Hello, my name is Mr. Robertson and I love geography.

Welcome to our fourth lesson where we are answering our big geographical inquiry question, local area, what needs changing? In this lesson, we are going to be carrying out some active fieldwork.

So geographers, have we got on our geography caps? Have we got on our explorer fieldwork rucksacks? And are we ready to do some active fieldwork? By the end of this lesson, you will be able to gather data and record it accurately through fieldwork.

We have some keywords for this lesson.

I am going to say the keyword first and then I'm going to ask you to repeat it back to me.

Our first keyword is evidence.

Fantastic.

Our second key word is data.

Perfect.

Services.

Amazing.

And finally, varies.

Absolutely brilliant, geographers.

Let's find out what those words mean.

So evidence is a fact or piece of information that helps us to prove that something is or is not true.

Data is a collection of information that can be analysed to help us answer a question.

A service is a system that supplies a public need.

For example, waste collection.

And varies.

If something in a particular category or group varies, it's different in some way to the other things in that category or group.

All these keywords are going to be really important in our fieldwork lesson today.

So, this is going to be a really fun lesson 'cause we're going to be out and about doing some active fieldwork.

In the first part of the lesson, we're going to be thinking about recording the current location of bins, and in the second, we're going to think about recording litter in our local area.

Are you ready to go? Let's go.

Over the last few lessons, we've been talking about the fieldwork inquiry cycle.

Let's just remind ourselves the different stages of the fieldwork inquiry cycle.

We start by asking questions.

Next, we plan our data collection.

Then, we move on to collect and present our data.

That's what we're going to be doing today.

Then, we reflect on our findings.

After that, we communicate our findings.

And finally, we evaluate our fieldwork.

So that's the fieldwork inquiry cycle that we are engaging with in this unit of work.

So far, we've planned which data to collect.

So in our earlier lessons, we decided what we were going to focus on.

I decided that I was going to focus on litter in my local area because I'd done some questionnaires and spoken to people and they had said that the most important issue in their local area in Whitley Bay is litter.

Once I decided that was going to be my inquiry, I then decided what data I needed to collect and I decided I was going to think about the amount and the location of litter in my local area and also, the number and location of public bins and I was going to use three fieldwork techniques.

I was going to think about observation, where is there litter? Where are public bins situated? Map annotation to plot exactly where the bins were and photograph so I could collect evidence of particular hotspots for litter.

You will have your own inquiry question and you will have decided what question it is that you are going to investigate, the data that you need to collect, and the different fieldwork techniques that you need to know.

So now we've got our question and now we know what data we need to collect and in our last lesson we thought about staying safe and identifying hazards and risks.

We now need to actually go and collect the data.

So, we are on the third stage of the inquiry cycle now.

We're going to be collecting and presenting our data.

So let's think about my inquiry, which is about litter and the location of bins.

Public bins are a local service.

That means they serve a public good.

They're put in place by the local council who also look after them.

That means that when the bins get full, they empty them and take away the waste so that then people can refill them.

They also make sure that bins are in working order and not damaged or broken.

They remain in place for a long time.

Look at the image here of the two bins.

How do these two bins differ from each other? Pause the video and have a think.

Aisha says, the black bin is the general rubbish.

The other is for recycling.

She's right, isn't she? That black bin, you may have seen the black bins like this in your local area, is where we put all the general rubbish like crisp packets, whereas the bin on the right is for recycling.

So there, we might be able to put in cans or newspapers and that's taken for recycling.

So there are two different sorts of bins in this photograph.

One of the things I want to do in my investigation is some map annotation.

So that means that on my route when I see a bin, I'm going to map where it is, its location on my map.

And rather than write the word bin each time, which is messy and not a very good use of our fieldwork, I'm going to create a symbol with a key.

You show the different types of bins.

If there's more than one type of bin, and we've just established that there might be, how could we show these different types? Think about what you might do.

Pause the video and have a think.

Some interesting ideas there.

Thank you for that discussion.

Aisha says you could use a different colour dot and add it to your key.

That's a really good idea, isn't it? I decided for my regular, general waste bins, I'm going to use a blue circle because I can either draw that myself or I can use a sticker to stick down.

I might use a different colour to mark a different sort of bin.

We have to be careful because yellow boxes like this are not litter bins.

They are grit boxes.

Can you see the yellow box there? And it says the words grit salt on it.

And that means that when it's really icy, there is a special material in there which could be spread on the road to stop the roads freezing and we mustn't put litter in those bins and so we won't record those on our route as litter.

Let's just check our understanding here.

Which of these is not a rubbish bin? Is it A, B or C? Pause the video and have a think.

Great thinking geographers.

It's A, isn't it? Because that is a grit bin, which is used to make sure that the roads don't get icy.

We have a recycling bin at B and a general waste bin at C.

So, this is your first active fieldwork task.

For this, you're going to need to use a map of your local area.

You are also going to need a clipboard.

You're going to need something to write with if you're going to draw some symbols on your map, or some stickers if you're going to use some stickers.

You're going to need a camera or maybe an iPad.

What we're going to do is this.

As you go outside, you are going to mark the location of important areas on your map.

So in my investigation, when I go outside, I'm going to walk around my route on Whitley Bay that I've decided, and when I see a bin, I'm going to use my symbol, which is a blue circle.

