Quality fieldwork engages learners in the full enquiry process

STARTER ACTIVITY What enquiry questions could you pose at each of these field sites?
Quality fieldwork engages learners in the full enquiry process. In this process geographers are working scientifically to identify an issue, pose questions, gather data and analyse that evidence in order to answer their questions. Posing challenging geographical questions is an integral part of thinking geographically. Students may need frameworks to help them structure their questions and the postcards present 4 potential strategies for doing this. Support can also be given through snowballing: working in pairs to identify questions > pairs join and identify best questions > groups of four join to identify best questions and share with class.

The future assessment of fieldwork
Rob Lucas Chief Executive, Field Studies Council Sponsored by WJEC

Qualification reform Start teaching reformed GCSE and new GCE Final controlled assessment First assessment reformed GCSE and new GCE 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2014 will be the fourth GCSE cycle in which fieldwork has been assessed using a controlled assessment model. At A level, fieldwork has been assessed by a fieldwork exam paper for five years. Assessment models for fieldwork in 2018 are still to be decided. However, we know that fieldwork will continue to be assessed using current assessment models for the next three cycles – with a final assessment of the current GCSE and A level qualifications in Several hundred thousand candidates (at GCSE and A level) will be assessed on their fieldwork experience over these three cycles. We have an opportunity now to reflect on current practice and make improvements.

Timeline for development of new geography qualifications
reformed GCSE criteria published reformed GCSE and new GCE specifications available GCE consultation First teaching Spring 2014 Summer 2014 Autumn Spring 2015 Summer 2015 2016 Summer 2016 Autumn 2016 Awarding Organisations develop new specifications The DfE have consulted the geography community, including the GA and FSC, over the development of new subject criteria for reformed GCSE. These criteria were published on 9th April Further consultation will take place over the development of new A level criteria over the summer months with these criteria expected to be written in autumn 2014 and published in 2015. Until these documents are published we can only speculate about future assessment models for fieldwork. There has even been some speculation that fieldwork might not be assessed at all when GCSE Geography is reformed. However, what we expect to see is that controlled assessment will be replaced by an examination at GCSE. At A level the picture is less clear but currently the expectation is that it will be non-exam assessment. This might take the form of a fieldwork report. This would prepare A level students for progression to undergraduate courses where the ability to undertake independent research is a valued skill. Launch and CPD for new specifications

The new subject content for reformed GCSE geography is prescribed in this document available from the DfE at

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 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 This presentation contains three distinct sections. In thinking about the current state of fieldwork in secondary schools, focussing especially on controlled assessment at GCSE, our aim is to challenge thinking about how and why fieldwork is approached. We will suggest that students need to engage with the whole of the enquiry process if they are to begin to work scientifically and learn to think geographically. Nick Lapthorn, who is Head of Centre at FSC’s Nettlecombe Hall in Somerset, will present the second part of this presentation. He will suggest various strategies that can be used to help students develop their geographical thinking whilst undertaking fieldwork enquiries. Finally, Andy Owen, Subject Officer at WJEC, will speculate about future assessment models and explain the importance of paying attention to Assessment Objectives when designing fieldwork enquiries.

What is fieldwork for? 1 awe and wonder
Provoke and raise curiosity What is the case for fieldwork in geographical education? We contend that quality fieldwork is critical to deep geographical learning. These slides will attempt to support this argument by suggesting there are at least four good reasons to conduct more fieldwork. First, the use of real settings (rather than ‘virtual’ learning from textbooks, video or internet in the classroom) means that learners get to test general concepts in unique places. This may inspire learners with awe and wonder at the features of our environment: Respect for nature and care for the state of the planet Provoke and raise curiosity in both human and physical environments 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 Quality fieldwork promotes collaborative learning sometimes over extended periods of time and therefor has certain social dimensions. Learners develop transferable work based skills and competencies. Fieldwork provides opportunities for collaborative working (team work, leadership) and the development of decision making / problem solving skills. Quality fieldwork can enable learners to co-operate, participate and take responsibility. Such skills can be transferred to both higher education and the workplace.

