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not
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Theme Generic task for the
1
2
4
7
8 fieldwork Enquiry
The tasks are linked to the following enquiry questions from the specification
An investigation into downstream changes.
1.1 What processes are associated with rivers?
An investigation into peoples’ perceptions of climate change.
An investigation of the impacts of population change in rural communities.
1.2 How conclusive is the range of evidence for climate change?
2.1 What are the possible effects of climate change?
1.2 What are the push / pull factors that produce rural – urban migration and urban-rural migration?
An investigation into the effectiveness of coastal management.
An investigation into the relationship between weather variables over time.
2.1 What are the advantages and disadvantages of hard and soft engineering strategies used to manage our coasts?
1.1 What factors create the variations in weather and climate experienced within and around the
British Isles?
9 An investigation of an urban ecosystem.
1.1 How does the physical environment interact with living things to produce different large scale ecosystems?
OR
2.1 In what ways do people use ecosystems?
2.2 How can ecosystems be managed sustainably?
Page in specification
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15
16
18
19
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10 An investigation of a rural environment under pressure from tourism.
2.1 What are the impacts of the development of tourism on:

people and the economy?

the environment?
11 An investigation of the effectiveness of regeneration in one town/city centre.
1.1 How are European city centres changing?
OR
1.2 What are the effects of city centre changes on their day time and night time geographies?
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Fieldwork Enquiry Task 2016 Water
(Theme 1)
Theme Generic task for the
Fieldwork Enquiry
The tasks are linked to the following enquiry questions from the specification
Page in specification
1 An investigation into downstream changes.
1.1 What processes are associated with rivers?
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How the task may be contextualised
The focus of the 2016 Theme 1 fieldwork enquiry is the ways in which the characteristics of the river channel and discharge change along the length of the river’s course. This enquiry requires candidates to conduct a long profile study of the river and assess variables at a number of sites. The focus is variations along the length of the river’s channel not on specific landforms.
Centres may provide students with an overarching enquiry question such as:
How and why does the river channel change as gradient decreases?
Alternatively, centres may present the task to their students as a hypothesis such as:
The river channel becomes progressively more efficient with distance from the source.
An investigation of distinctive fluvial landforms within one short stretch of a river is not appropriate in this cycle. Teachers who complete a proposal for this fieldwork enquiry may be asked to demonstrate the ways in which their proposed 2016 study is significantly different to the 2015 study.
Collecting Primary and Secondary Data
Whichever investigation is chosen, students must be involved in primary data collection.
Some suggestions are given below. Clearly, you will want to select a range of data collection techniques that provide opportunities for your students to meet the criteria of the mark scheme.
Primary data

Channel measurements e.g. velocity, depth, wetted perimeter, gradient etc.

Bed load measurements e.g. shape and size.

Field sketches and photos that can be labelled and annotated e.g. sketches of the river channel at different locations along the long profile.

Bank full measurements, e.g. bankfull width and depth.

Valley profiles, sketches and photo annotation.
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Mapping of the river channel.
 Measurements of the channel’s cross section and form e.g. height and length of river cliffs, gradients of slip-off slopes.
Secondary data

Annotation of large scale sections of relevant OS maps.

Use of geology maps.

Data from the same site collected in a previous year.

Drawing long profiles from map data.
Encouraging independence during the planning and data collection phase
Time should be allowed for students to become involved in the planning process before the fieldwork is conducted. Students should be encouraged to contribute to discussions about data collection and sampling techniques. Student guidance sheets should be designed with suggestions to prompt independence, for example, whilst all students are involved in some data collection, students could also be given the opportunity to select one additional data collection technique. As well as answering the main contextualised title students could choose from a suggested selection of guiding questions to investigate the data further e.g. how and why velocity/bed load shape/bed load size/depth varies downstream or affect the main variable.
Students must not be told which presentation technique to use with which data. They must be given the opportunity to select the data processing and presentation techniques that they feel are most appropriate across a range of graphical, cartographic, and statistical skills.
Application AO2
The mark scheme criteria for AO2 should be checked thoroughly when designing the fieldwork enquiry. Students should apply their wider understanding of river channels to the actual long profile changes seen at the specific field study sites they have visited. Is the river they have studied typical or atypical? They could demonstrate their:

Understanding of general channel processes (such as grading of sediment or changes in efficiency of a model channel) and apply this to the actual processes observed at the field study sites;

Understanding of a theory such as the Bradshaw model and apply this to the specific characteristics of the river that has been studied.

knowledge of the long profile changes of a case study river may be applied to the specific river they have investigated with students commenting on any similarities or differences.
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Useful Web-links http://www.geography-fieldwork.org/riverfieldwork/river_processes/stage1.htm
Field Studies Council River Processes http://mapapps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyofbritain/home.html
British Geological Survey = Geology of Britain Viewer. http://www.geography.org.uk/projects/ks4ict/idea17/
Displaying and presenting data in rivers fieldwork: Geographical Association http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Fieldwork+and+local+learning/Fieldwork+techniques/Ri vers.htm
The RGS website has a section on rivers fieldwork which links to an activities document showing how to complete some of the measurements and what to think about when choosing a rivers site for fieldwork. http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/
Past weather data from a range of stations using Google Maps
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Fieldwork Enquiry Task 2016
Climate Change ( T heme 2 )
Theme Generic task for the fieldwork enquiry
2 An investigation into peoples’ perceptions of climate change.
The task is linked to the following enquiry question from the specification
1.2 How conclusive is the range of evidence for climate change?
2.1 What are the possible effects of climate change?
Page in specification
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How the task may be contextualised
Th e theme 2 fieldwork enquiry for award in 2016 must investigate people’s perceptions of climate change.
Centres may provide students with an overarching enquiry question such as:
What ought the Welsh / UK Government do in order to nudge people into modifying their behaviour and reduce the causes of climate change?
Alternatively, centres may present the task to their students as a hypothesis such as:
Younger people tend to be more concerned about the potential impacts of climate change than older people.
A number of factors including personal circumstances and knowledge, as well as peer group and social norms influence perceptions and behaviour change. Representation of the issue in the media may also effect perceptions, awareness and the perceived importance of climate change. Longer term effects can be overridden by more immediate issues and people who do not see immediate adverse effects of climate change will often do little or nothing to change their behaviour. An approach to this theme will therefore involve consideration of present interests, concerns, knowledge and beliefs as well as peoples ’ reaction to the media, governments, teachers and other institutions.
Collecting Primary and Secondary Data
Gathering primary data through fieldwork must be at the heart of the investigation.
Perception studies require candidates to rely largely on questionnaires and interviews for their primary data collection. It is essential, therefore, that candidates conduct a wellconstructed set of questions with a substantial sample size. People’s perceptions of climate change vary considerably and may vary from one group of people to another.
Questionnaires could be designed to determine whether or not different groups of people perceive these issues in different ways.
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The types of primary data that students might collect could be:

