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The lesson outline on the subject “Rivers of Ukraine”
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The lesson outline from the course “Physical geography of Ukraine” (8th grade) on the subject “Rivers of Ukraine”
Purpose of the lesson:

Educational: to acquaint pupils with the basic river basins of Ukraine; the general features of hydrological mode and work of rivers. To enter new concepts «river fall», «mouth slope», «water expenses», «annual river run-off», «solid river run-off».

Pedagogical: to assist formation of world outlook ideas about interrelations and unity of components of the nature. To teach pupils to think logically, to ground their point of view, to make conclusions and comparisons. To assist in ecological education of pupils on the basis of information about degree of pollution of rivers of Ukraine and possible ways of its overcoming.

Developing:to develop in pupils the ability to apply knowledge of the general geographical laws of the nature of the Earth for the characteristic of features of their regional reflection, to explain the connection between hydrological mode of the rivers with climatic conditions, to analyze water provision of the territory of Ukraine and its separate regions.
Type of the lesson: digestion of new knowledge
The equipment:
• physical map of Ukraine;
• physical map of Europe;
• pupil atlases;
• author's Microsoft Power Point presentation «The rivers of Ukraine»;
• sheets of guiding and information schemes of pupils.

I. Organization of the class

ІІ. Actualization of guiding knowledge base
Question for discussion:
1. Make definitions for concepts of “river”, “river system”, “river basin”, “source”, “mouth”, “delta”, “river valley”, “river supply”, “river mode”, “flood”, “high water”, “mean water”.
2. What geological work is carried out by rivers?
3. What are the basic sources of pollution on pollutant of surface waters? Face-to-face interrogation

ІІІ. Study of new material
Plan:
1. The rules for distribution of reservoirs in Ukraine.
2. General characteristics of rivers of Ukraine.
3. The Dnieper.
4. Other river systems of Ukraine: the Dniester, the Southern Bug, the Severskyy Donets, the Danube within Ukraine.
5. Use and environmental problems of rivers of Ukraine.
1. The rules for distribution of reservoirs in Ukraine.
Ukraine has quite wide network of internal waters. About 73 thousand rivers, nearly 20 thousand lakes, artesian basins and bogs belong to it. Due to differences in climate the hydrological objects in Ukraine are located extremely irregularly. Thus the Polissya lowland has surplus of water, here the river network is dense, bogs occupy considerable areas. At the same time, the southern and the eastern parts of Ukraine have shortage of water. People try to compensate this by formation of artificial reservoirs: channels, water basins, ponds. There are 28 thousand of them in our country.
• On the basis of comparison of physical and climatic maps of Ukraine explain non-identical provision of the territory of Ukraine with water resources. Heuristic conversation, work with physical and climatic maps of Ukraine.
 
2. The general characteristics of rivers of Ukraine.
In life and economy of human beings rivers are of the greatest value. They are used for industrial and household needs, navigation, fishing, water-power engineering, irrigation, timber rafting, etc.
Among numerous rivers of Ukraine small ones prevail, with length up to 100 km. The number of        middle-size rivers with length from 100 to 500 km is around 110, whereas the number of the largest rivers (over 500 km) is only 8.
Ukraine has sufficiently dense river network. All rivers of our country belong to the basin of the Atlantic ocean. 96 % of them bring their waters into the Black Sea and the Azov Sea, and only few (the Western Bug, the San) - to the Baltic sea.
• Define according to the physical map by what forms of relief watersheds between the Black Sea, the Azov Sea and the Baltic Sea basins pass.
The majority of rivers in Ukraine have flat stream character and are fed mainly with thawed snow waters, therefore in spring they have high flooding. In summer the lowest water level is observed – it is referred to as the mean water, and small rivers in the south even dry up.
The rivers of the Polissya area are additionally fed by underground waters, therefore in summer they rarely become shallow and never dry up. The rivers of Ukraine have considerably long period of freezing-over. In mountainous areas high waters are observed, i.e. there is a sudden raise of water level after strong downpours several times a year.
Water mode of a river may be characterized by several parameters:
• river fall – difference of water surface marks between source and mouth of a river. It is defined in meters
• channel slope – ratio of river fall (cm) to length (km). The value obtained (represented in cm/km) shows for how many cm in average river fall decreases per each kilometer of its length.
• water expenses (Q) – volume of water proceeding through cross-section of river per time unit. Water expenses are calculated in m3/second as product of river cross-section area (F) and speed of its stream (V).
• annual river run-off– water expenses throughout the year.
• solid river run-off – weight of rocks (t) transferred by river per year.
Using the physical map of Europe let us define fall and channel slope of the Dnieper:
Fall of the Dnieper: Fall = 319 m – 0 m = 319 m
Channel slope of the Dnieper: Slope = 31900 cm: 2201 km = approximately 14,5 cm/km Heuristic conversation, work with physical maps of Ukraine and Europe and the Microsoft Power Point presentation “Rivers of Ukraine”.