What is fieldwork for? 3 enactive learning
Enable learners to engage with understanding of broad scientific principles such as spatial patterns, change, and sustainability Enactive learning (learning by doing) by conducting scientific / spatial investigations. Spatial because this is what makes geography unique amongst science subjects. Fieldwork enable learners to engage with understanding of broad scientific principles such as spatial patterns, change, and sustainability. Real places are not like text books. Fieldwork allows learners to interact with messy geography first-hand and thereby make sense of (or apply) wider geographical patterns and concepts to what they see first hand in the field. This is an important learning process and one we will return to later.

What is fieldwork for? 4 learning to think like a geographer
Engaging learners in the enquiry process Conducting scientific / spatial investigations may involve relatively short and discrete tasks that involve observation, measurement and recording. Other fieldwork opportunities should involve the learner in the full enquiry process. This type of enquiry fieldwork encourages iterative processes – the repetition of observation, questioning, measurement, analysis, and evaluation encourages the student to reflect on the process of learning and to refine the process which leads to further questioning and deeper analysis. In this way they learn to think like a geographer. This process gives learners the confidence to pose geographical questions and suggest ways of finding the answers to those questions. Quality fieldwork involves students in the decision making of the enquiry process and questioning the reliability of such procedures. This prepares them for more independent learning in Higher Education. At its best, quality fieldwork can empower learners to take positive actions that deal with change. Quality fieldwork would include elements of all of the above types of fieldwork and a high quality scheme of work would provide opportunities for students to experience different types of fieldwork on different occasions. Sadly, we suspect that some students have limited experience of fieldwork and that the only purpose of that fieldwork is as a vehicle for summative assessment.

A deficit model of fieldwork?
Question Plan Observe Collect Record Represent Analyse Apply Review In some cases learners have one opportunity to get this right In some cases, fieldwork has been reduced to its minimum components. The task tends to focus on a sub-set of fieldwork skills that involve measurement, recording and analysis of primary data. Learners experience a model of fieldwork typified by enactive learning of a prescribed task. This experience typically occurs only once during the student’s two year GCSE programme of study. The outcome (their report) will be assessed – even though this may be the first and only time they have experienced this type of fieldwork. Problems arise for both teachers and students when a school allows only one experience of fieldwork during the GCSE course. Teachers find themselves trying to teach procedures and offer formative feedback to learners during a process which forms part of the terminal assessment. This creates all sorts of tensions, not least of which are those teachers who attempt to over-structure the enquiry by providing very detailed support structures for their learners. This effectively differentiates (i.e. it allows weaker students to access the enquiry) but it undermines effective discrimination. This can lead to a similar bunching of marks for CA as we used to see for coursework. Clearly, the solution is to make fieldwork much more common place so that learning, formative assessment and summative assessment can take place on separate occasions. This experience of fieldwork makes the regulators wary about assessment of fieldwork reports. They contend that it is difficult to devise tasks that generate marks for practical work that are both: valid i.e. they measure what we want them to measure which is the full enquiry process rather than just part of it reliable i.e. different pieces of work are assessed in ways that are comparable by different assessors

Transmission > tasks
Some GCSE and A level students are presented with a set of relatively basic tasks which have been designed by their teacher. The skills of observation, measurement, recording and representation are a sub-set of the wider skills needed to plan, develop, conduct and evaluate a full enquiry. The danger here is that students are taught the procedure of fieldwork as a bank of knowledge to be learned through virtual experiences e.g. a power point presentation in the classroom, rather than an actual fieldwork enquiry. Fieldwork is reduced to a bank of knowledge to be transmitted. The current assessment model at A level allows this approach and there are fears that changes at GCSE may permit the same ‘virtual’ model to be adopted.

Work scientifically > think geographically
Question Plan Observe Collect Record Represent Analyse Apply Review There is a clear distinction between a fieldwork task in which the emphasis is on following a set of instructions/procedures and engaging learners fully in the enquiry process. In this latter model the student learns from the experience of structuring the enquiry for themselves.