I'm going to put a blue sticker along my route, so I then know, when I get back to the classroom, where all the bins are.

I'm also going to take my camera because I might want to take some further evidence.

I might see some photographs of piles of litter.

I might see some different types of litter I want to investigate.

Think about the question that you're trying to answer.

What locations might you mark on your route? What photographs might you need to take? Okay, so I have completed my fieldwork, active fieldwork, and you can see my completed map.

All my data points are the bins and you can see that they have been marked on my map.

You can see that I used a blue circle and therefore, I've got the same symbol for each bin.

So when I look at this, I can see a pattern along my route of where all the bins were.

Did you manage to find something similar? What symbols did you use to place on along your route to look at the data that you were collecting? I'm really interested to see what you found out as well.

Okay, so the first part of our lesson was about the recording the location of bins.

This part of the lesson is thinking about litter in my local area.

When we collect data, different factors can affect it.

So, you may not get the same results if you did your field work at a different time of the day, week, or even year.

And this might affect how reliable your results are.

When we're doing geography fieldwork, we're often dealing with different weathers and different times of day and things can change because the world is a fast moving place.

So we need to think about what data might vary in the inquiry.

In the inquiry that I'm conducting, the data that's going to vary is the amount of litter.

There might be different amounts of litter at different times of day, or different days of the week, or even at different times of year.

And it's really important I think about that because if I carried out my fieldwork at a different point, I might get different results.

Because of this, geographers note the time, the date, and the conditions, i.

e what the weather is like when the fieldwork takes place.

It's really important, geographers, that we note down these things, so we can see how our data varies.

You might have some data in your inquiry that will vary and you'll need to think about what that might be.

A question for you here.

What is litter? Pause the video.

Talk to the person next to you.

How would you describe litter? What is litter? Oh, I can hear some really interesting ideas there.

And in the photograph we can see some examples of litter, can't we? With those wooden forks on the ground near that bench.

Litter is waste which has been left by people in the wrong place.

And it can vary in size.

It could be as small as a sweet wrapper or as large as a bag of rubbish.

Natural items like leaves or twigs are not litter.

The important thing about litter is that it's left by humans.

As we go around on our route, as well as marking the data collection for the bins, we also want to think about where the litter on the maps is as well.

Where do we find litter? And that will help us understand where litter's being left.

We need to think of a symbol or marker to show that litter.

With the bins, we had the blue circle, which was nice and easy to use.

We could use a little sticker.

Which symbol or marker could be used to show the location of litter? We've got three examples there.

I wonder which you like best.

I rather like the cross because I think it shows that litter is something which shouldn't be there.

And so I want to really understand the idea that litter is a problem.

So I'm going to mark the litter in my local area when I see it with a cross.

Now remember, you must not touch any litter.

We are simply observing where it is and mapping it, but we're not touching it.

Let's just check our understanding.

What is litter? Is it A, a settlement? B, waste, which has been left by people in the wrong place? Or C, a type of land use? Pause the video and have a think.

That's right, geographers, it's waste that's been left by people in the wrong place, isn't it? Well done if you got that right.

Okay, so our second active fieldwork task is this.

In my investigation, I'm looking at recording litter.

So, I have marked where all the bins are in my local area on my route.

The next thing I want to do is mark the location of each piece of litter that I see in my map in the local area.

And if you remember, I'm going to use a cross to mark areas of that.

And I'm also going to take my camera with me so I can photograph any litter that I see, which will help provide further evidence for me.

Now, this is a variable piece of data.

The bins are going to be pretty much in the same place all the time.

They're in a fixed place, but the litter is variable.

So I'm going to note the time, the location, and the conditions.

In other words, what the weather is like when I spot these pieces of litter, so I can see if it changes.

Good luck, geographers.

You are going to be investigating your inquiry question and you might have some variable data of your own.

Really looking forward to seeing what you discover doing your active fieldwork.

How was your active fieldwork? So when I went out, I went out at three o'clock.

The weather was damp and cold, so I've marked that down.

Every time I saw any litter, I made a red cross on my map.

You can see on my completed map now, I've got two sorts of data.

I've got the location of all the bins and I've got the locations where I discovered the litter.

To make this map consistent and easy to interpret when I come to analyse it later, I've kept the symbol the same.

I've also added on information about the time, date, and conditions, because of course, if I went back at a different time of day in an another week, I might find different amounts of litter in different places.

So it's really important that I've exactly what the weather is like and when I did this.

What did you find out in your active fieldwork? You've been outside, what did you discover? Did you make sure that you marked all your data consistently? Did you use the same symbol for the data that you were collecting? Did you also note the information about the time, the date, and the conditions? Well done if you did.

What a lot of amazing fieldwork we've done.

And I'm really looking forward to finding out what you found out as well.

So, let's summarise what we've learned today.

Today, we have been doing some active fieldwork.

We've learned that some data, like the location of local services, can remain the same for a period of time.

We've also found out that some data, like the amount of local litter or temperature, varies from hour to hour.

We've learned that geographers use maps in the field to know exactly where they are and to locate specific features.

And finally, we've noticed that geographers note the time, date, and conditions.

For example, the weather when the fieldwork inquiry takes place.

We've done a lot today and it's been fantastic really applying our geographical fieldwork skills.

I look forward to seeing you in our next lesson.

Thank you very much.