Questionnaires : could collect data about aspects specifically to the contextualised question or hypothesis. For example, for the hypothesis “Younger people tend to be more concerned a bout the potential impacts of climate change than older people.”, aspects for the questionnaire might include questions around the word ‘concerned’ and the levels of knowledge people might have about potential climate change.
An example of a BBC climate change poll (February 2010) is available from http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/05_02_10climatechange.pdf

Attitude Survey: This collects people's attitudes about controversial issues e.g. what they feel about the development of wind farms as a method of reducing carbon emissions and tackling climate change. This could be done using a Likert Scale, which assesses the strength and direction of someone’s opinion of a series of statements e.g.
Only off-shore wind farms should be developed in future.
1 2 3 4
Agree Slightly Agree Slightly Disagree Disagree

Bi-polar scales are another way to achieve this. It would also be possible to provide different stakeholders with a set of statements which are linked to people’s responses to climate change and then ask them to rank these.

Extended interviews and Focus Groups: Questionnaires can often assume people know how they feel at the time of asking, sometimes listening to the opinions of others and asking questions can provide more detailed information and deeper insight. A possible way to integrate this into the school timetable would be for the
GCSE classes to run focus groups made up of A level students. This could be evidence contrasted with a group of staff and local community groups. One way to support the students who are running the focus group might be to design some stimulus materials, e.g. a diamond ranking exercise for participants, selection of statements to order, photographs that students have taken of local environments
(see below) or recent short newspaper articles for debate.

Photographic evidence: Photos could be taken of environments that are changing / threatened by climate change (agriculture, coastlines, sensitive ecosystems close to the school); features that they perceive are responsible for climate change (traffic congestion, poorly insulated buildings) or responses to climate change (solar panels, wind turbines, hybrid cars). Students can annotate the photos, of course, or they may be possible to use the photographs as stimulus within a bi-polar or attitude survey, or possibly linking with an extended interview / focus group.
It would be a good idea to design a simple survey that is used by all students. However, to encourage independence, you could also ask students to add a small number of questions of their own to the survey. The students’ questions could focus on one aspect of the research such as the willingness of the respondent to change various aspects of their lifestyle in order to reduce their carbon footprint, for example:
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Are people willing to car share?

How often do they use public transport?

Would they use a bicycle if new cycle lanes were provided?

At what point would they use their cars less often if road pricing / congestion charges were introduced?
If your students categorise the respondents by age or gender, then they could analyse the results of the survey by different groups of people i.e. are some groups of people more willing to use public transport than others?
Secondary data, such as National Census data, should be used to support the task. This will allow the students to explore opinions about climate change that are not possible to observe through fieldwork. This might include the views of national organisations such as Friends of the Earth, politicians, business leaders or prominent scientists.
Types of secondary data that students might collect could be:

Newspaper reports: reports detailing climate change conferences, political targets or the actions of protest groups. These could be annotated and analysed to provide supporting evidence.

Climate change data: scientific evidence describing a variety of evidence for climate change
Encouraging independence during the planning and data collection phase
It is important to allow candidates to have the opportunity to demonstrate their independence in one or more of the following areas:

Planning the enquiry / posing enquiry questions

Selecting some independent questions to use within a larger group questionnaire.
One simple way that this could be achieved is by looking at the variability of peoples’ perceptions across different groups of people . Students can exercise a degree of independence by choosing to focus on the perceptions of different groups to those used by their peers.
Application AO2
Candidates investigating the topic of people’s lifestyles and climate could apply their knowledge of places or understanding of any number of ‘big ideas’ (processes, concepts or models) to their specific context that include:

Application of their understanding of over-arching concepts such as carbon footprint or sustainable communities to the specific community studied through the fieldwork.

Application of their understanding of how appropriate, low carbon technologies could be used within communities in the field study area.

Are the views of the community they have studied typical or atypical of perceptions of climate change as reported in the press?
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Useful Web-links http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
provides a simple carbon footprint calculator so your students can see how much carbon they could save by changing their lifestyles. http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgsl/501-550/546_cycling_and_walking_to_sch.aspx
All councils have a policy to encourage safe walking and cycling to their schools. This is the
Tower Hamlets site. Search to see your own council's policy. http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/
This US agency website promotes ways of reducing carbon emissions in the home and at school. http://talkingclimate.org/
This is a gateway site to research and ideas on the ways in which we communicate climate changes and peoples ’ developing perceptions of climate change. http://ukdataservice.ac.uk/news-and-events/newsitem/?id=3740
UK Data Service provides datasets on the public perceptions of climate change. These could be used as secondary data on a national scale or for use in informing question design for questionnaires. It will require teacher interpretation.
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Fieldwork Enquiry Task 2016
Changing Populations (Theme 4)
Theme Generic task for the fieldwork enquiry
The task is linked to the following enquiry question from the specification
Page in specification
4 An investigation of the impacts of population change in rural communities.
1.2 What are the push / pull factors that produce rural – urban migration and urban-rural migration?
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How the task may be contextualised
The theme 4 fieldwork enquiry for award in 2016 must investigate the impacts of population change in rural communities. The ageing of the rural population in some remote rural communities has resulted in the closure of rural services such as schools or local shops. The closure of rural services and lack of employment opportunities then leads to further outward migration.
This negative spiral of rural to urban migration and its consequent effects on rural services may be contextualised through an overarching question such as:
How has population change affected rural communities in Gwynedd and what ought to be done to make these communities sustainable?
Alternatively, candidates could structure their investigation around the impacts of counterurbanisation. Many commuter villages have grown in population and plans to build new housing estates in village locations are often controversial. The enquiry could be phrased as an overarching question or a hypothesis such as:
The impacts of rural change in Shropshire are less noticeable in villages that are further from Shrewsbury than ones that are in close proximity to Shrewsbury.
Collecting Primary and Secondary Data
The types of primary data that students might collect could be:

Observer Survey: A variation on a pedestrian count – at public-space locations throughout the rural area, perhaps taking sites in two or more different villages.
Students could log the numbers a nd ‘type’ of people in the area, perhaps also logging what people are doing. Combined with a land-use map this may provide evidence of the effects on the village of rural-urban migration.

Land-use Mapping : This could be used to map rural / village services e.g. shops, pubs, village halls, doctors, vets.

Questionnaires : These could include some of the attitude survey techniques to elicit deeper information about the impacts of change on village life.