Reflecting on learning Making sense
Acknowledgement: Margaret Roberts Creating a need to know Asking questions to: Identify issues / problems Be creative Hypothesise Make links with existing geographical knowledge Using data Using primary & secondary data to: Locate / contextualise the enquiry Collect evidence Select evidence Represent the evidence Reflecting on learning To be critical in relation to: Data sources Techniques used / sampling strategies Stakeholder views How the enquiry could be improved The value of what was learnt Making sense Query the evidence to: Analyse Recognise relationships Reach conclusions Make decisions / solve problems Relate findings to existing knowledge The enquiry process is iterative and cyclical. Students learn to be reflective and increasingly independent the more times they are involved in it which is a strong argument for planning progressively more complex fieldwork enquiry opportunities during key stage 3, GCSE and A level. It is certainly a strong argument for providing more than one fieldwork opportunity during the student’s GCSE course. The enquiry process helps learners to think like a geographer because it actively engages students in making decisions about: What they are investigating and how this relates to their wider understanding of geographical principles and concepts; Valid ways to conduct their investigation; Appropriate ways to present their findings; How to analyse their findings and evaluate their own actions. Students may be involved in the enquiry process at a number of points and across a range of scales. At a simple level, they may be involved in choosing questions for a questionnaire or selecting a sampling size. However, they may also be involved at a deeper level, identifying wider concepts and processes that may form the basis of the enquiry, posing enquiry questions or planning a sampling strategy. The enquiry process builds student independence. Students need to be involved in the enquiry process from start to finish if they are going to become reflective learners who are able to apply the enquiry process to new situations e.g. at A level or undergraduate level. Where teachers instead of students make initial decisions about a fieldwork task (decisions about what to investigate, why they are investigating it and how to structure the enquiry) students will not necessarily learn how to apply these new skills themselves at a later date. Controlled assessments are time controlled but other fieldwork opportunities do not need to be. We need to take the pressure of time out of the equation and involve learners in planning the enquiry long before they enter the field. Once at the field site, observation of a field site could allow students to begin to consider the evidence. A pilot survey can be used to enquire about some data. From these initial surveys questions can be raised (the green arrow). ‘We need to allow time for students to explore new information and to relate it to what they already know: making sense is not an instant process.’ Margaret Roberts Nick Lapthorn will suggest some strategies for engaging learners more actively in the early phases of the enquiry process.

Closed task Framed enquiry
Independent enquiry Questions A task is presented. Questions are not explicit. Enquiry questions are selected by teacher but are explicit. Students decide enquiry questions, framed by teacher input. Data 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. Making sense Activities devised by teacher to achieve pre-determined 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 have learnt; different outcomes. Students consider the validity of evidence / reliability of data and methods. This diagram, based on one presented by Margaret Roberts, indicates the degree of independence (columns) of the student at each stage of the enquiry process (rows). The diagram represents a continuum between tasks that have been set by the teacher on the left and an enquiry process that is driven by the learner on the right. Learners will demonstrate progression if their fieldwork enquiries are characterised by increasing independence as they move across the diagram from left to right. Students working in the left hand column may demonstrate competence in a number of geographical skills including data collection, recording and representation. But, since they have not been involved in making wider decisions about what to investigate, why they are investigating it and how to structure the enquiry they will struggle to draw wider conclusions about how the field site relates to wider geographical concepts or processes. Furthermore, this limited involvement in the enquiry process means that the student has limited ability to evaluate the process of learning and will therefore make limited progress next time they conduct a fieldwork enquiry. There is evidence that some teachers over structure fieldwork experiences for their students in this way at both GCSE and A level. The current model of controlled assessment tends to result in outcomes in the middle column. However, there is evidence that some teachers create over-elaborate structures (the closed task column). If this is the case, one might ask how much of the assessment is of the individual candidate. Fieldwork that is structured as a closed task will tend to discriminate by centre rather than by student. Teachers who promote independent fieldwork enquiry (the right hand column) will create assessment opportunities that differentiate by student rather than by centre. The enquiry approach offers opportunities for meta-cognition. One of the values of the enquiry process has to be the evaluation of what was learned and how it was learned since this informs the next geographical enquiry. An iterative approach to enquiry, evaluation and further enquiry is what is currently lacking at GCE and this helps explain why transition to independent learning at undergraduate level is difficult. Acknowledgement: Margaret Roberts