3. The Dnieper.
The Dnieper is the largest river of our country and its symbol. Records about it are found in ancient annals. The information about the river is in the works of Herodotus, Straton, Pliny the younger, Ptolemy. Ancient Greeks named the river Borisfen; the Romans knew it as Danapris; the Turks – Uzu; the Slavs – Slavutich. The modern name is related to the one that was known in Rome in the 4th century. It comes from Scythian words: don – “river”, apr – “deep”.
The total length of the Dnieper is 2201 km. According to this parameter it is the fourth longest river of Europe (after the Volga, the Danube and the Ural). The Dnieper is a typical flat river beginning from a moss bog on the Valdai Hills in Russia. Crossing the territory of Belarus the Dnieper flows through the territory of Ukraine for 1050 km with its middle and bottom streams, bringing its waters to the Black sea.
The Dnieper together with its numerous feeders forms a huge river system. 44 % of all rivers of our country belong to it.
• What is a river feeder? How to define right and left feeders?
• Find out on the physical map and name the largest right and left feeders of the Dnieper.
The Desna is the longest and the deepest feeder of the Dnieper. Its general length makes 1130 km, including 591 km within Ukraine. Running into the Dnieper to the north of Kyyiv the Desna nearly doubles the volume of its water.
The Prypyat is the second feeder of the Dnieper according to its length. Its total length is 761 km. In Ukraine it flows only for 261 km on almost flat Polissya lowland, dodging considerably. It has the largest part of underground alimentation, therefore in summer it loses little of water. The Prypyat has the largest river pool - 114,3 thousand km2 (1,5 times more than that of the Desna) and accepts many big feeders, in particular, the Goryn, the Styr and others.
About 60 % of water resources of Ukraine are formed by the river basin of the Dnieper. According to the total area of the river pool - 504 thousand km2 -  the Dnieper in Europe concedes only to the Volga and to the Danube.
• According to the physical map define what forms of relief are passed by the watersheds of the Dnieper within Ukraine. With basins of what rivers does the river basin of the Dnieper border?
In the middle stream the Dnieper crosses the Ukrainian board. Therefore between Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhya the Dnieper rapids were once well-known as the giant granite blocks interfering with navigation. Now they are flooded with waters of the Dniprovsky reservoir. Right now the Dnieper is transformed into continuous cascade of reservoirs. It runs into the Dniprovskyy estuary forming wide delta. Heuristic conversation, work with topical maps of the atlas and the Microsoft Power Point presentation “Rivers of Ukraine”.

4. Other river systems of Ukraine: the Dniester, the Southern Bug, the Severskyy Donets, the Danube within Ukraine.
The Dniester is the second largest river in Ukraine according to the basin area. Its basin occupies 12 % of the territory of Ukraine. According to the total length (1362 km) the Dniester is the seventh among the rivers of Europe. According to the length within Ukraine (705 km) it concedes only to the Dnieper and the Southern Bug. The Dniester is a mountainous-flat river beginning on the slopes of the Ukrainian Carpathian mountains. In the area of the Yampil town it has rapids. Deeper feeders run into the Dniester from its right bank.
The Southern Bug is the second largest river in Ukraine according to its length within Ukraine. It begins on the Podolsk height and has the length of 806 km. Crossing the Prydniprovskyy height the Southern Bug cuts its valley through magmatogene layers of the Ukrainian board. Therefore in certain areas the river is cataracted, with steep banks (up to 50 m in height). Overcoming the Prychernomorskyy lowland the Southern Bug runs into the Bug estuary. The largest feeders of the river are the Ingul and the Synyukha.
The Severskyy Donets is the right feeder of the Don and the largest river in the eastern part of Ukraine. It flows in Ukraine with its middle stream. The river has the basin which is third according to its area within Ukraine, occupying 4 % of the country territory. The river total length is 1053 km with 672 km within Ukraine. It begins on the Serednyorusskyy height. The Severskyy Donets is of great importance for water supply of the Donbass area.
The Danube flows through Ukraine with its bottom stream. Within our country its length makes up 174 km. 80 km before flowing into the Black sea the Danube divides into three mouth sleeves and forms a big delta (5,6 thousand km2) covered with bogs. The northern Kiliyske mouth belongs to Ukraine. 70 % of the whole river run-off passes through it, therefore it is considered to be the main mouth. The boggy river mouth - the Danube plavni – is rich for fish and waterfowl.