Attitude Survey: This collects people's attitudes e.g. what they feel about the threatened closure of village services, such as a school or shop, or how strongly they
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feel about the building of new rural housing. This could be done by using a Likert
Scale, which assesses the strength and direction of someone’s opinion of a series of statements, e.g.
It is essential to save the village school from closure.
1 2 3 4
Agree Slightly Agree Slightly Disagree Disagree
Types of secondary data that students might collect could be:

House Prices : This data could be combined with a mapping exercise looking at the number of derelict and / or empty houses. It might also be possible to obtain data on second homes in the area.

Census Data: for information relating to the population structure, ages, migration, levels of unemployment etc.

Schools Data: Information on quality of the results from schools as well as the location of the schools.

Blogs / YouTube: Villages or rural areas may have a blog and/or website which may provide evidence of the quality of life in different areas of the region. Text in the blogs could be analysed using web-sites such as Wordle.

Connectivity Audit: Using an online broadband speed checker, http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/ to check broadband speeds, and / or
Mobile Phone coverage checker to check coverage in the area, http://ukmobilecoverage.co.uk/map/ giving an indication of factors affecting teleworking (working from home) in areas supporting counter-urbanisation.

Image Perception Audit: By assessing the language that estate agents use to sell the properties in the area, information can be gathered on the external perceptions of the area. This could be contrasted with information from a questionnaire on residents’ perceptions of the area; for example, how often do certain phases appear on housing descriptions – pleasant quiet location, ideally placed to local amenities, short commute distance to X etc.

Bi-polar Scales are another way to achieve this. It would also be possible to provide different stakeholders with a set of statements which are linked to rural change and ask them to rank these.

Services Audit: This could be a combination of the range, diversity and types of services available, the catchment area of the services, how frequently they are available, if they offer specific services for particular user groups e.g. disability access, schooling for special needs, youth discounts at sports centres etc.

Communities Activities Mapping : Data could be collected from web-sites, village notice boards, questionnaires or newsletters on the number and type of recreational and community activities. These could be combined on a map of the regions / villages community infrastructure e.g. village halls, libraries, playing fields etc.
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Encouraging independence during the planning and data collection phase
It is important to allow candidates to have the opportunity to demonstrate their independence in one or more of the following areas:

Planning the enquiry / posing enquiry questions

Selecting and implementing data collection techniques or technologies.
This could be achieved if students were to focus on one or two specific stakeholder groups, e.g. different age groups of people. This could be achieved through using a class-wide resource to collect data and then students could modify aspects of it for their own study; e.g. closed or open question additions to a questionnaire. Students could also use a perception type survey to assess the rural communities through the eyes of one of the stakeholder groups; e.g. young students / teenagers. Some degree of independence will also be achieved if students use a variety of secondary data to compare factors such as socioeconomic or employment data within the rural area.
Application AO2
Candidates need to make a connection between the specific place they are investigating and the wider concepts, models, theories or processes of their geographical studies. For example, candidates could use their knowledge of a rural case study and apply it to the specific findings of the fieldwork region. What are the differences and what are the similarities? At the highest levels this could involve the candidate comparing secondary data provided for a different region within Wales or England.
Students could apply their understanding of a number of wider geographical concepts to their findings in the study area. Is the rural area they have studied typical or atypical of textbook rural areas? For example, they could apply their:

Understanding of wider concepts such as catchment area and population threshold to their findings in the specific rural area they have studied;

Understanding of overarching concepts such as sustainable rural communities and affordable housing to their own study area;

Understanding of processes such as rural depopulation and counter-urbanisation and apply their knowledge of another rural region of the UK or Europe that illustrates the process of depopulation or counter-urbanisation.
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Useful Web-links http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/HTMLDocs/dvc25/ This excellent interactive tool allows you to examine migration flows into and out of each county in England and Wales. http://www.zoopla.co.uk/ House prices information for the whole of the UK www.statistics.gov.uk
This is the official website of the UK National Census. You can search by postcode to find all sorts of data about each ward (an enumeration district) in your chosen city. http://acorn.caci.co.uk/ ACORN is a geodemographic segmentation of the UK’s population which segments small neighbourhoods, postcodes, or consumer households into 5 categories, 17 groups and 56 types. http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/index.jsp
A vision of Britain – historical land-use maps of
Britain. http://www.geography-fieldwork.org/ruralfieldwork/counterurbanisation/stage1.htm
Field
Studies Council information on rural fieldwork techniques. http://www.schoolsnet.com/uk-schools/schoolHome.jsp
Schoolsnet provides data on location, quality and sizes of schools.
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Fieldwork Enquiry Task 2016
Coasts ( T heme 7 )
Theme Generic task for the fieldwork enquiry
7 An investigation into the effectiveness of coastal management.
The task is linked to the following enquiry question from the specification
2.1 What are the advantages and disadvantages of hard and soft engineering strategies used to manage our coasts?
Page in specification
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How the task may be contextualised
The focus of the theme 7 fieldwork enquiry must be the effectiveness of coastal management on a named coastal community. This enquiry lends itself to a mapping exercise in which existing coastal defences are mapped, photographed and analysed. The enquiry could include a questionnaire to investigate perception of the effectiveness of existing sea defences and the possible need for further investment.
Centres may provide students with an overarching enquiry question such as:
What ought to be done to improve coastal defences in Aberystwyth?
OR Is it sustainable to continue to ‘hold the line’ along the Gwent Levels?
OR Do the positive effects of the ‘retreat the line’ policy at Abbott’s Farm, Essex, outweigh the negative effects?
This task provides an opportunity for students to investigate conflicting attitudes to controversial coastal management strategies such as ‘managed retreat’ where holes are deliberately punched through flood embankments. In this way, the coastline at high tide retreats inland and a new, natural barrier (salt marsh) develops in front of it. Please note that this is not the same Shoreline Management option as ‘do nothing’ which means that existing sea defences are no longer maintained but continue to operate.
Collecting Primary and Secondary Data
Primary evidence can be collected by mapping the existing coastal defences. Students can assess the effectiveness of defences by:

Cost Benefit Analysis: This technique could assess the methods for coastal protection and make a comparison in terms of advantages, disadvantages, initial and maintenance costing, effectiveness and life expectancy of the method, against the numbers of buildings, roads and infrastructure that might be protected. A simple example is below:
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Location of
Defence
Type of
Defence
Cost per meter
Length of defence
Total cost of defence
Number of properties directly protected by defence
Total
Economic cost of properties
(£200,000 average residential,
£500,000 businesses)
Cost Benefit
Total Cost of
Properties / Total cost of defence
(Higher numbers are more cost effective)
Assessment of resident’s peace of mind, disruption of ecosystems.
Grid Ref Rock Armour £3000 500 1,500,000 Residential
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Business 6
6,000,000 6 million divided by 1.5 million = 4

Bipolar Evaluation: This could look at the effectiveness of the defences, but also some of the more subjective or aesthetic aspects such as: o safe or risky to the general public; o ugly or enhances the environment; o well maintained visually or needs maintenance; o enhances biodiversity or does not provide for an eco-system.
This method could be used alongside the cost-benefit analysis and provide a possible route for students to independence by making up the indicators themselves.

