Applied Geographical Skills

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Applied Geographical Skills

• AS Geography
• Individual learning and revision resource
• Mr P Hunt MA

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How to use this resource

• This resource has been designed for students to
  work through independently, in preparation for
  the AS Examination in Applied Geographical skills
  (Unit 3b) of the Edexcel (8214) course.
• The resource provides a virtual fieldtrip for
  both Human and physical geography. Use the slides
  to refresh your memory of the fieldtrips.
• Students should work through each section in
  turn, using the resources as directed.
• To navigate, use the icons on the bottom of each
  screen.

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Course Content

• What you need to learn Assessment Criteria
• The London Docklands Human Fieldtrip
• A River Fieldwork day Daws Hall
• Examination Practice and revision

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Assessment Criteria

• The aim of the examination is to test your
  knowledge, understanding and application of your
  geographical skills. You will be expected to
  complete at least 2 fieldwork days, of physical
  and human content and to have used equipment to
  collect data. You will be tested on your use and
  manipulation of fieldwork data.
• There will be two set questions.
• Question 1 will involve the use of resources
  relating to a typical fieldwork question or
  hypothesis,
• Question 2 relates to your own fieldwork
  experiences.

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Assessment Criteria

• Task 1
• Visit the Edexcel Geography Exam Board Website
  and download a copy of the specification.
• Now open the document and turn to page 46.
  Carefully read the first two columns.
• Task 2
• Produce a Brainstorm of the skills needed for the
  exam, using the headings in bold (in the first
  column) as your main points and expand on these
  points.

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Investigating Land Use in the London Docklands

• The Course requires you to undertake at least 2
  fieldwork activities, one Human and one physical.
  This session shall look at the Human Fieldwork
  you shall undertake, and how to successfully
  carry out the fieldwork.
• Task 1
• The Study area for our first Human fieldtrip is
  the London Docklands. We shall be looking at the
  regeneration of the area since the closure of the
  docks..
• What aims could you use for this fieldtrip which
  covers elements of Unit 2 of the course? What
  data could you collect to answer your aims?
  Brainstorm these ideas in groups.
• Task 2
• When at the Docklands, we want to see what the
  main types of land use there is, and whether a
  clustering of services occurs. Use the following
  Ordinance survey map (next slide) to make a
  simplified land use map, ready for use in the
  field.

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Human Geography Fieldtrip Investigating Land Use
Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map
service. Image reproduced with kind permission of
Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern
Ireland.
Having produced your base map for land use, it is
now important to understand the history of the
area and how the docklands has changed. Task 1
Visit the following websites to begin your
research on the docklands. Make brief notes on
the history of the Docklands development. You
shall use this information later. http//www.lddc-
history.org.uk/ http//www.bardaglea.org.uk/bridg
es/docklands/docklands-timeline-post1900.html
http//www.docklands.regatta.org.uk/history/histo
ry.htm http//www.docklands.regatta.org.uk/histor
y/history.htm http//www.lcacc.org/regeneration/
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Aims of Your Fieldwork
The main aim of the fieldtrip is to investigate
land use within the Docklands area. We can then
break this down further by suggesting a number of
hypotheses which we shall then answer

• Land Value is greatest by Canary Wharf and
  reduces as the distance from Canary Wharf
  increase
• There is a concentric pattern of land use in the
  docklands
• The Docklands area has been designed to meet the
  needs of the local population

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How can we answer these hypotheses?

• As a group, consider the methods of data
  collection and analysis that is required for each
  of the three hypotheses. Draw a table as shown
  below and complete for each of the hypotheses on
  the previous slide.

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Hypothesis 1 Land Value

• Hypothesis 1, considers Land value across the
  docklands. One method of data collection would be
  to take photographs of the buildings and to visit
  estate agents and record house prices and rent
  prices.
• How could we then link this back to Geographical
  theory? Read the following web pages and then
  suggest how our hypothesis links with
  geographical theories.
• Web Page 1
• Web Page 2
• Web Page 3
• Web page 4
• How could we then map or analysis our data?