Strategies to develop student’s understanding of the enquiry process
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 Williton Wiveliscombe
Population: 58241 Population: 11699 Population: 1975 Population: 3710 People per hectare: People per hectare: People per hectare: People per hectare: 35.04 30.00 37.98 40.33 Mean age: 38 Mean age: 47 Mean age: 42 Mean age: 41 % homes owned outright: % homes owned outright: % homes owned outright: % homes owned outright: 70.48 53.65 68.94 61.53 Williton Wiveliscombe Carhampton Dunster Population: 2599 Population: 2084 Population: 780 Population: 489 People per hectare: People per hectare: People per hectare: People per hectare: 27.36 35.32 29.17 21.03 Mean age: 48 Mean age: 42 Mean age: 44 Mean age: 49 % homes owned outright: % homes owned outright: % homes owned outright: % homes owned outright: 59.41 67.07 38.37 43.27

Interception Evapo-transpiration Dew point Stem-flow Run-off
Condensation Stem-flow Run-off Infiltration Through-flow 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’ So what? Only ever says one sentence...
Encourages next steps on from labels in field sketches Begins to consider Processes Consequences Implications Future scenarios

‘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 Geographical enquiry is a form of scientific investigation: it involves posing questions and then trying to answer them. Strategies / simple frameworks can be used for asking questions in this section to help support this development of the enquiry process: Compass rose (DEC) Futures wheel 5Ws or 7Ws Support can also be given through snowballing: working in pairs to identify questions > pairs join and identify best questions > groups of four join to identify best questions and share with class. WJEC believes that it is important to involve geography students in the enquiry process. Rather than making all of the decisions about the focus of the enquiry, how the enquiry will be structured and how data is collected and presented, students must be given opportunities to contribute to these decisions wherever possible. Clearly, some decisions have to be made by the teacher for safety reasons and to ensure that all students have access to a collated, common data set. However students can be involved in asking geographical questions at a number of different points throughout the process. These might include some or all of the following opportunities: 1. Selecting the questions for enquiry from a bank of enquiry questions provided by yourself. 2. Suggesting their own questions for investigation during the initial planning phase. These do not necessarily need to be acted upon on the day that fieldwork data is collected 3. Adding a question of their own to a questionnaire in which all other questions are common to the whole class. 4. Using geographical questions (selected from a short bank of questions provided by yourself) to use as sub-headings in their report. 5. Choosing their own sub-headings (phrased as questions) for their report. 6. Using their evaluation to suggest questions that could be investigated if the enquiry were to be repeated or extended. 7. Using geographical questions to show understanding of possible geographical futures. Not all questions are indicative of the same level of deep thinking. For example, consider the following questions raised by students investigating factors that affect river processes in a river study: a) How long is the river? b) How wide is the river? c) How deep is the river? d) Where is the river? e) How might different land uses affect lag time in the river? f) Why do wider sections of the river seem to have larger meanders? g) How would river processes be different if this enquiry were conducted during a flood compared to during low flow conditions? h) How and why is this landform changing? What would it be like in 20 years’ time? Questions (a) to (d) are questions that are worth asking. However, they are closed questions that require simple description. They do not demonstrate a link between river form and river process (which is the focus of the enquiry). Questions (e) to (h) are much better questions. They are more insightful because they demonstrate that the candidate is linking process with landform which is the focus of the enquiry. Questions (e) and (f) could be suggested by an able candidate during the planning phase. They could be investigated. Questions (g) and (h) are examples of questions that a student could raise and explore during their evaluation section of the report and question (h) also demonstrates that the student is considering geographical futures. We expect the most able candidates to be able to reach substantiated conclusions from the evidence they have collected and use these to pose questions about what may happen in the near future. For example, in a quality of life study, a candidate correctly identifies that house prices in area x are rising faster than in area y. They might pose a question such as ‘How will rising house prices affect people on low incomes in area x? Will the council need to provide affordable houses?’

Assessment of fieldwork
Which parts of the enquiry process do we assess / could we assess?

Acknowledgement: Margaret Roberts Creating a need to know Asking questions to: Identify issues / problems Be creative Hypothesise Make links with existing geographical knowledge Using data Using primary & secondary data to: Locate / contextualise the enquiry Collect evidence Select evidence Represent the evidence Does assessment of AO3 focus our attention on a sub-set of fieldwork skills? Reflecting on learning To be critical in relation to: Data sources Techniques used / sampling strategies Stakeholder views How the enquiry could be improved The value of what was learnt Making sense Query the evidence to: Analyse Recognise relationships Reach conclusions Make decisions / solve problems Relate findings to existing knowledge Fieldwork typically involves the student in the measurement, recording and presentation of evidence. These fieldwork skills are valuable in themselves but they are only a subset of the skills required to engage fully in the enquiry process. These skills tend to be assessed as AO3 in current assessment models. As teachers we prepare our candidates for this part of the assessment relatively well – but students often do less well in parts of the fieldwork report that assess other aspects of the enquiry process – especially those that assess application of the student’s wider understanding of geographical concepts, processes and theories (AO2). Could we assess this sub-set of skills using other assessment models?