Visual Analysis: Photographing and / or field sketching coastal defence features and then providing annotation with description and possible analysis of their effectiveness.

Beach Morphology : Measuring the accumulation of sand/pebbles on either side of groynes.
A supplementary approach to this enquiry would be to conduct a perception survey to investigate resident / stakeholder perceptions of coastal defences and the effectiveness of coastal management. Students might also investigate community perceptions of change. Do existing defences work? If not, does more need to be done? Students might want to investigate whether different groups of people have different perceptions of the effectiveness of existing coastal management. At a simple level, students could compare the perception of residents and tourists. At a more demanding level, students could investigate whether the perception of the risk of erosion / coastal flooding is dependent on either length of residence in the community or distance of the resident’s home from the sea.
Other examples of first hand data collection:

Visual / environmental impact assessment of both the threat created by erosion and the approaches to coastal management

Beach profile; e.g. a transect along the beach from sea level to the coastline
(backshore/ berm/ sea wall/ dunes) to show the changing gradient and/ or transects at intervals along the beach.

Measurement of thickness of beach sediment along the profile.
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Field sketches and photos that can be labelled and annotated e.g. coastal features e.g. beaches, pictures of differing pebble sizes and shapes from different locations on the beach, the effect of groynes.
Secondary data

Use of old maps/photographs to compare past and present landforms and profiles

Use of geology maps

O.S. maps and aerial photographs

Websites

Newspaper articles
Encouraging independence during the planning and data collection phase
It is important to allow candidates to have the opportunity to demonstrate their independence in one or more of the following area:

Planning the enquiry / posing enquiry questions.

Selecting and implementing data collection techniques and technologies.
For health and safety or logistical reasons the data collection could be common to the group of students as long as there are opportunities to demonstrate individuality. The individuality could be incorporated by students suggesting improvements to data collection, evaluating the nature and accuracy of sampling, choosing individual methods of data presentation and suggesting extensions to the study. Students could be given the opportunity to independently develop their own bi-polar analysis of existing coastal defences or adding one of their own questions to a group questionnaire.
Application AO2
Candidates need to make a connection between the specific place they are investigating and the wider concepts, models, theories or processes of their geographical studies. Is the coastal area they have studied typical or atypical of text-book coastal management schemes? For example, they could demonstrate their:

Understanding of concepts such as sediment cells and apply this understanding to the specific movement of sediment (origin, transport, deposition) in the locality of the field study.

Understanding processes such as longshore drift or cliff recession and applying them to coastal processes and change within the specific area of study.
Candidates could use their knowledge of a coastal management case study and apply it to the specific findings of the fieldwork region. What are the differences and what are the similarities between the case study and their filed work location? This could involve the candidate comparing their fieldwork with secondary data (OS maps, SMPS and digital images) provided for a different region within Wales or England.
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Useful Web-links
RGS section on coastal fieldwork techniques, limitations and data presentation techniques: http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Fieldwork+and+local+learning/Fieldwork+techni ques/Coasts.htm
Background information to coasts, fieldwork techniques and analysis: http://www.geography-fieldwork.org/coastfieldwork/lowenergy/stage2.htm
Maps and air photos using a postcode search: http://www.bing.com/maps/
Photos of every OS grid square: http://www.geograph.org.uk/ http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/ Projected sea level rise maps. Could be used with UK
Climate Projections to model potential future scenarios: http://ukclimateprojections.defra.gov.uk/21729
Shoreline Management Plans (SMPs) http://www.environmentagency.gov.uk/research/planning/104939.aspx
Environment Agengy - YouTube Channel - Coastal Erosion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUh3WeilFN4
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Fieldwork Enquiry Task 2016
Weather and climate ( T heme 8 )
Theme Generic task for the fieldwork enquiry
The task is linked to the following fieldwork enquiry question from the specification
8 An investigation into the relationship between weather variables over time.
1.1 What factors create the variations in weather and climate experienced within and around the British Isles?
Page in specification
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How the task may be contextualised
Centres may provide candidates with an overarching enquiry question, such as:
How accurate are national 7 day forecasts in predicting local changes in temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, wind speed and direction?
Alternatively, centres may present the task to their candidates as a hypothesis, such as:
There is a negative correlation between pressure and precipitation.
The changing weather conditions during the passage of a depression follow a typical sequence.
These two studies take a slightly different aspect of the theme, but both must include some temporal aspect over a few of days; no less than 3 but no more than 14 days would be appropriate.
The enquiry question ‘ How accurate are national 7 day forecasts …’ requires a study of several variables over 7 (or more) consecutive days. This enquiry could be conducted at any time of year. Students could demonstrate some independence in their choice of variables or the location of the data collection sites within the school grounds.
An alternative approach is to study the impact of changing pressure systems on the weather.
This type of study could be conducted over a longer period of time e.g. one 24 hour period of observation during winter high pressure and another 24 hour period during a winter low pressure event. The process could then be repeated in spring and again in summer so that students can compare the weather associated with both low and high pressure at different times of the year.
A study of the ‘changing weather conditions during the passage of a depression’ is an alternative approach to relating changing weather conditions to changes in pressure. This enquiry could be conducted over a relatively short period of time, probably over a 24
– 48 hour period; however, data collection would have to be logged frequently at relatively short intervals during that short period.
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Collecting Primary and Secondary Data
The types of Primary Data that students might collect could be:

Measurements of temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind speed and direction, cloud cover, light intensity, visibility: students could take measurements of all or any combination of these over a period of time. To demonstrate independence, candidates could plot daily wind speed or temperature measurements on a micro-grid of the school site to examine diurnal variations in micro-climate. As well as affecting the pattern of temperatures, buildings affect air flow. This can have an effect on both the speed of the flow, as well as the turbulence created. This would have implications for litter accumulation or implications for the heat island effect of buildings. Modern design of building in some cites is modelled on termite mounds, with designed spaces in-between to allow for ventilation and cooling circulation of winds. Students can use basic bubble blowing kits to assess the level of turbulence and wind direction, they could use wind speed meters to assess the speed of air flow around buildings. Presentation methods could include proportional arrows located on base maps of the area.

