6GEO2 Unit 2 Geographical Investigations – Student Guide: Crowded Coasts - Part 2

1. Overview2. Requirements of the

specification3. What are crowded coasts?4. Investigating crowded

coasts5. Ideas for fieldwork6. Research on crowded coasts7. Making it work for the exam

CONTENTS

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In Part 1

What could you do for fieldwork?• Partly will depend on choice of examples and fieldwork

locations….

Thinking about fieldwork and research

When preparing notes for revision don’t just list what you did. Add depth with places and examples of EQUIPMENT, NUMBER of surveys,

details of LAND USE MAPS, even talk about SAMPLING.

The best answers often to refer to real fieldwork and real places

Competition for coasts• Land use surveys,

questionnaires, oral histories, services mapping, beach quality.

Coping with pressure• Range of quality surveys,

e.g. landscape quality , pollution, ecosystems condition.

Increasing risks• Cliff + beach surveys,

perception, questionnaires, old maps.

Coastal management• Assessing coastal defence

schemes, e.g. photos, bi-polar surveys.

Key fieldwork + research focuses – the ‘Strands’‘In the field’

can mean a variety of

things. ‘Top-up’ from other

sources if necessary to

give coverage

Investigating crowded coasts….more detail

Some general and generic fieldwork + research activities

Try to create a ‘sense of place’ – use

various ways to create ‘picture

portrait’.

These will always be useful for the exam, no

matter what fieldwork and

research option is chosen

Example – Competition for coasts: fieldwork (Strand 1 within the specification)

Classifying + mapping tourist facilities

Age of buildings

Shows importance of tourism in resort

Spatial pattern of resorts growth

Car parking patterns + visitor sphere of

influence

See where visitors originate from; build

up a picture of tourism

This is 1 of the 4 possible fieldwork strands. The exam might ask about this or any of the other three strands. The exam will only ever be able to assess

about 25% of the fieldwork you might have done. Above are suggestions for possible fieldwork – there is no need to do them all. Remember that you

can ‘top-up’ by virtual fieldwork, although its best to do this at the same location.

One day at the coast. What realistically could be done?ONE LOCATION ONLY

1 – Land use map + tourist facilities

(~ 6 groups + zoned)

4 – Evaluating coastal defences

(~ 2 groups / comparison of

locations)

2 – Ecosystem evaluation (2x

contrasting locations – groups)

3 – Coastal retreat – photo evidence,

cliff surveys + questionnaires (perceived risk)

‘In town – am’

‘At beach–

pm’

In the exam you need to think about what type

fieldwork and research is relevant to the focus of the of the question.

You would have to ‘work

smart’ to cover all this in one day

Two days at the coast. A more relaxed experience!

Day 1 – crowded

resort location

Day 2 – more rural

coast

1 – Land use map + tourist

facilities, questionnaire

(sphere of influence etc),

age of buildings. Maps of change.

Two days allows a greater range of techniques and

probably a visit to two contrasting locations

along the same stretch of coast

4 – Evaluating coastal defences – bi-polar, photos, questionnaires of

effectiveness (COULD REPEAT +

COMPARE AT DAY 2)

2 – Ecosystem evaluation, e.g.

transect + ACFOR scale, modified Blue

Flag criteria for beach quality

3 – Coastal retreat – photo evidence, field sketch, cliff surveys,

beach profiles

Old photos and other documentary evidence (e.g. coastal flood reports, photos, specialist books etc) can help reveal the scale and impact of floods. You may also find evidence of ways in which coastal erosion is trying to be managed (e.g. SMPs etc).

Opportunities for research

Witness accounts and blogs• The impacts of coastal erosion, flooding and

conflict are often best documented through online reports and blogs (see example below). YouTube and similar sites may also be a rich source of documented evidence.

• Websites such as Wordle can be used to analyse the text in documents and reports – the most frequently used words are displayed using the largest font.

• Within your school or college it may be useful to look back at data that was collected by students a few years ago. This is most likely available in an electronic form.

A range of fieldwork follow-up options may be appropriate in order to better prepare for the exam. The most important activities are in the light green boxes. These link to possible questions exploring the ‘route to enquiry’.

ACTIVITY 1 – METHODOLOGY WRITE-UP. Give a focus on the techniques and approaches used, how the sites were selected, justification etc. Remember to include both fieldwork and research ideas.

ACTIVITY 2 – PRESENTATION and ANALYSIS. Give a focus on the range of techniques used to present the data and say why you used them. Also include a description of how and why data was analysed (including qualitative, e.g. Annotation of photographs etc).

ACTIVITY 3 – RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS and EVALUATION. Give a focus on what you found, including some locational detail. You should also give details of selected results, and provide an evaluative framework, e.g. limitations, reliability of results etc.

Peer review of other modeled exam responses. Use highlighting, annotation etc to learn from other peoples work. This could be linked to a mark scheme,

A fieldwork glossary...very useful to help with technical language in the exam. This could be linked to a techniques matrix (see next slide).

A GIS / Google Earth map showing the locations visited as place marks.

Mock exam questions completed under timed conditions , linked to each of the three activities above.

A PowerPoint presentation , to focus on giving a ‘virtual tour’ of the locations / and or findings.

Following-up the coastal fieldwork?

A revision glossary could be important for coasts

Revision glossaries could include lists of words and linked definitions, diagrams and mind maps or event throughout auditing of your fieldwork. Combine this with practise of writing under timed conditions, i.e. 10 or 15 minutes

Summary

• Revise your personal fieldwork and research on coasts thoroughly.

• When relevant, know details on sampling, surveys, presentation, analysis and conclusions.

• Know the location(s) and why it was chosen for a coastal study.

• What were the site details and what about the use of any use any specialist equipment?

• Be clear about the different ways to manage coasts and if they worked (locational details).

• The exam will only ever be able to test 25% of the fieldwork you may have done....so its not a case of write all you know or all you did on the fieldwork day. BE SELECTIVE.

Now see part 1 for the Introduction to Crowded Coasts