Sunday, 27 November 2016

SPA Geog FIRST OCR B Enquiring Minds River Fieldwork Trip with Year 10s

SPA Geog Year 10 Fieldwork at River Cray

There are many challenges that are facing our young people; the changing goal posts in education, the prospect of more content to topics in Geography and the erosion of 25% coursework. Nonetheless, this has not deterred Year 10 who embarked on their first fieldwork studies which will be tested in their terminal exams for the first time next year with the new specification OCR B Enquiring Minds. In their visit to Foots Cray Meadows on the 7th November with Thames21 I cannot remember many that were with such adverse temperature. This did not deter them. This trip enhanced their learning within the classroom on hydrology. The point of this excursion was to introduce students into data collection against a hypothesis and for many of the class was a first experience at measuring field data. 

Lilly shows off the Geography Hoodie whilst measuring river depth.




























Year 10 measuring the channel depth and width of the river to work out the cross-sectional area.

The students completed various qualitative and quantitative data methods, such as field sketches and calculating the depth and width of the river channel. Students received a health and safety chat with Thames21 then spent the remainder of the day within the River Cray in waders collecting data.

Year 10 measuring the channel width of the river and velocity of the river.




This was an extremely productive day and Year 10 were able to apply theory to an outdoor classroom. It also meant invaluable skills learnt for fieldwork collection for their exams. This was applied to homework and answering the hypothesis through data analysis: ‘The River Cray gets deeper and faster along the river channel as it progresses downstream.’ The students were also able to admire the work completed by the Year 11 on the weekend before.
Year 11 volunteering work creating a river wall to reduce erosion.




#Where will your Geography classroom be?


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