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Hypothesis 2 Land Use

• In order to investigate this hypothesis, you need
  to make several transects across the docklands
  and record the land use within the area.
• This can be done using a base map, and a colour
  coded key to show different types of land /
  building use.
• The following slide brings together a base map
  and different photographs of the area. On your
  own base map, map the land use as shown by the
  photographs and your notes taken in the field.

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Land Use Exercise
Step 1 Click on the yellow areas of the map to
see the typical buildings located there. Use this
information to produce a Land use map of the
Docklands. Click on the photo to return to the
map. Step 2 Use your own photos and fieldwork
evidence to complete your land use base map. Now
click here
To watch all of the photos taken on the
fieldtrip, click here. (Press Esc to return to
the slide show)
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Area being cleared for re-development - Office
space.
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Hypothesis 3 Local People

• Answering this hypothesis will need both primary
  and secondary research.
• To begin the investigation, prepare a
  questionnaire to ask people what they think of
  the built environment. Consider using questions
  which place a value so it makes analysis of the
  data easier. Visit this web site to learn more
  about producing questionnaires.

• To learn more about how the development of the
  docklands was reported in the press, click on the
  photo opposite. (Press Esc to exit the show.)
  After watching the slide show consider whether
  this supports the view of the hypothesis or not.

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A Physical Geography fieldtrip - Investigating
the River Stour

• One of the first examination questions you are
  likely to be asked will be
• Draw an annotated sketch map of your study area,
  to show where your data was collected, and why
  those sites were chosen.
• In order to answer this question well, we shall
  be using as a resource the virtual tour that the
  Daws Hall environment centre has produced.
• Step 1 Visit the The Virtual Tour
• Step 2 Draw an annotated sketch of the study
  area.
• Step 3 After your trip, annotate the locations of
  the data collection points and why those areas
  were chosen.

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Aims of Your Fieldwork

• Another classic examination question would be
• Describe the aims of your fieldwork exercise
  in physical geography
• To answer this question, consider the fieldwork
  exercise as a series of mini investigations, each
  investigation having a hypothesis or aim you wish
  to answer.
• The following four slides explain our fieldwork
  hypotheses (or aims).
• As you work through each slide in turn, you will
  also be practicing different examination
  techniques so it is important to follow the
  tasks.

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Hypothesis 1 A river will be affected by local
soil conditions

• One of the first hypotheses you test, is whether
  the soil p.H. levels influence the p.H. levels
  within the river channel.
• To investigate this, we must first record the
  soil p.H. from a number of locations around the
  drainage basin.
• Watch the video and then explain how a test for
  soil p.H. is conducted and what equipment is
  used.

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Hypothesis 2 Water drains quickly into the soil
and then into the river via through flow

• Your second hypothesis is to see whether water
  infiltrates into the soil and then enters the
  river via through flow.
• We can also record if infiltration rates via
  depending on our location.
• Watch the video again, and as well as writing
  out the method, explain the findings of the
  group.

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Hypothesis 3 A rivers discharge will increase
downstream

• We can create many different hypotheses focusing
  on the changes of a river from the source to the
  month.
• In this experiment, the students are recording
  the channel width, depth and velocity - but how?
• Pause the video at different points and produce
  a sketch diagram of the experiment.

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Hypothesis 4 The rivers chemical content will
be affected by nearby land use in the drainage
basin?

• Do the chemicals farms place on their fields
  affect the chemical make up of the river?
• Do our washing up liquids find their way into our
  local streams?
• Watch the video and write a field report on the
  method and finds of the experiment along the
  River Stour at Daws Hall

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Examination Practice

• In order to practice and revise for your
  examination, you should read over your fieldwork
  notes and also access past papers.
• Use the examination boards website to access
  Mock papers here. (Unit 3) and the mark scheme
  here.
• Also ask your teacher for copies of past
  examination papers which you can then take home
  and practice.

Course Content
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