Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mr. Barber, and I have the great pleasure of teaching you all about fieldwork in the lessons across this unit.

In this first lesson, we're going to be thinking about, why do geographers do fieldwork? Now, you may be wondering, who is this guy? Well, as I said, my name's Mr. Barber and I'm a geography teacher from London.

And one thing I love about geography is that it's a great way of finding out about other people's lives across the world.

I wonder what your favourite thing about geography is? Hmm.

Well, let's have a look at the agenda for this lesson now.

So the first thing that we're going to be looking at is, what is fieldwork? Secondly, we'll look at, why do geographers do fieldwork? And then lastly, we'll look at, what sort of fieldwork do geographers do? And for this lesson, there are three things that you will need, an exercise book or paper, a pencil or a pen, and then most importantly, our brains.

So pause the video now to make sure you've got those things, and then resume when you're ready to get started with the lesson.

So in this first part of the lesson, we're going to be looking very closely at what is fieldwork.

And this is really important because if we're going to be studying whole units on fieldwork, we need to have a rock-solid understanding of what fieldwork is.

So before I reveal what fieldwork actually is, I'd just like you for a moment to think for yourself, what do you think fieldwork might be? Hmm.

And this is fieldwork specifically related to geography, remember.

So just have a think.

Hmm.

Well, I wonder what you're thinking? Care to share any ideas? Hmm, not far off.

Well, here's the definition of fieldwork for you.

So fieldwork is the gathering of information about something in a real environment.

Okay, I'm going to repeat that again.

Fieldwork is the gathering, so that's like the collecting, of information about something in a real environment.

Now here's what you're going to do.

Now it's your turn to practise saying the definition.

It's really helpful, a good way of solidifying that.

So, by the way, what is fieldwork? Nice one, you're right, it is the gathering of information about something in a real environment.

So here are some examples for you.

So a geographer might be doing fieldwork and they might be gathering information about global warming in Antarctica.

So they're gathering the information, right? about something and that something is global warming, and they are in a real environment, which is Antarctica.

And the real environment part of the definition is really important, because they are not in their office or in a classroom studying global warming, they're in a real environment, and by that, they are in Antarctica.

Let's have another example.

So a geographer might be studying flooding, and so they go to Somerset, which is where I'm from originally, and they're gathering information about flooding in Somerset, so they're in a real environment, which is Somerset, and they're gathering information about something, which is flooding.

Okay? They're not just sat on the computer, oh, yeah, I'll just study flooding on the Internet.

No, they're in a real environment doing that.

So here's what you're going to do now.

Based on that information or based on that definition of fieldwork, I would like you to write your own sentence using the word fieldwork.

So, for example, here's I sentence I wrote using the word fieldwork: Mr. Barber used fieldwork to gather information about flooding.

So it doesn't have to be a really complicated sentence.

It can just be a nice short, punchy sentence but you just must make sure that you are using the word fieldwork in there.

And to help you out, I've put the definition of fieldwork in the pink box there.

It's just so you can remind yourself of what fieldwork is.

So when you're ready, pause the video to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

Okay, good job.

I wonder what your sentence was? I bet it was excellent.

Let's move on to the next part of the lesson.

Now that we know what fieldwork is, let's have a look now, why do geographers do fieldwork in the first place? Why don't they just, you know, study geography from the comfort of their own home or their office? Let's find out now.

So, in order to think about this, I want us to start off with like where does all fieldwork begin? And so the first thing that happens when a geographer is doing fieldwork is that they come up with their inquiry question.

And an inquiry question is the question they are trying to answer in their fieldwork.

So for example, I gave the example of going to Somerset and studying flooding.

Well, my inquiry question could be, which parts of Somerset are regularly flooded? And so, all my fieldwork will then be based around answering that question.

And so, what geographers then do, is they collect, record and analyse data from that real environment in order to be able to answer their inquiry question.

And in doing so, this provides them an opportunity to discover new ideas and information, because they are in that real environment getting that data.

And it's also a really valuable way of understanding geographical processes, because you're able to observe those things, you're able to see them firsthand, rather than just reading about them, watching a documentary, you actually get to see those things yourself.

So remember, all geography fieldwork begins with an inquiry question, which is the question you are trying to answer with fieldwork.

They collect, they record and they analyse data and this allows them to discover new ideas and information.

And one of the particular strengths about fieldwork is that you are able to observe, see, real-life geographical processes, and that really helps with getting a better understanding.

Based on that information, I'd like you to now complete the following task, so complete the sentences below by adding the missing words.

So the missing words are all at the bottom there in those nice colourful boxes, so you just need to decide where those missing words belong in those sentences.

So write out those sentences nice and neatly, adding those missing words.

Okay? So pause the video to complete your task, and then resume once you're finished.

Okay, it's time to reveal the answers.

