GCSE (9-1)

Geography A
Getting Familiar with Unfamiliar
Fieldwork – Coasts

Teachers’ Notes

© artwork: Mark Bolitho | Origami photography Pearson Education Ltd/Naki Kouyioumtzis

Introduction - What is changing for 2022 exams, what are
these resources and how do I use them?
These materials have been developed to help centres prepare their students for the 2022
Geography GCSE Specification A Paper 3 exam where there are changes to the assessment of
fieldwork.

Teachers are aware that a consequence of the current Covid-19 crisis is the removal of the
requirement for all centres to conduct fieldwork as an integral part of the GCSE Geography
course. Consequentially all exam boards, under the direction of Ofqual, have
removed exam questions which call upon candidates understanding of their fieldwork experience,
the so-called ‘familiar’ fieldwork questions.

However, Ofqual have clarified that the ‘unfamiliar ’fieldwork questions should remain part of the
assessment. This decision means that centres will need to ensure that all
candidates understand what, in a normal year, they would have being doing on their 2 days
of compulsory fieldwork.

This is because the ‘unfamiliar’ fieldwork questions can only be meaningful if candidates understand
the six-stage enquiry process (page 31 of the specification) That can be achieved in a number of
ways, some of which are covered in this presentation alongside other materials available to
centres from Pearson and other organisations such as the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) ,
the Field Studies Council (FSC) and the Geographical Association (GA).

These materials are targeted directly to your students and include a series of activities for them to
work through as well as embedded links to other resources. Most of these resources are generic in
that they are not designed with any specific examination from any specific awarding body in mind
but can nonetheless provide very useful visualisations of the fieldwork techniques that would
normally have been delivered to students in the field.

Fieldwork is still encouraged, and some centres will be fortunate enough to be able
to demonstrate some of the techniques of data collection in a nearly normal setting with small
groups able to access, for example, a local stream. However, it is hoped that the ideas covered
within these presentations will not only enhance these activities but also provide a clear focus as to
how they will be assessed in the 2022 exam.

This pack is one of four, each of which addresses one of

the fieldwork environments or ‘contexts’ prescribed in the specification A. As you know, there is
optionality here, with centres choosing either ‘’Investigation of change in a river channel’ or an
‘Investigation of coastal processes through landscape evidence’ as the focus of their physical
geography fieldwork and also choosing between ‘Investigating change in central/inner urban area(s)’
or ‘Investigating change in rural settlements’ for their human geography context. In both 2018 and
2019, a number of students answered all four questions in Sections A and B and it is obviously
important that they know what they have covered which might be more testing in 2022 given that
most will not have experienced at first hand the chosen environment.

Slide 2 - What has changed?

This slide also outlines the structure of the 2022 paper with a reduced Section A and Section B with
a total tariff of 20 marks
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 Questions 1 and 2, will as previously be mirror images, albeit in different physical settings. As before
Question 1 will be on the river landscape whilst Question 2 will be on the coastal landscape context.
Similarly, as before Question 3 will be the ‘urban’ question whilst Question 4, again mirror image of
Question 3 will be in a rural context. These questions will take one of two forms shown below;

Question Resource Command word and Command word and Command word and Command word and
Structure tariff tariff tariff tariff
Type 1 Yes Identify/State/ Calculate/Label Describe/Explain Compare/
Name/Calculate/ Draw/Plot/Compare/ two…/Suggest two… Describe/Explain
Label/Draw/Plot (1) Describe/Explain (4) one…/Suggest
one…/Suggest one… one… (3)
(2)

Type 2 Yes Calculate/Label Assess/Evaluate (8)

Draw/Plot/Compare/
Describe/Explain
one…/Suggest
one… (2)

It is important to note that the questions will not necessarily be presented in the order shown
here. Type 1 could be the physical Q1/2 and Type 2 the human Q3/4 OR Type 1 could be that
the physical Q1/2 could be Type 2 and the human Q3/4 Type 1

The link on the slide should take students to the SAMs. The ‘walk’ through is simply a familiarisation
process. Students should be explicitly told which questions they will
be answering; so teachers preparing students for fieldwork questions in a coastal environment and
an urban environment will ensure that it is Question 2 and Question 3 that are the focus; the
question order will be the same in 2022 (and all future years of the specification).

