Case study 3: designing fieldwork activities  

Royal Geographical SocietyEast London local fieldwork network

‘Olympics’ CPD day for secondary teachers June 2009

(1) What was the session intended to achieve?

• The Royal Geographical Society (RGS) has established a number of ‘local fieldwork networks’ in order for teachers within an area to explore together how to make best use of local opportunities for learning outside the classroom.

• The East London network was established in Spring 2009. The first CPD day was centered on Stratford and the Olympic and Paralympic Park and took place in June 2009.

• The day was intended to develop teachers’:– Knowledge and understanding of the redevelopment of the

area;– Repertoire of fieldwork strategies;– Confidence in selecting appropriate strategies and designing

their own fieldwork experiences.

(2) How was the day organised?

• The day began in a very ‘exploratory’ fashion. Teachers used some techniques for exploring the area and were asked to develop a ‘place profile’

• A short theory input provided a structure for the remainder of the day

• Groups of teachers worked together, selecting and evaluating different fieldwork strategies at each location

• Enquiry questions emerged during the day, were shared and matched to appropriate fieldwork strategies

Strategy 1: creating a ‘place profile’

• An ‘exploring kit’ was provided to groups of teachers. This contained a digital camera, location maps, a choice of fieldwork activities and a hand-held computer (with built-in microphone)

• Groups were given little instruction but encouraged to explore the area and bring back impressions, recordings and questions

I am a Camera

About this task: This task is a fieldwork starter activity for all Key Stages, which takes 5-15 minutes. It gets students thinking about their environment and surroundings, and describing these in detail to their partner.

Equipment: none / blindfold

Method: Find yourself a partner.

One person should close their eyes or put on a blindfold while the other person guides them to a particular viewpoint.

The sighted person should then describe the view to their partner as if they were a camera taking a photo.

Photo Challenge

About this task: Help your students to get to know Stratford, finding out:1. What is unique about Stratford. 2. Why Stratford may have been chosen to host the 2012 Olympics.

Equipment: digital camera

Method: Use your digital camera to take images that show the uniqueness of Stratford.

But… you are not allowed to take photos of people, buildings or vehicles.

Think carefully about what is unique about Stratford.

Can you identify and photograph any thing that suggests why this place has been chosen to host the London 2012 Olympics?

Place-check

About this task: In this task, students apply a place-check tool to Stratford. They assess what services and features need to be changed or improved in the area.

Equipment: digital camera, place-check form

Method: Imagine you are a local resident living in Stratford.

As you walk around the town, fill out the place-check form to highlight features that you like and dislike about the place.

What needs protecting in Stratford?What needs changing in Stratford?What problems have you identified?

Take photos to support your findings.

Place profile strategies

Character Trail Task

About this task: The aim of this task is to navigate around Stratford ‘in character’, and to find out:1. Who is this place ‘for’? 2. Are any groups of people excluded?

Equipment: map of Stratford Town, character cards

Method: Select a character card, which lists the goods and services that your character needs to find in Stratford.

Navigate the area, record the shops you visit and mark your route on the map.

How well does the area cater to the needs of your chosen character?

You are … a wealthy banker working for Credit Suisse, Canary WharfYou have … a bonus of £100 000 and expensive tasteYou want … a gift of diamond earrings for your fiancée

You are … a pensionerYou have … £10You want … 3 kilos of rice Halal meat – mutton or chicken 1kg of chapati flour some Bangladeshi sweet desserts to sit down without having to buy anything

You are … a teenager with a group of friendsYou have … £90You want … this week’s number 1 CD somewhere to hang out a fast food meal a pair of cool trainers

You are … a builder working on the construction of the Olympic ParkYou have … £8You want … a packet of cigarettes a café serving a cooked breakfast to catch a bus into the West End

Shop/location Item Cost

You are … a wheelchair userYou have … £80You want … to park your car a haircut to visit the cinema to try on a new pair of suit trousers

Strategy 2: building an enquiry

• Delegates returned from the ‘exploration’ of the area with their own impressions of the place – and questions about it

• These questions were shared and used to form the basis of investigation for the following session

• Delegates were asked to select places and fieldwork strategies for further investigation.