Hopefully, you didn't find that too bad.

Sentence number one, fieldwork always starts with an something question.

Hmm.

Fieldwork always starts with an interesting question? Mm, sometimes they might not be that interesting.

No, it's not interesting, what is the missing word? Inquiry question, nice one.

Excellent.

Let's move on to sentence number two.

Fieldwork involves collecting, recording and something data of all types.

Hmm.

So it mentions collecting, recording and something data.

So what's another thing that you do to data once you've collected and recorded it? You can.

nice one.

It's analysing data of all types.

Good job there.

Let's move on to sentence number three.

Fieldwork provides geographers with the opportunity to discover new ideas and new.

Mm.

What do geographers gain from fieldwork? New ideas and new friends? Maybe new friends, but that's not one of the words there.

No, it is new knowledge.

Excellent, and then sentence number four, fieldwork also helps geographers understand more about what they have learned because they are able to.

Hmm.

What did I say they're able to do? They see the processes at work, but what's a much better word for that? Makes you sound very intelligent if you use it.

What's that? Oh, yes, observe.

They get to, they're able to observe the processes at work, which is one of the things that makes fieldwork so excellent, you're in a real environment observing processes at work.

So good job on that task.

Let's move on to the final part of the lesson.

In this final part of the lesson, we're going to be looking at what sort of fieldwork do geographers do, because one of the amazing things about geography fieldwork is that it takes place all over the world, and the research is very varied.

So it's not all everyone doing, you know, boring, the same stuff.

There is loads of different types of geography fieldwork going on.

And so what we're going to do now is look at a few examples of those.

So one example of some fieldwork that is currently taking place is from Professor Klaus John Dodds.

And you can see on the map where it's pointing.

Do you know where that is? Do you know what that area is called? It's Greenland, so he's actually been conducting fieldwork in Greenland, which is his real environment.

And he is gathering information to try and find out what the impact of climate change has been on the Arctic areas.

Another example of fieldwork is some fieldwork conducted by Dr.

Rodrigo Hidalgo, who, he is in, I wonder if you know, on the map.

If you can see where it's pointing, where do you think that is on the map? Maybe just shout it at your screen now.

You're right.

Well, it is South America, but it's Chile in South America.

So he is, his fieldwork is all about studying how wetland habitats, which is habitats like you see in that picture, how they are impacted by growing towns and the expansion of the roads.

Another example of some geography fieldwork that has been conducted, or is still being conducted, is by Dr.

Helen Benion, and she visits lots of different countries across the globe, studying biodiversity, which is all about the number of different species of plants and animals, and in particular, she has spent a lot of time in China studying the biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems. Another example, and this might be the coolest example, depending on what you're into.

I mean, if you love animals, then biodiversity, that's great, but this one, this makes me very excited.

Dr.

Amy Donovan, she travels 'round the world and visits active volcanoes.

Very cool fieldwork, right? In particular, she is spending time in Japan studying active volcanoes, all trying to gather information about what are the things that communities can do in order to prepare for a volcanic eruption? So, loads of different, varied types of fieldwork research going on, in very different parts of the globe.

And this is just a small snapshot of all the fieldwork that is going on at this moment in time.

So for the final task of this lesson, I've got a very fun and interesting thing for you to think about.

Here's what you've got to do.

If you could go anywhere in the world to carry out fieldwork, where would you go and what would you want to research? And so what you're going to do, you're going to use those sentence stems, or sentence starters on your screen to answer that question.

So, it's completely up to you, where you want to go in the world to carry out this research if you could.

And just think, all those different places where the research was going on, you could, theoretically, anywhere in the world could be a good place to do some sort of fieldwork research.

And so, once you've thought of where you'd like to go, you also need to think about what would you want to research.

And maybe that's a bit more difficult to think about, but have a think about all the different types of things the examples that I just gave, and also have a think about the examples I gave earlier on in the lesson as well.

So here's my example for you: so if I could go anywhere in the world to carry out fieldwork, I would go to.

Mm, I wonder where you think I'd go? I'd go to Canada.

I love Canada.

Canada's amazing, and what I would like to research in Canada is.

bears, and how they've been impacted by the growth of towns and cities.

Okay? So that's what you need to do.

It's over to you now.

Think about where you'd like to go to carry out your fieldwork, and then what you would want to research as well.

And when you're ready, pause the video to complete your task, and then resume once you're finished.

That brings us to the end of this lesson.

Well done on all the fantastic learning that you've done.

There are just two things that you need to do now.

First of all, please write down three key things that you'll remember from this lesson.

That's going to be a really helpful way of solidifying the knowledge in your brain.

Secondly, please remember to complete the exit quiz as well.

Again, that's going to be a great way of solidifying knowledge and seeing how much excellent progress you're making.

I hope you enjoyed the lesson, and I look forward to teaching you again very soon.