Slide 3 - Student activity 1

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 Teachers might want to take a little time over feedback here because
the ‘familiar’ fieldwork questions give a clear steer to the work that needs to be done in preparing the
2022 cohort; not of course that they will be answering this type of question but because
the ‘unfamiliar’ fieldwork questions will presume that they have an understanding of the enquiry
process. The table below shows the model for the SAM.

Question Resource Context Context Context Context Context Context Context

Command Command Command Command Command Command Command
word and word and word and word and word and word and word and
tariff tariff tariff tariff tariff tariff tariff
1 and 2 Sketch (a) (b) (c) (di) (dii) (diii) (e)
Table Unfamiliar Unfamiliar Unfamiliar Unfamiliar Unfamiliar Unfamiliar Familiar
State (1) Name (1) Explain (3) Identify (1) Calculate (2) Explain (2) Evaluate (8)
3 and 4 Textbox (a) (b) (c) (d)
Graph Familiar Familiar Familiar Unfamiliar
Explain (3) Explain (3) Explain (4) Evaluate (8)

Teachers will note that there are two distinct structures here much as there will be in the 2022 paper.
What cannot be predicted is which question structure will be used for physical and which for human.
Although questions are mirrored, as students can see on this paper; they will note that the only
differences are the geographical context – 3d and 4d illustrate this well, the 2+8 mark structure may
be in a physical context or a human context in which case the other will be the 1+2+4+3 format.

Slide 4 - Unfamiliar fieldwork questions

Resources will always provide the starting point for these ‘unfamiliar’ fieldwork questions, and so
they will on the 2022 paper. As in the past, it is vital that students are helped to develop the skills to
deconstruct the information contained in these resources. But this cohort will miss the fieldwork
experience and the kinaesthetic learning experience that fieldwork inevitably involves. As a
generalisation the resources that pose the greatest challenge in this respect are ironically perhaps,
maps, but also photographs, data tables and various graphs and bar-charts. The point to make both
with this example and others is that as the slide text makes clear the question setter only has a
limited idea of what has actually been done in the field.

Slide 5 - Student activity 2

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Students at the lower end of the ability range may profit from a few clues – so after two minutes you
might offer ‘Safety’, after another two minutes you might offer ‘Accessibility/legality’, and after
another two minutes you could offer ‘Do-ability / time?’.

Give them 10 minutes to jot down a few answers to the first question and then review;

1. There is some rock armour at Site 1 and groynes at Site 3 which will need to be considered
when choosing where to carry out transects, and when drawing conclusions about changes
in beach morphology.
2. It is not clear whether the beach sediment is sand, shingle, pebbles, or a combination of
these; therefore, further background research is required so that the students have the
correct measuring equipment.
3. There is no scale on the map, so it hard to be accurate about i) how long it is going to take to
measure the three transects and ii) to walk along the beach from Site 3 to Site 1 and back.
4. The text suggests that time to conduct the data collection will be tight as students are arriving
at midday and having to walk along the beach to each sampling site.
5. We are also told that the weather is going to be wet and windy making data collection difficult
and potential dangerous especially if it is stormy.

Allow students another 5 minutes or so to answer the second question. “What do they not know that
they might need to know?”

1. We do not know what the enquiry question is – what is the purpose of measuring the beach
morphology at these three sites?

2. We are also not told if other sites have been measured on other days – three
sites are probably insufficient to draw meaningful conclusions.

3. Tide times – and tidal range – which will influence the amount of the beach that is available
for sampling at any given time. The photographs show quite a narrow beach at Site 3; there
is no reference to the checking of tide tables – which means that the beach might be under
water if it is high-tide when the students arrive at midday.