Measurements of pressure, precipitation and soil measurements: if you have the opportunity to conduct a temporal study across different times of the year, it might be possible to set-up a number of rain gauges, barometers and soil thermometers around the school buildings and collect readings from periods of both high and low pressure during the winter, spring and summer months. There are also plenty of free apps that have detailed weather data to provide secondary data.
Encouraging independence during the planning and data collection phase
Time should be allowed for students to become involved in the planning process before the fieldwork is conducted. Students should be encouraged to contribute to discussions about data collection and sampling techniques. Students can demonstrate independence in a number of ways; for example:

Student guidance sheets should be designed with suggestions to prompt independence; for example, whilst all students are involved in some data collection, students could also be given the opportunity to select one additional data collection technique.

Students could pose an organising question of their own that supplements the enquiry question investigated by the whole class.

Whilst some sample times and sites within the school grounds remain fixed for all students to share common data, it would be possible to allow students to collect additional sample points from other sites within the school grounds of their own choice. In this way, candidates could investigate the diurnal changes in micro-climate created by aspect, shade or proximity to buildings.
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Application AO2
Candidates need to make a connection between the specific place they are investigating and the wider concepts, models, theories or processes of their geographical studies. Students could apply their understanding of a number of wider geographical concepts to their findings in the study area. For example, they could demonstrate their:

Understanding of processes such as the passage of a depression and apply this to the specific weather conditions experienced in the locality of the field study. Was the weather typical or atypical?

Understanding of micro-climate concepts such as the urban heat island and apply this to their own specific locality of primary data collection.
Useful Web-links
RGS Microclimate Fieldwork: http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Fieldwork+and+local+learning/Fieldwork+techniques/M icroclimate.htm
PressureNET app on Android 3.0+. If you have a new Android phone, you can access data from a network of crowdsourced weather sensors and upload your own atmospheric pressure measurements.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.cumulonimbus.barometernetwork
MetLink – Weather for Teachers and Schools – Educational website of the Royal
Metrological Society: http://www.metlink.org/
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Fieldwork Enquiry Task 2016
Ecosystems ( T heme 9 )
Theme Generic task for the fieldwork enquiry
The task is linked to the following fieldwork enquiry question from the specification
9 An investigation of an urban ecosystem.
1.1 How does the physical environment interact with living things to produce different large scale ecosystems?
OR
2.1 In what ways do people use ecosystems?
2.2 How can ecosystems be managed sustainably?
Page in specification
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How the task may be contextualised
Urban ecosystems provide an important habitat for wildlife and essential recreational space for human populations. As such they can become damaged by human activity and need management. In developing this task centres may chose to focus on any of the three enquiry questions from the specification (reproduced in the table above). So, for example, it is acceptable to develop a task that investigates the links between biotic and abiotic factors in an overgrown cemetery, allotment, urban park or copse of trees.
Centres may present the task to their candidates as a hypothesis, such as:
The older parts of the cemetery provide a wider variety of habitats and greater biodiversity than the newer parts of the cemetery.
Alternatively, you may develop an enquiry that focusses on the benefits provided by an urban park, the impacts on its use and its management. Centres may provide candidates with an overarching enquiry question, such as:
What ought to be done to manage this urban park for the benefit of both people and the environment?
Collecting Primary and Secondary Data
Whichever investigation is chosen, students must be involved in primary data collection.
Some suggestions are given below. Clearly, you will want to select a range of data collection techniques that provide opportunities for your students to meet the criteria of the mark scheme. Types of primary data that students might be able to collect could be:

Air Quality Survey: Air quality is important for both humans and the management of urban areas as well as the amount of biodiversity in the area. Using lichens and/or sycamore trees, we can assess the levels of air pollution in an area. OPAL has produced a series of fieldwork activities that can be integrated into a fieldwork study http://www.opalexplorenature.org/TakePartAirSurvey
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
Tree Audit: Tree’s support the biodiversity of a green space as well as the wellbeing of the people using and working around the green space. They provide food and habitats for wildlife and people, as well as combating climate change. There are many ways to investigate the tree health within a green space, one might be a basic audit and mapping of the trees in the area.
Tree Location
GR 234 560
GR 235 561 x
Excellent
Healthy and vigorous growth, with no signs of disease, no dead or hanging braches, no visual damage or vandalism to tree. x
Good
Growth is healthy with little sign of disease, branches are not damaged or weak, no dead material or cuttings in area, little visual damage to tree.
Acceptable
Growth shows some signs of disease, some dead or hanging branches, tree stake in OK condition or tree ties needs replacing.
Some dead material or branches and some damage to truck.
A fuller study can be found on the OPAL project site in English http://www.opalexplorenature.org/TreeSurvey and in Welsh http://www.opalexplorenature.org/tree-health-scotland-wales
Unacceptable
Growth is poor with signs of disease or damage, some dead branches. Leaves at ground and human height have been destroyed. Damage or graffiti is visible and tree is not staked or protected if young.

Footpath erosion and management: Students could measure width and depth of the path and height of vegetation on and off the path. They can also use quadrats to measure vegetation type and cover and the percentage of bare ground. This could also be done using a range of categories to allow a subjective range. Students could also include any management of the paths such as surface or edges of the paths.

Footpath use: Students could measure pedestrian footfall (and bicycle use) along paths and also record flow lines of park users across areas of open ground. They could assess how these might have an impact on the park’s ecosystem, perhaps suggestin g a change of the path’s direction to increase the biodiversity of the parkland.

Environmental Audit: This could be assessed using a visual bi-polar with categories designed support the investigation. So for example, if students were looking at the environmental management of the park it might include categories such as: o healthy diverse range of trees and shrubs; o sufficient open spaces where flowers and tree seedlings can grow; o invasive species such as holly and Rhododendrons do not dominate the spaces; o dead wood has been left for fungi, beetles etc.
If students were looking at the management of people and activities within the park this might include categories such as: o sports pitches have even grass coverage and are flat; o no litter, leaf debris or dog fouling on the footpaths; o gates are structurally sound and working; o entrances have level surfacing and accessible for all; o boundaries are well defined between usage areas e.g. playgrounds and dog walking areas; o little graffiti or vandalism;
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o relevant visitor information is available etc.

Activity Participant Survey: who the visitors are, when they visit and what they do in the location. This could be based on observation of the visitors in the location, or in different parts of the location. This could be combined with a survey of the routes that visitors take through the location; e.g. distance and routes from the car park.
Students may record things such as how long people spend in particular places, what they are doing, estimated impact on the environment, do they stick to paths, use bins etc.

