Simple On-Site KS3 Fieldwork
Updated August 2024
Written February 2023
In both of the schools I’ve worked at in the past 7 years, improving fieldwork at Key Stage 3 has very much remained on the to-do list. Knowing how valuable fieldwork is if we’re going to develop the very best geographers, I would love to have implemented a curriculum where students leave the classroom regularly for trips, both local and wider afield, and are truly adept with fieldwork techniques before they reach their A-Level NEA. Alas, working in large comprehensive schools (and of course owing to the Covid period), this has not been the reality and I don’t need to bore you with a blog about the multiple challenges we face when trying to embed high quality fieldwork at Key Stage 3.
What I hope is more useful is a blog about doing a simple on-site infiltration investigation in Key Stage 3 as a minimum fieldwork experience. Whilst we see lots of teachers talk about and promote on-site fieldwork, I know that in the past I struggled to find resources to help me know what to do and how to ensure it was as effective as possible. With that in mind I wrote this blog- aimed at teachers and departments who don’t have anything in place at the moment but who might be thinking about embedding some simple on-site fieldwork or considering how to take place in the GA’s National Fieldwork Fortnight 2023 (now the month-long National Festival of Fieldwork). Nothing detailed below or in the downloadable resources is new, innovative or particularly exciting (sorry!) but hopefully something might still prove useful.
An introduction to these resources:
This on-site fieldwork is a classic, very simple investigation into infiltration, and thus flood risk, on the school site. This investigation took place at in the spring term of Year 8 with students having previously studied rivers in the autumn term. The investigation therefore asked them to recall their knowledge of flooding and further developed their understanding of the importance of surface type and its importance for flood risk and flood management.
The logistics of running the investigation:
Each teacher spent one lesson (an hour) preparing students to undertake the fieldwork.
They spent one lesson outside completing the investigation before writing it up for further 3 lessons.
The site team ensured that a 5-litre bin filled with a few litres of water was in place on the concrete area of the playground ahead of each investigation lesson- used for filling up the measuring beakers.
As HOD, I gave the site team a list of when the lessons were for each class- meaning the teachers didn’t have to worry about this part.
This investigation took place at in the spring term of Year 8 with students having previously studied rivers in the autumn term.
The investigation therefore asked them to recall their knowledge of flooding and further developed their understanding of the importance of surface type and it’s important on flood risk and flood management.
In preparation to run these lessons, we spent a department meeting discussing the logistics, the lessons and how to adapt for each teaching group.
Things to note:
The field sketch is included in Lesson 2 (Data Collection) to get students thinking about the landscape around them and the geography of the school site. In my experience it takes careful scaffolding and questioning to ensure it is done properly and not simply rushed in 5 minutes.
The length of Lesson 3 (Data Presentation) will depend on how confident your class is with graphs! Of course, there is the potential to use GIS here and present their results that way. Unfortunately, lack of IT access never enabled me to build this into the lessons.
The textbook referenced in Lesson 5 (Conclusions and Evaluations) is this CGP KS3 book that can be found here. Any textbook with independent questions about fieldwork could be used instead.
Further resources for fieldwork:
This page about the GA’s National Fieldwork Festival is full of fantastic ideas for innovative and inspiring fieldwork. I particularly like the ideas listed under the ‘Have you thought of these locations for fieldwork?’ tab.
Similarly, this page on the RGS website contains a wealth of information and ideas to consider.
Fiona Sheriff has shared multiple fieldwork resources on Twitter and they have been a huge help. She does some amazing on-site fieldwork with resources for introductory fieldwork with Year 7 here and sustainability on the school site shared here.
Catherine Owen has written two excellent blogs on fieldwork sharing her own ideas of how best to do it, how to ensure it is inclusive and some excellent resources to have a look at. They can be found here and here.
As always, thoughts, tweaks and improvements on the resources below are welcome and appreciated!