4. Geology – the student should use a geology map showing this stretch of coastline as geology
should be considered when choosing the location for the investigation / sampling sites, as
this is likely to have an impact on the coastal processes at work.

Slide 6 - The enquiry process

As is made clear with the slides that follow students need to be empowered to practice ‘reflecting
critically…’ because that is embedded in the 8-mark ‘Assess/Evaluate…’ questions and helpful with
the explain/suggest questions too. Do reassure them that they will not be asked to ‘Explain what
Stage 2 in the enquiry process involves’.

Slide 7 - Student activity 3

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This exercise will take around 20 minutes and it again works well in pairs. Students should be
directed to look at your chosen options (for example ‘coasts’ and ‘urban’) given that the questions
are the same although the context is different. You could walk them through the Sample Paper
(SAM) to give them a start. The purpose of the exercise is to get students to think about the
importance of Stage 6 which is, of course, also vital in the understanding of the ‘unfamiliar fieldwork’
questions, as they will have recognised in Activity 2.

Paper Question Marks Enquiry Comment

Stage(s)?
SAM 1/2 e 8 5 and 6 Conclusions but also ‘reliability’
3/4 a 3 2 Why was the secondary data you collected useful?
3/4 b 3 5 and 6 Drawing conclusions about different relationships
3/4 c 4 2 and 6 Reflecting on a weakness of the sampling strategy
Specimen 1/2 a 2 2 and 6 Reflecting on a strength of the sampling strategy
1/2 b 3 2 Why was the map that you used useful?
1/2 c 2 3 Why did you use a technique to present your data?
1/2 d 3 4 and 6 Results but also ‘reliability’
3/4 d 8 4 and 6 Strengths and weaknesses of different ways of
analysing the fieldwork data
2018 1/2 ai 2 2 and 6 Limitations of one fieldwork method
1/2 aii 2 2 and 6 Suggested improvement to one fieldwork method
1/2 b 3 2 Why was a particular fieldwork method used?
1/2 c 3 4 Explaining data using geographical theory
3/4 d 8 3 and 6 Strengths and weaknesses of different ways of
presenting the fieldwork data
2019 1/2 ai 2 2 and 6 Advantage of using a particular fieldwork method
1/2 aii 2 2 Why was the secondary data you collected useful?
1/2 aii 3 3 Why did you use a technique to present your data?
1/2 aiv 3 1 and 6 Reason for choosing a particular enquiry question
3/4 e 8 1, 5 and 6 Extent to which your conclusions answered the enquiry
question

Slide 8 - What
can the examiner assume you know about fieldwork?
The messages here are quite clear and highly important in framing a view of
the unfamiliar fieldwork questions. For the coasts option the only things that can be assumed by the
principal examiner setting this question paper is that all students have;

1. Knowledge and understanding of one quantitative method of measuring beach morphology

and sediment characteristics

2. Knowledge and understanding of one qualitative method to record landforms that make up
the coastal landscape

3. An understanding of geology maps e.g. BGS Geology of Britain viewer

So, the questions cannot focus on data collection methods that may not have been part of
this fieldwork design.

Slide 9 - What can the examiner assume you know about

coastal landscapes?
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This slide addresses the specification content from Topic 1A for the sub-topic ‘Coastal landscapes
and processes’. It is reasonable for the principal examiner to assume that, even if students have not
actually measured, for example, beach gradient, that they do understand how and why it might
change from cliff to the shoreline.

Slide 10 – BGS geology maps

The ‘compulsory’ secondary data source is included here because, of course, it could crop up in an
unfamiliar question. It would be useful to use the link on the slide to access the website, type in the
postcode for your centre and talk through the maps that will appear. Alternatively, if you have used
such maps in previous years when choosing locations for data collection this is an ideal time to
introduce them to the 2021 students. It is worth remembering that the focus of the fieldwork should
be on coastal processes, decisions which may involve the nature of the geology. In the design of the
fieldwork, geology should be a key element either is choosing locations that will be contrasting as a
result of geological differences; for example clay as opposed to chalk which will of course affect
sediment on the beach as well as beach morphology.

