STARTER ACTIVITY What enquiry questions could
you pose at each of these field sites?
The future assessment of
fieldwork
Rob Lucas
Chief Executive, Field Studies Council
Sponsored by WJEC
Qualification reform
2014
2015
Start
teaching
reformed
GCSE and
new GCE
Final
controlled
assessment
First
assessment
reformed
GCSE and
new GCE
2016
2017
2018
Timeline for development of new
geography qualifications
reformed
GCSE
criteria
published
Spring
2014
reformed GCSE
and new GCE
specifications
available
GCE
consultation
Summer
Autumn
Spring
2014
2014
2015
Summer
2015
First
teaching
Autumn
Spring
2015
2016
Awarding Organisations
develop new specifications
Launch and CPD for new
specifications
Summer
2016
Autumn
2016
What is the position of
fieldwork in reformed GCSE?
“Fieldwork is crucial to the strong role envisaged for
geography in the revised and more challenging curriculum
at all levels”
“The scheme of assessment must include an identifiable
element or elements assessing fieldwork. This must include
assessment of students’ own experiences of fieldwork”
“Fieldwork will be assessed though examination only. It will
comprise 15% of the total assessment weighting”
Presentation aims
1. Get students thinking geographically
throughout the enquiry process with a view
to improving current and future assessment
outcomes
• Explore strategies for engaging students in
fieldwork enquiry
• Analyse Assessment Objective (AO) weightings
and consider what these tell us about possible
future models of assessment of fieldwork
What is fieldwork for?
1 awe and wonder
Provoke and raise curiosity
Respect for nature and care
for the state of the planet
What is fieldwork for?
2 collaborative working
Enable learners to co-operate, participate and take responsibility
What is fieldwork for?
3 enactive learning
Enable learners to engage with understanding of broad scientific
principles such as spatial patterns, change, and sustainability
What is fieldwork for?
4 learning to think like a geographer
Engaging learners in the enquiry process
A deficit model of fieldwork?
Question
Plan
Observe
Review
Collect
Record
Apply
Represent
Analyse
In some cases
learners have one
opportunity to get
this right
Transmission > tasks
Work scientifically >
think geographically
Question
Plan
Observe
Review
Collect
Record
Apply
Represent
Analyse
Acknowledgement: Margaret Roberts
Creating a need to know
Using data
Asking questions to:
Using primary & secondary data to:

Identify issues / problems

Locate / contextualise the enquiry

Be creative

Collect evidence

Hypothesise

Select evidence

Make links with existing
geographical knowledge

Represent the evidence
Reflecting on learning
Making sense
To be critical in relation to:
Query the evidence to:

Data sources

Analyse

Techniques used / sampling
strategies

Recognise relationships

Reach conclusions

Stakeholder views

Make decisions / solve problems

How the enquiry could be improved

Relate findings to existing knowledge

The value of what was learnt
Closed task
Framed enquiry
Independent
enquiry
Decisions about
fieldwork procedure
are made by teachers.
Data is presented as
authoritative evidence.
Decisions about fieldwork
procedure are made
largely by teachers. Data is
presented as information to
be interpreted.
Students are involved in
key decisions about
fieldwork procedure and
data sources.
Activities devised by
teacher to achieve predetermined objectives.
Students follow
instructions.
Methods of representation
are open to discussion and
choice. Analysis is
independent.
Students independently
analyse evidence and
make decisions / reach
conclusions.
Reflection
Predictable outcomes.
Students discuss what they Students consider the
have learnt; different
validity of evidence /
outcomes.
reliability of data and
methods.
Data
Enquiry questions are
Students decide enquiry
selected by teacher but are questions, framed by
explicit.
teacher input.
Making sense
Questions
A task is presented.
Questions are not
explicit.
Acknowledgement: Margaret Roberts
THINKING LIKE A GEOGRAPHER
STRATEGIES TO DEVELOP STUDENT’S
UNDERSTANDING OF THE ENQUIRY PROCESS
Top Trumps
• Used to develop understanding of locations
and environments
• Application of understanding
• Development of sampling strategies
Taunton
Minehead
Bishops Lydeard
Watchet
Population:
58241
Population:
11699
Population:
1975
Population:
3710
People
per hectare:
35.04
People
per hectare:
30.00
People
per hectare:
37.98
People
per hectare:
40.33
Mean age:
% homes
owned outright:
38
70.48
Williton
Mean age:
% homes
owned outright:
47
53.65
Wiveliscombe
Mean age:
% homes
owned outright:
42
68.94
Carhampton
Mean age:
% homes
owned outright:
41
61.53
Dunster
Population:
2599
Population:
2084
Population:
780
Population:
489
People
per hectare:
27.36
People
per hectare:
35.32
People
per hectare:
29.17
People
per hectare:
21.03
Mean age:
44
Mean age:
% homes
owned outright:
38.37
% homes
owned outright:
Mean age:
% homes
owned outright:
48
59.41
Mean age:
% homes
owned outright:
42
67.07
49
43.27
Interception
Interception
Interception
Interception
Evapotranspiration
Interception
Stem-flow
Stem-flow
Stem-flow
Evapotranspiration
Stem-flow
Run-off
Infiltration
Infiltration
Infiltration
Stem-flow
Infiltration
Throughflow
Throughflow
Throughflow
Throughflow
Infiltration
Infiltration
Dew point
Condensation
Run-off
Run-off
Saturation
Saturation
Interception
Interception
Interception
Interception
Evapotranspiration
Interception
Stem-flow
Stem-flow
Stem-flow
Evapotranspiration
Stem-flow
Run-off
Infiltration
Infiltration
Infiltration
Stem-flow
Infiltration
Throughflow
Throughflow
Throughflow
Throughflow
Infiltration
Infiltration
Dew point
Condensation
Run-off
Run-off
Saturation
Saturation
Observation skills
• Verbal field sketches
• ‘Geography Parrot’
• Breaking News
Verbal field sketches
• In pairs facing each other
• Person A describes. Person B marks according
to a predefined mark scheme
• The twist..... Person A is describing the
landscape behind them, without looking.
‘Geography Parrot’
• Only ever says one sentence...
• Encourages next steps on from
labels in field sketches
• Begins to consider
– Processes
– Consequences
– Implications
– Future scenarios
So
what?
‘Breaking News’
• Either as preparation to the study or on-site
• News Headlines
• Brief summary
• Information (including details/facts)
• Analysis
• Letters to the Editor
Developing Questions
• Questions are generated
through observation
• Best done prior to
fieldwork to enable
‘whole enquiry’
approach
• In-situ questioning
allows ‘anomalies’ to be
identified
Assessment of fieldwork
Which parts of the enquiry process
do we assess / could we assess?
Acknowledgement: Margaret Roberts
Creating a need to know
Using data
Asking questions to:
Using primary & secondary data to:

