Enquiry Learning & Fieldwork in the NSS Geography Curriculum Curriculum Development Officer
Dec 16, 2015
Enquiry Learning & Fieldwork in the
NSS Geography Curriculum
Curriculum Development Officer
Fieldwork in the secondary schools of Hong Kong
?
• Places far away from the schools?• Countryside?• Ping Chau (Mirs Bay), Lamma Island, Bride’s
Pool… • Guided tours?• Worksheets?• Fieldwork reports?• Designers: geography teachers?• Students: passive learners?
Types of fieldwork
1. Field excursion
2. Field research based on hypothesis testing
3. Geographical enquiry
4. Discovery learning
5. Sensory fieldwork
Teachers
Students
Fieldwork and Enquiry Learning (1)
• Level 1
• Fieldwork with enquiry-based worksheets
• e.g. School visits to the Castle Peak Power Station
Enquiry-based
worksheets
•Pre-trip activities•What?
•Hot news
What are the conditions for the licence renewal of the Castle Peak Power Station?
Where?
Where are the Castle Peak Power Station and the Black Point Power
Station?
Activities at the Power
Stations:•What?•Why?
What types of power resources have been used in different power stations of CLP
Power?
What are the environmental problems created by electricity generation at the
Castle Peak Power Station?
How does CLP Power cope with the environmental problems?
Activities after the visit
Hot news: LNG receiving terminal
Extended Activities: Industrial Location
Fieldwork & Enquiry Learning (2)
Level 2
Fieldwork investigation based on
• a problem-solving task /
• a decision-making task /
• a hypothesis-testing task /
• …
What are the examples?
U.K.• Length of fieldwork investigation report• AQA (Specification A)-4000 words• AQA (Specification B)-3500-4000 words• OCR (Specification A/B)-1000/2500 words• Edexcel (Specification A/B)-1500/2500 words• CCEA -less than 2500 words• IB
Guidance Booklet for fieldwork
investigation
Work of some
Year 10 Geography students
Australia
• Senior Geography project (Board of Studies-New South Wales: Geography (Stage 6 Syllabus) 1999)
Work of an
Australian Geography Student
Aims
Questions for enquiry
Equipment
Final report
Choice of topic for enquiry
• to be developed by the students with the help of their teachers
• some possible situations: • 1. One general and broad topic for
enquiry is given by the teacher and students are required to develop their own smaller scale / narrower scope enquiries with the guidance of the teacher.
• 2. The teacher brings students to a ‘rich’ fieldwork site in which students develop their own enquiry topics under the guidance of the teacher.
• 3. Individual students work out their enquiry topics all on their own and then further develop them under the guidance of their teachers.
Procedures of enquiry-based fieldwork investigation
4-5 stages:
• Planning and preparation
• Data collection
• Data processing, presentation and analysis
• Interpretation and conclusion
• Evaluation
Report
Stage 1
• Identify a geographical issue, problem, phenomenon and/or form hypothesis
• Clarify the objectives of the enquiry• Identify the type of information/data that is
required• Decide on the methods and instruments to be
used• Prepare for the enquiry• Develop the enquiry sequence
Stage 2
• Use different techniques & instruments to collect data in the field
• Record & organize field data systematically
• Gather supplementary information from secondary data and sources of literature
Stage 3
• a brief introduction (objectives, methodology etc.)
• Process and present the collected data in appropriate forms
• Test & analyze the collected data and information
Stage 4
• Verify and interpret the findings
• Draw conclusions, propose solutions and/or make decision based on evidence, with justifiable reasons and /or support of theories
Stage 5
• Evaluate the whole enquiry
• Discuss limitations & suggest alternatives approaches
Role of teachers
• Facilitators• Give guidance to students (not ‘coaching’)• Give suggestions to students on data processing
and presentation techniques• Give responses to students’ questions giving
directions rather than offering direct answers)• Mark the reports according to assessment
criteria
Suggested content of the fieldwork report
• Cover/title page
• Contents page
• Introduction
• Presentation of the collected data
• Analysis of the investigation results
• Interpretation of the findings
• Conclusions
Stage 3-
Stage 5
• Appendices (with evidence of students’ work)
• Bibliography
Assessment criteria
• Examples
• AQA (Specification A), IB, CCEA