The following generic fieldwork enquiry tasks are available for candidates who receive their award in 2017. 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 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 4 An investigation of factors that produce rural to urban migration in a specified area. 1.2 What are the push / pull factors that produce rural – urban migration and urban – rural migration? 16 6 An investigation into patterns of quality of life in one urban region. 1.2 What are the regional patterns of economic and/or social development in one country? 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 8 An investigation into factors that create variations in weather/climate in a local area. 1.1 What factors create the variations in weather and climate experienced within and around the British Isles? 19 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? 2.2 How can ecosystems be managed sustainably? 19 10 An investigation of the impacts of tourism on an urban environment. 1.2 In what ways and why is tourism changing? 20 11 An investigation into the quality of the retail environment in the UK high street. 2.2 How is retailing changing, and what effects does this have upon people and the environment? 20
Abstraction licences from the local water authority or the Environment Agency Discharge figures from local industries or processing plants 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 River 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 Canoe 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 Ecosystem provide Biodiversity survey to look at Mapping of any discharge Royal Geographical
to what extent does river X provide a sustainable ecosystem service to people ‘services’ to people living in 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 current water quality, above and below areas with water discharge consents / farms / industry. Questionnaire to locals living within the river corridor / local industries consents along the river corridor. Website, newspaper articles about industry / farming Society Schools fieldwork advice on Ecosystems email 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 flood 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 flood 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 flood likelihood and severity. Environment Agency River 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.
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 Health Profiles for Local Authorities Neighbourhood Statistics Crime Coverage Wordle – a site for anaysing text Fieldwork Enquiry Task 2017 Coasts (Theme 7) Theme Generic task for the fieldwork enquiry The task is linked to the following enquiry question from the specification Page in specification 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 Contextualising the title Centres may provide candidates with an overarching enquiry question, such as: How and why do the characteristics of the beach at Walton-on-the-Naze vary? Alternatively, centres may present the task to their candidates as a hypothesis, such as: Longshore drift is the main process in operation on Borth beach. Or Sediment size increases with distance from the sea. Unpacking the title The focus of the 2017 task is the processes of transport and deposition and the associated with landforms such as beaches, tombolas and spits. Primary and Secondary Data First Hand Data Beach sediment measurement e.g. size and shape using a meter rule or callipers, Cailleux Roundness Index and Powers’ scale of roundness.