Transcript Fieldwork with Impact - Geographical Association

Nick Lapthorn
Victoria Cook
John Snelling
Sian Veysey
FSC Nettlecombe Court
Trinity School
Ipswich High School for Girls
Coopers School
Fieldwork and Outdoor Learning SIG
[email protected]
@geogfieldwork
GA Conference
Manchester 2015
 While
you are waiting…
◦ On the post it notes;
Describe the
fieldwork that had
most impact on
you.
Why?
Wider
community
An understanding of students’ perceptions of
fieldwork is important.
It enables teachers to build on students’ personal
experiences of places and environments through
fieldwork.
According to Smith (2006) fieldwork ‘is an
intensely embodied and experiential form of
teaching and learning requiring more than
knowledge of the locale or field techniques’.
The importance of exploration and familiarisation in a
novel environment:
‘Fieldwork is when the workers or the caretaker of the
park would come and cut the grass, clean the park
too.’
Students need to adapt to a new environment before
you can enable objective, measurable learning
outcomes to follow.
Fieldwork may otherwise be ‘highly unsettling for
students, as they come to grips with new ways of
being, doing and looking in unfamiliar social settings’
(Smith, 2006).
Urban to rural?
Rural to urban?
An understanding of environmental novelty, for
example, may enable teachers to minimise any
feelings of insecurity in the field.
These findings have implications for the type of
preparation undertaken prior to departure.








Ascertain previous experiences
and concerns
Practise skills in the classroom
before you go
Setting personalised learning
objectives (in additional to
geographical ones)
Virtual fieldwork
Progression in fieldwork –
learning in the school grounds
first
Acclimatisation in school –
puppies
Acclimatisation in the field –
listening to music?
Provide a ‘secure’ field
environment
‘Fieldwork can show us the path of life … If we
go there it’s, like, peaceful time and there’s like
a view and everything. People go there to, like,
enjoy it, not to hear music from backgrounds
and everything, and it just shows us, like, how
life should be. It should be peaceful and not,
like, you know. Nowadays it’s, like, all built up.
We’ve got developed countries.’
Embracing students’ spiritual perceptions of the
field environment, for example, may encourage
deeper perspectives in environmental education
that Job (1997) argued was fundamental to
geographical education of the future.







Recipes for places
Beard Sampling
Pre-fieldwork research
Pilot studies
Practising before you go
To share staff goals with students or not to
share?
When you get back to school




What do you think Barcelona and the area
surrounding are like?
What do you want to get out of this trip
(personally and academically)?
What are the three main reasons for us coming
on this field trip?
How can you ensure that you get the most out of
the experience?







Recipes for places
Beard Sampling
Pre-fieldwork research
Pilot studies
Practising before you go
To share staff goals with students or not to
share?
When you get back to school
Pre-briefing for fieldwork – Student led explanation of the formation of
desert features
AQA
Geography Alevel World
Cities module:
“Urban
regeneration:
gentrification,
property-led
regeneration
schemes,
partnership
schemes
between local
and national
governments
and the
private sector”
V
Renold Building Entrance at…
?
Job, D. (1997) ‘Geography and environmental
education’ in Powell, A. (ed) Handbook of Post16 Geography. Sheffield: Geographical
Association, pp. 147-59.
Smith, F.M. (2006) ‘Encountering Europe
through fieldwork’, European Urban and
Regional Studies, 13, 1, pp. 77-82.
Learners
 Awe and wonder
 Life and social skills
 Learning to be independent
 Trust
 Real application of knowledge
 Respect for the environment
 New experiences
 New skills
 Broaden horizons
Leaders
 Putting theory into practice
 Raising attainment
 Good tool for marketing geography
 Engaging with students
 Being re-inspired about subject and locations
 Gaining responsibility
 CPD from other members of staff
Wider community
 Building relationships
 Responsibility for environment and being aware
of impacts
 Cross-curricular benefits (‘+’ with SLT)
 Economic benefits to locations that you visit