Lesson video

Hello, my name is Chloe, and I'm a geography field studies tutor.

That means I teach children all about the outdoors.

This lesson is called "Reflecting on our fieldwork inquiry." It's part of a unit of work called "How can we investigate the sustainability of our school?" In this lesson, we're going to be thinking about the strengths and weaknesses of our fieldwork inquiry, as well as some of the ways we might do things differently if we were to do this inquiry again.

Let's get started on our lesson today and see where it takes us.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to reflect on your fieldwork inquiry and find strengths and weaknesses.

There are three keywords I'd like us to look at first of all.

Firstly, strengths.

These are areas of the fieldwork inquiry that went to plan and help answer the inquiry question.

Weaknesses are areas of the fieldwork inquiry that did not go to plan.

And significance is how important a factor is or how important the overall results are.

There are two parts to this lesson, both of them are questions that we'd like to answer.

Firstly, what went well in our fieldwork inquiry, and then what could be improved in our fieldwork inquiry as well.

We're going to start with that first idea about what went well.

We can now reflect on our fieldwork inquiry and think about what went well and what we could improve.

This means we're in the final stage of our inquiry cycle.

Jun and Alex are thinking back to their data collection method.

What reflective questions could they ask about their method? What could they ask in relation to locations? They're thinking of these types of questions.

Did we collect data in the right places? Did we collect data in enough places? What could they ask about scoring? Maybe something like this.

Was the scoring system we used unbiased? Did we choose the right variables? And then in relation to timing, they might ask questions like this.

Did we do the scoring at the fairest time of day? Did we do the scoring at the fairest time of the year? Let's check our understanding so far.

Which of the following is a good question to ask when reflecting on a fieldwork inquiry? A, did we collect data in enough places? B, was the weather good when we collected data? C, how many people collected the data? Which of those is a reflective question? Pause the video, have a think, and I'll come back to you with the right answer.

Right, so what do you think? Which of those questions is a good question to ask when reflecting on a fieldwork inquiry? Well done if you said A.

That's an excellent question to be reflective.

The amount of data we collect really affects the kind of conclusions that we can make.

So thinking about whether we collected enough data in enough places is a really important question to ask.

Sam and Andeep are going to try to answer these reflective questions about their fieldwork inquiry.

They start by thinking about the strengths.

They know something is a strength if it improved the quality of the conclusion they came to.

Andeep makes a really good observation here.

He says, "We should think about how our method improved the data, not how our method might have made things easier or quicker for us." The data being of high quality is what's really important.

Sam thinks the choice of locations to collect data was a strength.

She says, "I think we had a good variety of locations to survey.

They covered lots of different areas of the school." You can see them by the pink dots on the map there.

"Six was a good number of locations too, as it meant we had lots of choices to consider." It's certainly true that with the six locations in our example, we were able to choose a variety of locations.

Andeep thought the scoring system was a strength.

Let's remind ourselves of the scoring chart that we took outside when we collected our data.

He says, "Scoring each location out of three meant we could compare one location with another by looking at the total scores for each location." So he really likes the idea of scoring something one, two, or three out of three, and then creating a total to allow those comparisons.

Let's check our understanding again.

Fill in the gaps using the correct word from the box.

There's going to be one word that will not be used.

Pause the video so that you can read through the paragraph and then get those words in the right places.

So how did you get on? Let's run through the paragraph together.

When we reflect on our fieldwork inquiry, we discuss how our methods improved the quality of our data.

We avoid saying how the methods might have made things easier for us.

Remember, it's all about improving the quality of the data.

Our first practice task now.

Think back on your fieldwork inquiry.

Write one strength of your method.

The key areas of reflection are shown below to help you.

So try to make sure that your strength is related to one of these three areas: either the locations, the scoring system, or the timing of your data collection.

Pause the video here so you can have a really good think about a strength that you found in your method.

So let's reflect on our strengths.

Of course, I'm now talking about a strength that I found in my method, but you might have something quite different.

So your answer might include wording a little bit like this.

I think we had a good variety of locations to survey.