Identify issues / problems

Locate / contextualise the enquiry

Be creative

Collect evidence

Hypothesise

Select evidence

Make links with existing
geographical knowledge

Represent the evidence
Does assessment of AO3
focus our attention on a
Reflecting on learning sub-set of fieldwork
Making sense
skills?
To be critical in relation to:
Query the evidence to:


Analyse

Recognise relationships

Reach conclusions

Make decisions / solve problems

Relate findings to existing knowledge
Data sources

Could we assess this sub-set
Techniques used / sampling
of skills using other
strategies
assessment
models?
Stakeholder
views

How the enquiry could be improved

The value of what was learnt

Acknowledgement: Margaret Roberts
Creating a need to know
Using data
Asking questions to:
Using primary & secondary data to:

Identify issues / problems

Locate / contextualise the enquiry

Be creative

Collect evidence

Hypothesise

Make links with existing
geographical knowledge

Reach conclusions
Reflecting on learning
To be critical in relation to:

Data sources

Techniques used / sampling
strategies
Do we provide
Select evidence
opportunities
forthe evidence
 Represent
students to demonstrate
that they can apply their
wider Making
geographical
sense
understanding
to the
Query the evidence to:
study area
– what we
Analyse
currently
term AO2?
 Recognise relationships

Stakeholder views


Make decisions / solve problems
How the enquiry could be improved


Relate findings to existing knowledge
The value of what was learnt
How do students access AO2 in their
fieldwork enquiry?
How many of you
have visited the
Lingen Alps in
Norway?
Which of these
photographs was
taken
nearest the source?
HOW DID YOU KNOW?
Application of knowledge and understanding
Grade C description
AO1
Candidates recall, select and communicate knowledge and understanding of
places, environments, concepts and locations across different scales. They use
geographical terminology appropriately.
AO2
They apply their knowledge and understanding of geographical concepts,
processes and patterns in a variety of both familiar and unfamiliar physical
and human contexts.
They understand relationships between people and the environment,
identifying and explaining different problems and issues and making
geographical decisions that are supported by reasons, including sustainable
approaches.
AO3
They select and use a variety of skills, and appropriate techniques and
technologies to identify questions and issues to undertake investigations.
They collect and record appropriate evidence from different sources,
including fieldwork. They analyse and interpret evidence and recognise some
of the limitations of evidence to reach plausible conclusions.
Rivers follow a typical pattern
source
mouth
discharge
friction
smallest
greatest
Sediment
size
greatest
greatest
smallest
smallest
Not all rivers are typical
Start with the application (AO2)
What are the wider
geographical issues,
concepts or processes
that underpin the
enquiry in this specific
place?
Inner urban regeneration
Quality of life
Sphere of influence
Gentrification
Positive and negative externalities
Significant changes to AO
weightings in fieldwork
GCSE WJEC CA weightings
reformed GCSE Fieldwork
AOs
What are the
implications when
the weighting for
Application is
increased and
skills decreased?
15% of all assessment
25% of all assessment
Knowledge & understanding
Application
Geographical skills
Other presentations that may interest
TUESDAY 16.30–17.20
Lecture Plus 5
Do Iceland’s volcanoes pose a threat to the UK?
KS3–P16
Dr John Stevenson, RSE/Scottish
Government Personal Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh
WEDNESDAY 09.00–09.50
Lecture 15
WEDNESDAY 11.45–12.35
Workshop 41
Geography through enquiry
KS3–P16
Margaret Roberts, Past President,
Geographical Association
Fieldwork beyond the textbook
KS3–P16
Presented by Nick Lapthorn, Chair GA
Fieldwork and Outdoor Learning Special
Interest Group