The following generic Enquiry Tasks are available for candidates who receive their award in 2014. Generic task for the fieldwork Enquiry The tasks are linked to the following enquiry questions from the specification Page in specification Page No. 1 An investigation into the effects of river processes on the lives of people. 1.3 How do these landforms and processes affect the lives of people living along rivers? 14 1-8 4 An investigation of factors that produce rural-urban migration in a specified area. 1.2 What are the push / pull factors that produce rural – urban migration and urban – rural migration? 16 9-11 5 An investigation into the benefits of globalisation in a specified area. 1.2 What are the benefits of globalisation and why do some see it as a threat? 17 13-14 6 An investigation into patterns of quality of life in one rural region. 1.2 What are the regional patterns of economic and/or social development in one country? 17 15-17 7 An investigation into the processes associated with the sea along a defined stretch of coast which has depositional landforms. 1.1 What processes are associated with the sea? 18 19-20 9 An investigation of a sand dune 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? 19 21-23 10 An investigation of changing patterns of tourism in a specified area. 1.2 In what ways and why is tourism changing? 20 25-26 11 An investigation of high street retail change in a specified town/city. 2.2 How is retailing changing and what effects does this have upon people and the environment? 20 27-29
Use of old photographs / maps to compare past and present landforms or river locations Use of local authority of wildlife groups to locate protected ecosystems / SSSIs Use of Geology maps Visitors numbers, income from tourists in relation to river features e.g. waterfall Past years data from same site For example: Some of the areas in which rivers effect people: Flooding, water supply, tourism, recreation, industry, transportation. There are some examples in the table underneath, with one or two possible examples of data collection – there are many more! Example of title Possible wider geographical issues Examples of primary data Examples of secondary data Possible useful resources for teachers. How has X affected the angling / kayaking / recreational opportunities at X? Lower discharge levels in rivers, lower river capacity, and higher pollution levels. Ecosystem threats because of low flows, loss of biodiversity. Velocity, width and depth (for discharge). Bedload size. Questionnaires from local angling club, inc. catch data over the years. (Kayak club, inc. how many days the river is ‘up’ for kayaking on) Mapping of rivers angling sites / recreational sites Discharge data from environment agency. Local rainfall data. Catchment Abstraction Management Strategy. Catchment abstraction management strategies (CAMS) British Union How has the River X affected the land use / land value along the river corridor? Upper and lower courses of rivers have different characteristics which will affect the ways humans have interacted with the river. Land use survey i.e. mapping of land use, estimated economic value, height above river etc. Bankfull velocity, width and depth for bankfull discharge levels. Mapping of significant river land forms Business rates information. Industry and business locations along river. Locations of any flood management, water supply management. Current river levels. Example of title Possible wider geographical issues Examples of primary data Examples of secondary data Possible useful resources for teachers. To investigate to what extent does Ecosystem provide ‘services’ to people living in Biodiversity survey to look at current water quality, above Mapping of any discharge consents along the river Royal Geographical Society Schools fieldwork advice on Ecosystems
river X provide a sustainable ecosystem service to people and around the ecosystem in a sustainable way. The river provides a water supply for industry / farming and an ecosystem service relating to discharge consents e.g. reed bed sewage systems and below areas with water discharge consents / farms / industry. Questionnaire to locals living within the river corridor / local industries corridor. Website, newspaper articles about industry / farming link to online public registers of the discharge consents approved by the Environment Agency Collecting freshwater invertebrate samples from the Freshwater Biological Association Town x is more vulnerable to flooding than town y Different rivers have different characteristics and different events have different causes linked not only to precipitation but also catchment management and catchment characteristics. Land use data. Risk and vulnerability mapping. Cost benefit of any existing defences. Bankfull data for discharge. Perception questionnaires of local residents looking at how ready they are for a flood, how vulnerable they might be. Geology. Catchment management plans. Flood maps from the environment agency. Text analysis of newspaper articles of past flooding and responses to the flood event. Interactive website showing the effects of rising sea levels on rivers. Explanations of measuring likelihood and severity. Environment Agency Catchment plans Environment Agency Flood Risk maps Additional Useful weblinks Displaying and presenting data in rivers fieldwork: RGS section on rivers fieldwork – has 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: Past weather data from a range of stations using Google Maps Valuation Agency Site. Council tax and business rates for properties in England and Wales. Postcode code data including, house prices, social grades, crime rates etc. Maps and air photos using a postcode search.