Practical task:
Compare two rivers and draw the conclusion
Comparative characteristics of the Southern Bug and the Dniester
Comparison plan of the Southern Bug and the Dniester
Source place
Mouth
The largest feeders:
a) right feeders
b) left feeders
Stream character
Fall
Channel slope
Alimentation and mode
Economic use
Brief characteristics of rivers by the teacher with use of the Microsoft Power Point presentation “Rivers of Ukraine”. Solving of practical task by the pupils on the basis of work with the atlas and physical map

5. Use and environmental problems of rivers of Ukraine.
Waters of rivers of Ukraine were mastered long ago and are now widely used in various areas of economy and for household needs.
The rivers of plains are actively used by people for navigation, industrial needs, irrigation of fields, fishery. Water reservoirs are formed and hydroelectric power stations are built and now operating on them.
Cataracted and steep mountain rivers of the Carpathian mountains are used for timber rafting and catching valuable kinds of fish (stream trout in particular). The rivers of the Crimean mountains are shallow and do not have considerable economic value.
The river resources are the most accessible and are quickly exhausted. Pollution of rivers is very dangerous by sewage, chemical compounds from agricultural grounds, due to failures. The river waters should be protected from pollution. The story of the teacher with conversation elements.

ІV. Generalization and correction of knowledge base on the studied subject
Conclusions:
• Ukraine has rather dense river network. The majority of rivers have flat character of stream, primarily snow feeding, spring flooding and summer mean water. On the mountainous rivers high waters are observed.
• Over the territory of our country such large rivers as the Dnieper, the Dniester, the Severskyy Donets, the Southern Bug, the Danube flow.
• The main characteristics of rivers are river fall, channel slope, water expenses, annual river run-off, solid river run-off.
• Rivers in Ukraine have important economic value and experienced considerable level of pollution.
Summary of the lesson results by the teacher.
Question and tasks for verbal knowledge control:
1. Explain why the territory of Ukraine is differently supplied with water.
2. Name the largest river systems of Ukraine. Show watersheds of the largest river basins of our country on the map.
3. Make complex characteristic of the Dnieper.
4. Explain why the majority of rivers of Ukraine bring their waters into the Black sea and the Azov sea.
5. Using the map find out whether there are territories in Ukraine where the river network is absolutely absent. Explain why. Verbal interrogation.
Programmed control for written knowledge control “Rivers”
Task. Find right answers to questions and write down their numbers-codes.

I variant                                                    ІІ variant
0             Mean water                                   11
1             Mouth                                             10
2             River system                                  9
3             River basin                                     8
4             River valley                                     7
5             Watershed                                     6
6             Delta                                                5
7             Fall                                                   4
8            Channel slope                               3
9            Feeding                                           2
10          Water expenses                            1
11          Solid river run-off                           0

What is the term for:
1. The area from which the river collects its water?
2. The difference between height of source and mouth?
3. The lowest water level in the river throughout the year?
4. The weight of rocks (t) transferred by the river per year?
5. River with all its feeders?
6. Refill of river with water?
7. The ratio of river fall (cm) to its length (km)?
8. Sandy islands in river mouth?
9. Volume of water flowing through cross-section of river per time unit?
10. Place where river runs into other reservoir?
 
11. Border between basins of neighboring rivers?
12. Deepening in terrestrial measles where river flows?

Answers:
I variant: 3, 7, 0, 11, 2, 9-8, 6, 10, 1, 5, 4.
ІІ variant: 8, 4, 11, 0, 9, 2-3, 5, 1, 10, 6, 7. Written programmed control.
V. Home assignment.

Repeat the material with use of graphic outline (crib sheet).
Sent by the teacher-methodologist of the International lyceum “Grand” Kovalenko R.R.