mountains.
- They had no effect.
- They made deserts.
- They carved valleys and lakes and left behind soil and rock.
Show answer
They carved valleys and lakes and left behind soil and rock.
Hint: The last ice age ended about 12,000 years ago, leaving a landscape of lakes, valleys and fertile plains.