They covered lots of different areas of the school.

Six was a good number of locations too, as it meant we had lots of choices to consider.

We now move on to the second part of our lesson, What could be improved in our inquiry? It would be nice if we could only talk about the strengths of our fieldwork inquiry.

Good geographers also spend time thinking about the weaknesses of their fieldwork.

They do not try to hide these things and pretend everything was perfect with their inquiry.

They talk very openly about both strengths and weaknesses.

As Izzy points out, "I have to balance the strengths with the weaknesses." Nobody is perfect in the way they carry out fieldwork.

Jacob and Aisha are thinking about the weaknesses in their fieldwork inquiry using the same key areas of reflection: locations, scoring, and timing.

Jacob says, "I'm not sure our measure of sunlight was very accurate.

We were only outside for a short time." Aisha expands on this and says, "It might have been cloudy when we were outside.

The amount of sunlight a location gets changes throughout the day." That's a really good observation.

You could get a very different result first thing in the morning at school than you would get during midday or lunchtime.

Which key area of reflection are the pupils discussing here? Is it locations, scoring, or timing? Yes, of course, it's timing.

They're talking about the timing of the school day and when they were able to carry out their data collection.

Now, true or false? Geographers should try to hide the things that do not go to plan in their fieldwork.

Can you remember what we said about this? Pause the video and have a think.

Is that a true or false statement? Well done if you said yes, it's false.

Why is that a false statement though? Yes, geographers always think about the weaknesses in their fieldwork.

It's not just about the strengths, and we don't try to hide it.

The timing of when the scoring took place has great significance.

It will have a big impact on our results.

Izzy and Laura are thinking about how they could have improved this aspect of the inquiry.

Izzy says, "We could have scored the sunlight three times at each location: at the start, in the middle, and at the end of the school day.

This would've made our overall score more accurate." So Izzy is thinking about an improvement to the study, ways of making the data more accurate.

Laura goes even further and says, "Or, to be even more accurate, we could have based our scores on the readings from a light meter." There's one in the picture here.

"This is a device that measures sunlight levels." Could we have used any other equipment to improve the accuracy of our scores? Remember, we also tried to measure area.

Is there a piece of equipment that we could have used to measure the area of the different spaces in our surveys? Let's check our understanding again.

Complete this sentence.

At the end of their fieldwork inquiry, geographers think about possible variables, improvements, or questions.

What do we do right at the end of our fieldwork inquiry? Pause the video and think through each of those words.

Which one fits our sentence best? Well done if you've got the right answer, which is B.

Yes, at the end of our fieldwork inquiry, geographers think about possible improvements.

That's what we do last of all in our inquiry.

Our second practice task now is in two parts.

Again, reflect and think back on your fieldwork inquiry.

Write one weakness of your method.

The key areas of reflection are shown below to help you.

So still think about whether it's about locations, scoring, or timing.

But this time we want to think about a weakness.

Then once you've thought about that weakness, write one way that you could improve your fieldwork inquiry.

This might take a little bit more discussion.

We want maybe to talk through your ideas with somebody nearby or a teacher.

So do pause the video here so you can really have a good think before you start writing your answer.

So the weakness that I've identified from my method is about the scoring system.

Our way of scoring sunlight was not very accurate.

It might have been cloudy when we were outside, and the amount of sunlight a location gets changes throughout the day.

So I've included an idea about timing there as well.

My way of improving that is that we could have scored the sunlight three times at each location: at the start, in the middle, and at the end of the day.

This would've made our overall score more accurate.

Let's now summarize our learning.

When we reflect on our fieldwork inquiry, we should consider key ideas such as our locations, the scoring system, and the timing of the data collection.

Geographers look at how the strengths of their method improved the data and how weaknesses could be improved.

Well done for all of your hard work on that part of the fieldwork inquiry.

It's really important to be reflective about the entire process.

I hope you managed to find lots of strengths in the way that you carried out your fieldwork, as well as some important weaknesses that can be improved.

Maybe as a result of your research, your school could get some new solar panels.

Who knows.