Visitor Impact Bi-Polar: see example below; a pilot survey would be appropriate to see if the categories are relevant to the area. Each location surveyed could be supported by an annotated photograph.
The area has a distinct natural beauty
Few human built structures
Not many people
No damage to natural vegetation
No obvious hazards
No visible litter or dog mess
Quiet
Score
+3 +2 +1 0 –1 –2 –3 Natural beauty has been damaged
+3 +2 +1 0 –1 –2 –3 Intrusive car parking and management structures
+3 +2 +1 0 –1 –2 –3 Crowded with people.
Some people have to walk off the paths
+3 +2 +1 0 –1 –2 –3
+3 +2 +1 0 –1 –2 –3 Volume of traffic high and annoying
+3 +2 +1 0 –1 –2 –3
Widespread damage to vegetation
+3 +2 +1 0 –1 –2 –3
High levels of litter and dog mess
High levels of noise (e.g. music, traffic)

Facilities and Services Audit: Map the relative number of services and facilities targeted at locals and tourists or that are beneficial to the environment or not so beneficial, e.g. car parks, visitor centres, town trails.

Counts and Maps: Traffic, pedestrian, car-parking spaces, litter volumes, types of land-use, one-way traffic, coach parks, information boards, toilets, litter bins, signage and interpretation boards etc.

Heritage Mapping: Identify the distinctiveness and character of the landscape, are there any historic buildings, or parts of the site that are linked to UK’s industrial, maritime or transport history that are part of the site, that might need preserving or protecting from the impact of visitors.
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Other examples of primary data collection include:

Sampling of vegetation cover using quadrats to identify percentage cover (or the inverse, % bare earth), and the presence of specific species, or total number of species. Sampling could be systematic at equal distances from the beginning of the transect, or stratified, to allow coverage of different environments and microclimates.

At each sampling point the following could also be measured: soil depth, soil colour,
(an indication of organic matter), vegetation height, soil pH, wind speed, and temperature. Soil samples could be collected to be analysed later to calculate the moisture.

Plant identification charts can be used to determine which species are present at specific points along the transect.

Photographic evidence or field sketches that can be annotated to show changes along a transect in vegetation type, evidence of human activity and management techniques.

Photographic evidence of erosion adjacent to footpaths compared to areas which are out of bounds to the public, or width and depth of footpath erosion.

Stratified sampling of survey points along a transect or within the public access area, e.g. number of pieces of litter within a specified radius.

Questionnaires to ascertain the frequency and nature of human use such as tourism, attitudes towards tourists by local residents, e.g. who gains or loses?
Encouraging independence during the planning and data collection phase
It is important to allow candidates to have the opportunity to demonstrate their independence in one or more of the following area:

Planning the enquiry / posing enquiry questions;

Selecting and implementing data collection techniques and technologies.
For health and safety or logistical reasons the data collection could be common to the group of students as long as there are opportunities to demonstrate individuality. The individuality could be incorporated by students designing data logging sheets, suggesting criteria for environmental quality surveys, suggesting improvements to data collection, evaluating the nature and accuracy of sampling, choosing individual methods of data presentation and suggesting extensions to the study.
Application AO2
Candidates need to make a connection between the specific place they are investigating and the wider concepts, models, theories or processes of their geographical studies. For example, candidates could:

Apply their understanding of theories such as vegetation succession to the situation found in the area of study.

Compare their findings to case studies of other ecosystems that are under pressure from visitor use with different levels of human activity or management, accessibility, or different microclimates.

Consider how their findings might differ at different times of the year or if this urban ecosystem was more or less intensively managed.
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Useful Web-links
Science and Plant for Schools - Species distribution and ID information: http://www.saps.org.uk/secondary/teaching-resources/127-ecology-practical-distribution-ofspecies-and-fieldwork-sampling
Woodland Ecosystems and their management
– RGS: http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/36D53A02-A9B4-4DD8-8166-
8B9FD4B55484/0/Woodlandecosystemsandtheirmanagement.pdf
Woodland plants and amounts of light: http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/36D53A02-A9B4-4DD8-8166-
8B9FD4B55484/0/Woodlandecosystemsandtheirmanagement.pdf
Countryside info: Woodlands and Biodiversity: http://www.countrysideinfo.co.uk/woodland_manage/woodbio1.htm
Maps and air photos using a postcode search: http://www.bing.com/maps/
Photos of every OS grid square: http://www.geograph.org.uk/
Urban ecosystems – supporting fieldwork in towns and cities http://www.field-studies-council.org/urbaneco/
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Fieldwork Enquiry Task 2016
Tourism ( T heme 10 )
Theme Generic task for the fieldwork enquiry
The task is linked to the following enquiry question from the specification
Page in specification
10 An investigation of a rural environment under pressure from tourism.
How the task may be contextualised
2.1 What are the impacts of the development of tourism on:

people and the economy?

the environment?
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The theme 10 fieldwork enquiry for award in 2015 must be focussed on the impacts of tourism on a rural study area. Candidates might investigate both positive and negative impacts of tourism on a locality/community. They might focus on the impacts of tourism on the local economy (direct and indirect), the environment and on local residents. Candidates might even investigate the carrying capacity of the locality in terms of its social, psychological and environmental capacity to absorb visitors. Candidates could investigate impacts at a honeypot site and the spatial extent of the impacts around that site.
Alternatively, they could investigate the impacts of an event held in a rural environment such as a county show.
Centres may provide candidates with an overarching enquiry question, such as:
Do the benefits of tourism in the Brecon Beacons outweigh the disadvantages?
OR What are the impacts of the Cheltenham festival on the local community and environment?
Alternatively, centres may present the task to their candidates as a hypothesis, such as:
Environmental damage created by tourism decreases with distances from car parks in Dovedale.
A task that focuses on spatial patterns (such as the distribution of tourist accommodation or other tourist services) or the changing nature of tourism would not be appropriate in this cycle.
Collecting Primary and Secondary Data
Types of primary data that students might be able to collect could be:

Environmental Impact Assessment: This could be done once for the tourist development as a whole, or the area could be split into zones and the EIA could be completed in each zone. An example is included below.
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Example of Environment Impact Assessment:
Impact on the landscape:
Do you feel that there has been a loss of character to the landscape?
Is there a significant change in the landuse towards tourist development?
Impacts of Air
Quality, Litter and
Noise
How much traffic congestion/ parking is there?
Estimate the level of noise from the tourist development.
Estimate the level of the litter in the area.
Impacts on Climate
Change Problems
Assessment of Impact:
Score 5: A lot Score 4: Quite a lot
Score 5: A lot Score 4: Quite a lot
Score 5: A lot Score 4: Quite a lot
Score 3: Some Score 2: Very
Little
Score 3: Some Score 2: Very
Little
Score 3: Some Score 2: Very
Little
How much of the development could be affected by intense rainfall or storm surges?
Is the development
NOT able to be used in higher temperatures?
Impacts on the
Biodiversity:
Score 5: A lot Score 4: Quite a lot
Score 3: Some Score 2: Very
Little
Score 1: No or not at all.
Score 1: No or not at all.
Score 1: No or not at all.
Score 1: No or not at all.
TOTAL
Are there green space areas?
How much wildlife have you seen in this area?