• Some tasks and questions were site-specific. Others could be adapted to location.

Questions included:• Does Stratford ‘need’ the

Olympics?• Was Stratford a good

place to choose for the 2012 Olympics?

• What do local people feel about the changes taking place?

• How will the Olympics impact on the local community?

• Will the Olympics leave a sustainable legacy?

Lavender Street Task (site-specific)

About this task: The aim of this task is to investigate changes to the local area. Students can focus on two key questions:1. How have communities in Stratford changed? 2. How might the Olympics impact on local communities?

Equipment: map of Stratford/GPS

Method: Find Lavender Street, using your map extract and/or the GPS .

Discuss ideas in response to the prompt questions in the box. Annotate the photograph with your ideas.

Lavender street questions

1. Describe the Lavender Street area. What can you see?2. What do you think it is like to live here today? Where do

people work? What do they do? What might they want to change about their community?

3. What are the advantages of this type of urban living, compared with the newer flats you have seen in Stratford? Are there disadvantages?

4. How might the people living here be affected by the Olympic and Paralympic Games? How will they be connected to the Games?

Do we need the Olympics here?

About this task: This activity is suitable for all age groups, although it requires students to be aware of the meaning of the term ‘regeneration’. It should take around 30 minutes to complete.

Equipment: digital camera

Method: Spend five minutes brainstorming the reasons why Stratford needs to be regenerated.

Students are likely to come up with ideas such as derelict buildings, social deprivation, empty shops, etc.

Collect photographic evidence of these features.

The photographs can be later used in the classroom to build on the place profile.

Past and Future Visioning

About this task: This task encourages students to think about the changes in the landscape in the past and the future. It is suitable for all key stages, and takes approximately 20 minutes.

Equipment: sketch books

Method: Find a suitable viewpoint You have twenty minutes to do two sketches.

Your first sketch should illustrate what you think this view looked like ten years ago.

Your second sketch should illustrate what you think it will look like in ten years time. • What changes do you think have occurred in the past?• What changes do you think will occur in the future? What are the causes of these changes?

Olympic Protest

About this task: This task explores the Olympic development site from a rather different viewpoint and should take approximately 20 minutes.

Equipment: notebook / paper

Method: There has been a lot of resistance to the Olympics. Imagine you are from ‘Games Monitor’, an anti-Olympics organisation. You are planning a protest on the Olympic site about the lack of public consultation surrounding some elements of the Games.

• How easy would it be to organise a protest on the site?• Write a plan for your protest. Where would you do it? What difficulties/obstacles do you think you would face?

Open-ended tasks

A ‘Drosscape’ of Olympic Proportions?

About this task: The term ‘drosscape’ was used by Alan Berger to describe the “large tracts of abused land on the peripheries of cities, where urban sprawl meets urban dereliction, landscapes of wasted land where the planners gave up”. Drosscapes are ‘ripe for regeneration’.

Equipment: digital camera, evidence table

Method:. Look for evidence of Stratford as a drosscape.

Take photos and complete the evidence table which focuses on five key features of Berger’s drosscape.

Drosscapes are Evidence of this

…landscapes of transition (changing into something new... temporary storage facilities, non-permanent buildings)

…landscapes of infrastructure (roads, railways, etc)

…landscapes of obsolescence (junkyards and landfills, things abandoned or dumped)

…landscapes of exchange (things that were once businesses and are no longer in use)

…landscapes of contamination (brown fields that may be contaminated by toxic waste, etc).

  Strategy 3: designing fieldwork strategies

• The most challenging aim of the day was to build confidence (and capacity) in selecting fieldwork strategies and designing fieldwork experiences

• This involved adapting the approaches used during the first two sessions and showing awareness of the types of fieldwork strategy available – and being clear about obstacles and outcomes

• Watch the following video clips of a group of teachers designing their own approach to investigation.