Slides 11 and 12 - Fieldwork scenarios / Command

Words

The ‘scenario’ idea probably needs some explanation for students. Each
unfamiliar fieldwork question is related to a resource – the resource will always include text which is
found both in the body of the resource itself but also in the question ‘stem’ – the bit that starts ‘Study
Figure X which shows…..’. This often has useful information for candidates. The 1,2,4,3 type
questions usually have less data and detail than the 8-mark ‘Assess/Evaluate’ because the latter,
given the command word, are bound to have an element of critical reflection (Stage 6 in the enquiry
process) to them. When you run through past questions with your students try to pick out these
critical elements – you could reference the last bullet-point on the scenario offered on Slide 5.
Students need reminding that there is no wasted information in these scenarios so a comment about
the weather forecast carries a relevant message.

Slide 13 - Student activity 4

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 Paper Question Marks Enquiry Comment
Stage(s)?
SAM 2a 1 2 and 6 Reflect on how a fieldwork method could be adapted
2b 1 2 Naming one piece of equipment used to measure a
particular variable
2c 3 2 and 6 Reflecting on the sampling strategy that has been used
2 di 1 2 Knowledge of units used in a particular measurement
2 dii 2 4 Calculations performed in the analysis of data
2 diii 2 4 and 6 Reflection on the choice of calculation used to analyse
data
Specimen 2 e 8 1, 2 and 6 Assessing the different enquiry questions that could be
asked based upon two secondary sources
2018 2d 8 3, 4, 5 and 6 Using information about the location of sampling sites
and graphs of fieldwork data to assess the possible
conclusions that might be drawn from an investigation
2019 2b 8 2 and 6 Reflecting on the accuracy and reliability of different
fieldwork techniques and methods

Again, worthwhile discussing the implications especially the importance of critical reflection -
see next slide.

Slide 14 - Unfamiliar fieldwork questions – Stage 6

- reflecting critically
No piece of research is perfect. The issues surrounding GCSE fieldwork and thus the
unfamiliar fieldwork scenarios can be divided into two broad groups;

1. Problems of equipment, user error and external factors such as the weather – all of these
will impact on the accuracy of the data. Measuring tapes that are stretched – metre rules that
are broken, sloppiness in recording accurately – for the most part these are not so commonly
embedded in the unfamiliar fieldwork scenarios

2. Methodological issues that suggest basic planning problems starting in Stages 1 and 2.
These includes enquiry questions that are poorly constructed (e.g. How do beaches change
along the coastline?) and/or poor planning that ignore;

a. Time constraints because of poor location and/or site selection

b. Accessibility issues both practical and legal (rights of way)
c. Safety issues

Some of these issues will affect the accuracy of the data collected especially if they limit the amount
of data that is collected but many will also affect the reliability of that data; in other words
would similar results be collected at other times.

Slide 15 - Stage 1

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This speaks for itself. You might wish to ask students to establish an enquiry question that relates
changes in beach morphology to differences in coastal processes (possibly influenced by coastal
management) or variations in geology along the coastline. This is also a good moment to discuss
what sort of qualitative data might be useful – perhaps a field sketch or digital photo to show how the
coastal management strategy at a particular site might be influencing coastal processes / coastal
landforms.

Slide 16 - Stage 2
This slide includes embedded links which are demonstrations of how to measure various elements
of beach morphology. Before watching it students should be alerted to watch out for any issues
raised and invited to comment on the likely accuracy of the measurements, in other words watch it
critically – simple questions would include how choices are made of where to measure the beach,
especially when measuring profiles.