Acknowledgement: Margaret Roberts Creating a need to know Asking questions to: Identify issues / problems Be creative Hypothesise Make links with existing geographical knowledge Using data Using primary & secondary data to: Locate / contextualise the enquiry Collect evidence Select evidence Represent the evidence Do we provide opportunities for students to demonstrate that they can apply their wider geographical understanding to the study area – what we currently term AO2? Reflecting on learning To be critical in relation to: Data sources Techniques used / sampling strategies Stakeholder views How the enquiry could be improved The value of what was learnt Making sense Query the evidence to: Analyse Recognise relationships Reach conclusions Make decisions / solve problems Relate findings to existing knowledge In order to engage students in all aspects of the enquiry process teachers need to create opportunities for their students to demonstrate that they can apply their wider geographical knowledge and understanding to the actual field study site they have visited. These aspects of the enquiry are currently assessed under Assessment Objective 2. Experience of moderation at WJEC suggests that many candidates struggle to access AO2 marks. There may be three reasons for this: Plenty of evidence suggests that middle ability candidates struggle to make the conceptual leap between their theoretical understanding, learned in the classroom, and the evidence they have seen in the messy geography of a unique fieldwork site. The teacher may have over-structured – reducing expectations that the candidate needs to think critically about the process and evaluate what they have learned and how they learned it. The enquiry may have been presented as a series of tasks which focus on simple geographical skills of measurement and recording. The overall aim of the enquiry, its links to wider geographical knowledge and the importance of evaluation have all been under-valued.

How do students access AO2 in their fieldwork enquiry?
How many of you have visited the Lingen Alps in Norway? In the fieldwork enquiry candidates need to relate the specific / unique place they visit to their wider experience of geographical concepts, issues, models, processes or theories. However, many candidates provide scant evidence of AO2. Perhaps they need to be prompted to do so. This presentation asks you to consider river channel features in three photographs, all taken along an 8km stretch of a river in Arctic Norway. The fact that this is an obscure river in a remote location means, hopefully, that it will be an ‘unfamiliar context’ for you / your students. Show the students the photos and ask them to look at the features carefully. Ask them to decide, using their knowledge of how rivers usually behave as they journey along their course, to put the three photos in sequence from source to mouth.

I would expect students to comment on the processes of erosion and transportation that are likely to be taking place in this channel. They may also describe the large boulders in the channel and the white water, which suggests inefficient channel flow i.e. lots of friction with the bed and banks. They might even apply their knowledge of other rivers and suggest that the white water and large boulders are common features of the upper course.

Students may comment that the river is narrow
Students may comment that the river is narrow. It is passing over resistant rocks in a series of cascades and short waterfalls. There is a plunge pool in the centre of the photo. Hopefully some students will comment on the evidence of vertical erosion and they might associate this with the upper course of a river. They might even identify the processes that lead to the formation of the gorge that is evident in the top-centre of the photo.

In this photo students should comment that the channel is much wider than either of the other photos. They might apply their knowledge of other rivers and suggest that this is a common feature in the lower course of a river. They might also comment on the large quantity of pebbles and gravel – some of which are deposited in a bar within the river channel. The river is gently meandering at this point. The photograph was taken from a river cliff on the outside bend. Some students may recognise this feature and describe lateral erosion (rather than the vertical erosion evident in the previous photograph) and link this to the deposition on the inside bend of this meander.

Which of these photographs was taken nearest the source?
An opportunity for students to compare all three photos. Ask them to decide on a sequence – which is nearest the river’s source? Which is closest to the mouth of the river? The more important question, however, is to ask your students how they came to their conclusion. What knowledge and understanding of river features and processes did they apply to these photos in order to decide on a sequence?

