Case study 5: investigating sustainable
urban development
Sprowston Community High School
Norwich, Norfolk
Year 8 Summer term 2008
(1) What was the department trying
to achieve?
• The geography department at Sprowston wanted to make full use
of the opportunities within the 2008 Programme of Study for Key
Stage 3
• The teachers decided fieldwork was an ideal means of addressing
aspects of the Importance Statement – using enquiry to
encourage ‘questioning, investigation and critical thinking about
issues affecting…people’s lives, now and in the future’ and
focusing on a local housing development scheme to raise
‘awareness of sustainable development … differing points of view
people hold and possible conflicts’
• By the end of an investigation, they wanted pupils to:
– be comfortable collecting data independently
– give their own opinions on features they observe first hand
– make suggestions for improvements or changes
– apply the idea of sustainable development
(2) How did the teachers organise
the learning?
•
•
•
Students’ prior
understanding of
sustainable housing was
determined by annotating a
cartoon of a typical
suburban house
Carefully scaffolded
fieldwork strategies were
developed to promote
independence during a local
fieldtrip to observe current
housing and a potential site
for future development
After the fieldtrip, students
drew plans and made
models of a new
development, applying their
ideas about sustainable
living
Strategy 1: assessing the level of
prior understanding
• To introduce the
investigation a cartoon of
a typical suburban house
was presented to students
• After discussion,
students assessed the
sustainability of the
housing by highlighting
features and annotating
the cartoon
• Further discussion was
used to embed the
concept of sustainability
• The example here shows
one student’s work and
indicates awareness of
sustainable energy use
around the home
Strategy 2: investigating
sustainability in the field
• The following three slides
show techniques used to
investigate the concept of
sustainability in the field
• The emphasis is on
making observations and
judgments and
deepening understanding
• The tasks were carefully
scaffolded to allow
students to work
independently. They were
encouraged to draw
conclusions for
themselves.
• In the photo survey, students
were able to select their own
views to pick our sustainable
or unsustainable features of
housing
• The environmental survey
prompted them to observe
additional features
• The interpretation task
developed their understanding
of sustainability by asking
them to relate specific features
of the environment to the
concept of a sustainable
community
Photographic Survey
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
Describe what your photo shows…
Describe what your photo shows…
Describe what your photo shows…
Why did you choose this photo?...
Why did you choose this photo?...
Why did you choose this photo?...
Does it show sustainable development?
Does it show sustainable development?
Does it show sustainable development?
How could it be improved?
How could it be improved?
How could it be improved?
Very Good
Av.
Very Poor
+5 +4 +3 +2 +1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5
Environmental Survey of Housing Estate at
Sprowston
Litter
          
Parking
          
Range of sized housing
          
Range of design
          
Parking
          
Trees
          
2. What are the best features of the estate?
Cycle Paths
          
Litter bins
          
……………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………….....
……………………………………………………………….
Bus Stops
          
Bus Frequency
          
Solar Panels
          
Neighbourhood watch
          
Street lights
          
Burglar Alarms
          
Double Glazing
          
General environment
          
Natural Habitats
          
Open Spaces
          
School nearby
          
Shops nearby
          
Other………………
          
1. Grade each part of the Environment survey
from +5 = very good/lots of to -5 = poor/not a lot
of this by putting a star in the correct place
along the scale
3. What are its worst features?
……………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………….....
……………………………………………………………….
4. What could be done to improve this housing
estate?
……………………………………………………………….
…………………………………………………………….....
……………………………………………………………….
5. Take photos of these things and any thing
else important linked to what the housing estate
is like, good or bad.
Environmental Survey Interpretation
+5
+4
+3
+2
+1
Good
Bad
-1
-2
-3
-4
-5
Litter
Litter
Litter
Parking
Parking
Parking
Range o
Range of sized housing
Range o
Range o
Range of design
Range o
Parking
Parking
Parking
Trees
Trees
Trees
Cycle Paths
Cycle Paths
Cycle Paths
Litter bins
Litter bins
Litter bins
Bus Stops
Bus Stops
Bus Stops
Bus Fre
Bus Frequency
Bus Fre
Solar Panels
Solar Panels
Solar Panels
Neighbou
Neighbourhood watch
Neighbou
Street lights
Street lights
Street lights
Burglar Alarms
Burglar Alarms
Burglar Alarms
Double Gla
Double Glazing
Double Gla
General
General environment
General
Natural Habi
Natural Habitats
Natural Habi
Open Spaces
Open Spaces
Open Spaces
School nearby
School nearby
School nearby
Shops nearby
Other……….
Using your Environmental Survey results,
complete the scale on the left using suitable
pictogram symbols to show each score
Briefly describe your results and explain how the
area could be improved..
Strategy 3: communicating ideas
about sustainability
• After the field excursions,
students took part in a
decision-making exercise
to select the most
sustainable way of
developing new housing
in their local community
• They produced maps and
models to communicate
their ideas. These were
based on a critical
analysis of their
experience in the field
(3) How well did
the teachers
achieve their
aims?
• Students
selfassessed their
fieldwork and
associated research
skills
• These skills also
underpinned the
teacher-assessed
outcomes for the
investigation
You will use the following skills completing the fieldwork and assessment. How did it go?


Need more practise
Environmental
survey and
analysis of
estate
You could score
the area and make
a judgement with
reasons on the
area
Photos
You can use
relevant photos to
help make
judgements
Field sketch
You were able to
draw the area with
labels
Os maps
direction and
distance
You were able to
use the OS map
accurately
SWOT
You could analyse
the area for new
housing
Describe /
You were able to
use words to say
what and why
Explain
Using
collected
Primary Data
You could produce
graphs and
describe them from
the data collected
Sustainable
Plan
You could suggest
sustainable ideas
and explain them
for future housing
• Students across the
attainment range were
able to access the tasks
and work independently
in the field
• This student selected
different features in his
photographs and wrote
independently about
them
• He applied several
aspects of sustainability
to his explanations,
including environmental
and social sustainability
• This student
was able to
independently
assess a wide
range of
sustainability
measures for
the local
community,
based on field
observations
• His
observations
led to him begin
to make
appropriate
suggestions for
making the area
more
sustainable
• By the end of the
investigation,
students were
able to generate
their own design
ideas for
sustainable
housing in the
local area
• These ideas were
a combination of
critical thinking
based on firsthand observation
and creative
thinking drawing
on secondary
sources