Slide 17 - Student activity 5

This is revisiting Slide 5 which has access issues, extremely challenging safety issues and
significant problems with the ‘doability’ of the whole plan. Insofar as the two sites shown here are
concerned;

 Location A – is not obviously accessible, no visible path – the beach is quite narrow and
steep making it likely that there is significant undertow offshore. The cliffs may not be stable
making this a potentially dangerous location

 Location B – this is a mud flat and very wet. Taking measurements will be different since
gradients are visibly very small and any transect will be impossibly long! There are also
potential risks of shifting sands making this dangerous as well.

Slide 18 - Student activity 6

Sampling is covered in an embedded link here and in the context of beach morphology you may
want to ask students what is going on with the video clip on beach profiles; a stratified sample. You
might also wish to review the location choices made in the resource and compare them with the
choices made on Slide 5.

The task itself, is obviously best suited to an IT room exercise or some homework, assuming
students have internet access. If your school is not a subscriber to Digimaps then use an OS map
extract in its place. It is worth giving students a classroom demonstration of using Google earth and
Google street view, the latter is especially useful when we look at urban and rural ‘virtual’ fieldwork.
Remind them to consider accessibility, safety, and do-ability as they put together – you might also
wish to give them a steer as to the sampling method used for site selection.

Slide 19 - Stage 3

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It is possible that your students might be asked to present data or to critique a method of
presentation used in a scenario. The slide includes a graph shows a table of heights on either side
of the groyne.

Weaknesses include:

1. The table gives no indication where the sites is or how typical this particular
groyne might be
2. It is not easy to ‘see’ the differences

A line graph would probably be better with the two beach heights shown on the same graph.

Slide 20 - Stage 4
This sets up the exercise to follow. The dominant models here suggest that stormier beaches will
have steeper profiles and that given seasonal variation on storminess and thus wave energy, there
will a seasonal variation too. However, this will clearly be affected by management and geology.

The theory here is well beyond GCSE level as with the explanations for the Bradshaw model in
fluvial geomorphology.

Slide 21 - Student activity 7

A good example here of information that students might ignore in the question’ beach replenishment
in March’. Broadly the data does conform but there are multiple exceptions that might be explained
by local factors. Do point out that they can neither confirm nor challenge the model as ‘prove’ or ‘not
proven’ given the limited amount of data available here.

The data that does pose a challenge is at Site 2 but there is not any indication quite where these
measurements were made in relation to the groyne, which one would need to know before offering a
critical comment.

Slide 22 - Stage 5 and Student activity 8

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 It is worth introducing students to the mark scheme for this type of question (always an 8-mark
question). The extract below are the Level 3 descriptors combining AO3 (Application) and
AO4 (Skills) – it is notable that there is no credit for recalled knowledge
and demonstrating understanding (AO1 and AO2). Interpreting the data (skills) and then using that
data to address the question (application) is the process that needs to become second nature to
students.

Level 3 7-8 marks  Applies understanding to deconstruct information and provide logical
connections between concepts throughout. A balanced, well-developed
argument that synthesises relevant understanding coherently leading to
judgements that are supported by evidence throughout. (AO3)
 All aspects of the enquiry process are supported by the use
of geographical skills. Communicates enquiry-specific fieldwork findings
with clarity and uses relevant geographical terminology consistently.
(AO4)

This final question builds on the previous activity so the conclusion should probably be a conditional
‘no’, or a conditional ‘yes’ but certainly not an unmediated ‘yes’ or ‘no’. In reality such a definitive
answer would be unlikely in these ‘Assess/Evaluate’ questions - there are bound to be points to be
made both ‘for’ and ‘against’. The point has already been made that generic model of profile
variations might work in many circumstances but certainly not all. There are just 3 transects here so
there is insufficient data to draw any definitive conclusions, we have no idea about the location for
this data collection nor the weather conditions in the days (or weeks) before the data was collected.
Additionally, we have no idea as to the accuracy of these measurements, but we can speculate that
accuracy will vary. Gradient changes are sometimes small and probably well within the margins of
error.

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