HOW DID YOU KNOW? Application of knowledge and understanding
Metacognition – or analysing the way we think – is key to this presentation. Our evidence, provided by moderation, is that candidates are not aware of AO2. Consequently, many candidates struggle to make the link between the area they have studied and the concepts, processes or theories of their wider geographical knowledge when they write their fieldwork enquiry report. We want candidates to make much more direct references to AO2 in their fieldwork enquiry reports. If candidates went to Norway to study this river, then their description and measurement of channel features such as cross section, bed load, discharge, gradient etc would be evidence of AO1 (and AO3 if they used appropriate presentational techniques). However, they would access AO2 if they were able to comment on whether or not this particular river matched the typical patterns created by most rivers.

Grade C description AO1 AO2 AO3
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. Grade descriptions for typical A grade, C grade and F grade candidates are given at the end of the specification. We suggest you share these descriptors with your students and use them in AfL exercises. Note the description of AO2.

Rivers follow a typical pattern
source discharge friction Sediment size smallest greatest Exposure to text books, videos websites (and your teaching!) will have informed your students that river features tend to change in a reasonably predictable way as they journey from source to mouth. This slide picks out three features – there are other patterns that you might also discuss, such as the tendency for rivers near to the source to erode vertically, whilst rivers in their middle and lower courses tend to erode laterally. You may even have discussed models, such as the Bradshaw model, when teaching this key idea – although it IS NOT NECESSARY to teach this model for WJEC GCSE Geography A or B. Reinforce, at this point of the presentation, that they were able to make their prediction about the sequence of photos because they were able to APPLY their general knowledge of rivers to this particular river. And that is what they will need to do in their fieldwork if they want to access the marks for AO2. mouth

Not all rivers are typical
You don’t have to use this slide but, for your own interest, the actual sequence is shown here. The wide, braided, channel with its gravel bars is actually closest to the source, whilst the channel that is filled with large boulders is only about 1km from the mouth of this river. This river does NOT follow the typical pattern. It is a river that is fed by glacial meltwater from the snout of an alpine glacier. Its discharge is, therefore, very variable. Hence the wide, braided channel near the source. The lower course flows through a U shaped glacial valley. The large boulders may well be glacial erratics and not true features of river transportation!

Start with the application (AO2)
What are the wider geographical issues, concepts or processes that underpin the enquiry in this specific place? AO2, which is the Application of Knowledge and Understanding, is one of three current Assessment Objectives. In order to access AO2 students need to recognise the wider geographical issues, concepts, models, theories or processes that underpin the enquiry in the specific place visited for the field study. Research at WJEC into C grade candidates demonstrates that students find marks for Application are the most difficult to access. Inner urban regeneration Quality of life Gentrification Sphere of influence Positive and negative externalities

Significant changes to AO weightings in fieldwork
What are the implications when the weighting for Application is increased and skills decreased? Current Assessment Objective weightings (which vary slightly from one specification to another) give roughly equal importance to application and geographical skills when assessing fieldwork. Students who follow tasks competently can achieve 60% of the available marks even if they don’t understand why they conducted the enquiry / apply their wider geographical understanding to the specific place they visited. Assessment Objective weightings for fieldwork in reformed GCSE geography are more heavily biased towards Application. The relative shift in weightings will have implications for those middle ability candidates who currently score well for skills but who struggle to access marks for application. The most able candidates will be faced with greater stretch and challenge and those we now perceive as C/D grade candidates will do less well than they do currently. The challenge for teachers now is to address application in controlled assessment. Teachers need to create more opportunities for students to be involved in decisions about what to investigate, and why they are investigating when they are planning the fieldwork enquiry. This may involve some teachers approaching fieldwork from a completely new starting point: Rather than starting with the tasks they want students to use (which provides opportunities for students to access skills marks) they really need to start with the concepts, issues, theories or processes that may be applied to the potential field study site i.e. the starting point should be the geography and the skills should arise naturally from the type of investigation. 15% of all assessment 25% of all assessment Knowledge & understanding Application Geographical skills

Other presentations that may interest
TUESDAY –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 –09.50 Lecture 15 Geography through enquiry KS3–P16 Margaret Roberts, Past President, Geographical Association WEDNESDAY 11.45–12.35 Workshop 41 Fieldwork beyond the textbook KS3–P16 Presented by Nick Lapthorn, Chair GA Fieldwork and Outdoor Learning Special Interest Group If you have enjoyed this presentation – you may find these other presentations interesting and informative.

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