Footpath Erosion: Width and depth - as well as possibly vegetation, bare ground cover percentage and vegetation height. This could also be done using a range of categories to allow a subjective range. Students could also include any management of the paths such as surface or edges of the paths.

Activity Participant Survey: Who the visitors are, when they visit and what they do in the location. This could be based on observation of the visitors in the location, or in different parts of the location. This could be combined with a survey of the routes that visitors take through the location e.g. distance and routes from the car park. Students may record things such as how long people spend in particular places, what they are doing, estimated impact on the environment, do they stick to paths, use bins etc.
They could do this for individuals or do this by adapting the example table below:
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For a period of X minutes tally the numbers of times you observe the following behaviour:
Breaking vegetation or picking plants
Picking up natural items and removing e.g. pretty stones
Music that can be heard by everyone
Dropping litter
Using bins
Revving vehicles or standing vehicles with engines running
Feeding wild animals

Visitor Impact Bi-Polar: See example below; a pilot survey would be appropriate to see if the categories are relevant to the area. Each location surveyed could be backed-up by an annotated photograph.
The area has a distinct natural beauty
Few human built structures
Not many people
No damage to natural vegetation
No obvious hazards
No visible litter or dog mess
Quiet
Score
+3 +2 +1 0 –1 –2 –3 Natural beauty has been damaged
+3 +2 +1 0 –1 –2 –3 Intrusive car parking and management structures
+3 +2 +1 0 –1 –2 –3 Crowded with people.
Some people have to walk off the paths
+3 +2 +1 0 –1 –2 –3 Widespread damage to vegetation
+3 +2 +1 0 –1 –2 –3 Volume of traffic high and annoying
+3 +2 +1 0 –1 –2 –3 High levels of litter and dog mess
+3 +2 +1 0 –1 –2 –3 High levels of noise
(e.g. music, traffic)

Facilities and Services Audit: Map the relative number of services and facilities targeted at locals and tourists or that are beneficial to the environment or not so beneficial e.g. car parks, visitor centres, town trails.

Counts and Maps: Traffic, pedestrian, car-parking spaces, litter volumes, types of land-use, one-way traffic, coach parks, information boards, toilets, litter bins, signage and interpretation boards etc.

Product Survey: Students could select 10 random shops and look at what is being sold, where it is being sold, is the item being used to sell 'place' and how, who is going to buy it etc.

Roles Perception Survey: Select a role e.g. local parent with two children, teenage visitor from UK with parents, local business person. Then walk around the area and think about the facilities and services you would need during the day, what you would like to do, things that are too difficult / expensive to access etc. Mark on a map or record some of the answers. This collects data on the environment and if it is of benefit to a particular group or not.
Types of secondary data could be:

Benefits Matrix : If students are looking at the benefits of tourism versus the disadvantages, they might consider if user groups have different impressions of the economic, environmental and social impacts of tourism in the study area. They could use information from the Roles Perception Survey and combine it with other data to create a matrix to enable analysis of their data.
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
Visitor Statistics: These could be from the local council or national park, e.g. income generated, visitor numbers, spending on footpath management etc.

House Price Survey: By mapping the average house prices within a rural area, it may be possible to determine if the location of physical tourist features have an effect on the house price. This would give information about the benefits or lack of benefits for local people.
Encouraging independence during the planning and data collection phase
It is important to allow candidates to have the opportunity to demonstrate their independence in one or more of the following areas:

Planning the enquiry / posing enquiry questions

Selecting and implementing data collection techniques or technologies.
One simple way that this could be achieved would be designing a questionnaire of closed questions to be used by all candidates and asking each candidate to add one closed and one open question of their own to this common survey.
Application AO2
Candidates need to make a connection between the specific place they are investigating and the wider concepts, models, theories or processes of their geographical studies. Students could apply their understanding of a number of wider geographical concepts to their findings in the study area. For example, they could apply their:

Understanding of the concept of positive multiplier effects to examine the specific economic benefits created by tourism in the locality of the field study.

General understanding of concepts such as carrying capacity (social, psychological or environmental) to the specific area of the field study.

Understanding of models or theories such as the Butler Model to the development of tourism in the study area.
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Useful Web-links
Butler's Model of Tourism http://geographyfieldwork.com/ButlerModel.htm
National Park site on the impacts of tourism http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/learningabout/ourchallenges/tourism/impactsoftourism.htm
Video clip from the BBC on managing impacts of tourism in the Peak District http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/managing-the-impact-of-tourism-in-the-peak-districtnational-park/7411.html
Fix the Fells - Footpath erosion in the Lake District http://www.fixthefells.co.uk/
UK Government Site - Policy Helping the UK tourism industry to grow https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/helping-the-uk-tourism-industry-to-grow
The following link is the publication hub of the UK National Statistics Office for tourist related publications. It includes a number of very useful hyperlinks (on the right of the screen) to other organisations such as Visit Britain and Visit England. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/people-places/people/tourism
The following link is to a Tourism hub on the Welsh Government website. http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/tourism/?lang=en
The Welsh Government site contains links to various research documents, many of which contain raw data on visitor numbers / attractions in Wales. These research documents are available from the following page: http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/tourism/researchl1/tourisminwales/;jsessionid=NwndQsZXTY
NrybZJT868npScD12ldKdGM9LY1jQzpPpmBZHr5Mwf!989377147?lang=en
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Fieldwork Enquiry Task 2016
Urban and Retail change ( T heme 11 )
Theme Generic task for the fieldwork enquiry
The task is linked to the following enquiry question from the specification
11 An investigation of the effectiveness of regeneration in one town/city centre.
1.1 How are European city centres changing?
OR
1.2 What are the effects of city centre changes on their day time and night time geographies?
Page in specification
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How the task may be contextualised
The theme 11 fieldwork enquiry for award in 2016 must be focussed on urban regeneration.
Centres may provide candidates with an overarching enquiry question, such as:
Who has benefitted most from the regeneration of Cardiff Bay?
OR To what extent has the new tramway in Nottingham reduced the city’s transport problems?
This task must investigate a named urban regeneration scheme. An investigation of retail patterns or retail change and its impacts is not appropriate in this cycle.
Collecting Primary and Secondary Data
It is probable that all students will be involved in land-use surveys and customer questionnaires . The following is a list of possible variations to encourage greater student independence:

Placecheck Audit : What do the locals think of the area? It could be that this information is gained from interviews, but it is also possible to use a Placecheck approach which suggests that much information about a place can be known by looking at it as well as asking people. The technique can be done by walking through an area and asking questions such as: What do we like about this place? What do we dislike about it? What do we need to improve on? There are 21 questions on the
Placecheck website which can be adapted for your regeneration project.
http://www.placecheck.info/what-is-a-placecheck/

Service Provision Mapping: Categories of services could be used, tallied and mapped; e.g. offices, warehouses, industrial buildings, shops, pubs, self-catering accommodation, guest-houses. Retail could be broken down into categories such as
Alcohol and Tobacco, AV and Photographic, Clothing, Food, Games and Toys,
Gardening, Eating Out, Household Goods, Jewellery, Clocks and Watches, Medical
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and Personal care, Pets, Shoes, etc. and then perhaps grouped into Comparison,
Convenience, Leisure and Expenditure groupings.

Pedestrian Legibility Audit: Note evidence of pedestrian-orientated planning e.g. pedestrianisation schemes, street furniture, seating, notice boards, signposting and car parking facilities. These could be highlighted on a map. An alternative approach is walk through the regenerated district and conduct an audit such as the one below.
This could be scored between 1 and 3 for each section (1 = agree, 3 = disagree).
The audit could be done between the key aspects of the regeneration project.
Connected –
Extent to which the route is linked to other routes
Undisturbed route between origins and destinations
Absence of obstacles and obstructions
Access to public transport nodes e.g. bus stops
Pleasant –
Extent to which walking is a pleasant activity, in terms of interaction with the environment
No conflicts with others, means of transport e.g. cars
Absence of rubbish, potholes, damaged surfaces etc.
Adequate street furniture, benches, places to sit and to stop
Safe and
Inviting –
Extent to which the walking route feels safe and
Good inviting lighting and visibility – no dark areas
Good signage and information
Good visual boundaries between roads and tram routes
Comfortable –
Extent to which the walking is OK for all people to go along the route
Well maintained footpaths, wide with a smooth surface
Attractive design of footpaths, seating and surrounding areas
No noise from the traffic or fumes
Convenient –
Extent to which walking is possible in a comparison with other transport modes
Good road crossing opportunities, quick wait times and safe waiting areas
Walkable distances between key destinations
Absence of barriers, changing levels e.g. steps and slopes

Service User Profile : Assessing the impact of a transport regeneration project provides an opportunity for some focussed questionnaires. This should be undertaken on the transport provided itself. Together with information on the aim of the transport initiative, this could provide evidence to see if the project has met its intention. Questions could focus on: o the level of usage, e.g. how many times a week people used the service; o what transport they used before; o do they own a car, age, etc.; o what the journey purpose was e.g. shopping, leisure, work, health care etc. o opportunities for free travel / travel cards and what sections of the community these were aimed at.

Transport Mapping: This would be used with the Service User Profile mentioned above. Students could map the main services / land-uses that are connected by the transport routes. This would provide information on journey purposes and the extent of the economic benefits e.g. ability to access low cost supermarkets, or the social benefits e.g. access to hospital or doctors ’ surgeries.

Behaviour Capture : Quality of life can be improved by regeneration projects, which can be investigated by primary fieldwork. For example, possible secondary neighbour effects might be the reduced incidence of crime, regeneration of the urban fabric,
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confidence of people to linger in the environment. A possible way of collecting data would be to focus on peoples
’ behaviour in the environment. One way would be to take a video for one or more minutes, then analyse this. Students could identify people in the initial frame, estimate their age, identify their gender, then track them through the video: o How long do they stay in the regenerated environment? o What do they do – are they sitting reading, looking around, standing, passing through? o Are they on their own or with a group?

Bi-polar Surveys : comparing alternative sites within the regenerated area or comparing the part of the city that has been regenerated with another part that has been unaffected by the change.

Before and After Photographs: by using photographs taken from before the regeneration project, and a photo taken from the same location after the regeneration, students can identify significant changes to the urban environment.

Survey of Use: of the regenerated area: frequency of visit / purpose of visit / time taken to get here / how long do you expect to stay are all significant additional questions. Different groups of people could be using the regenerated area in different ways. Pedestrian questionnaires should be succinct and easy to complete. Graded response answers are much better than long open-ended questions. Tick box answer selections are also easier to quantify and collate, as well as being more manageable to present graphically.

Pedestrian Flow: counts taken along key streets or areas in the zone that has been regenerated. Students could consider different times of day / weather conditions / weekdays compared to weekends and this presents further opportunities for independence.

Annotated Digital Photos: these are an excellent way to present many of these findings.
Secondary data sources which will be most helpful to this task would include:

Blank ground floor maps of retail centres using outlines from an industrial supplier e.g. GOAD maps.

Satellite imagery to show extent of urban regeneration and surrounding areas/main routes.

Local newspapers/Local Government publications can indicate planning proposals for urban re-development. Urban District Plans are particularly useful.
Encouraging independence during the planning and data collection phase
Students should be encouraged to be a part of the development of the survey/questionnaire structures and time should be allowed for students to become involved in the planning process before the fieldwork is conducted. An open discussion of the format of the survey/questionnaire to be used can take place at the pre-fieldwork stage, which will lead to
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additional factors/questions of their choice being added to a common, group structured response sheet, e.g. additional bi-polar categories or the collection of pedestrian counts at different times of the day during the field visit.
Application AO2
Candidates need to make a connection between the specific place they are investigating and the wider concepts, models, theories or processes of their geographical studies. Students could apply their understanding of a number of wider geographical concepts to their findings in the study area. For example, they could demonstrate their:

Understanding of concepts such as positive multipliers and apply this to the specific economic benefits created by regeneration in the locality of the field study.
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General understanding of concepts such as carrying capacity (social, psychological or environmental) and apply this to the specific area of the field study i.e. has regeneration resulted in large crowds of people visiting the specific locality of this city and are the crowds exceeding carrying capacity?

Understanding processes such as gentrification and applying them to changes within the specific area of study.
Useful Web-links http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Schools/Fieldwork+and+local+learning/Fieldwork+techniques/U rban+and+settlement.htm
The RGS has a useful guide to fieldwork examining retail distribution. Take care – this webpage also describes how retail change can be investigated, such a study is not appropriate in 2015.
Postcode code data including, house prices, social grades, crime rates etc. http://www.checkmyfile.com/postcode-check/SY5-9PR.htm
Maps and air photos using a postcode search. http://www.bing.com/maps/
Photos of every OS grid square: http://www.geograph.org.uk/
Provides employment data: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/
Provides rentable valuation for service provisions http://www.2010.voa.gov.uk/rli/en/basic
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© WJEC CBAC Ltd
SJ/JF-W38 (12)