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Geography Fieldwork & Fun
6th May 2022
This last week saw our Geography students in Years 10 and 12 head out to Clapham Dale and Malham Tarn Field Centre in the Yorkshire Dales for a few wonderful days of fieldwork.
Working alongside Head of Geography, Mr Tribe, Mr Ryding and Mrs Rees, students had the opportunity to thoroughly discover and hone their fieldwork techniques and skills involving themselves in drumlin measuring, field sketching, till analysis and measuring river characteristics. The students displayed great teamwork, commitment and attitude which meant everyone gained the most from the experience. Having missed out on Geography trips in lockdown there was much excitement and eagerness to learn about field work for independent investigations!
Field trips form an integral part of the balanced education at Wakefield Girls’, helping students to gain first hand, practical experiences which theoretical texts can’t do, supporting and reinforcing the knowledge, skills and concepts they have been exploring in their classes, cultivating passions and new endeavours.
Headteacher – and Geographer – Ms Boyes joined some some of the fieldwork study, remarking that good fieldwork encourages geographical enquiry and frequently can lead to higher-order thinking and learning. Just as importantly, fieldwork offers plenty of fun in learning, develops even better rapport between teachers and students and friendships among classmates.
Year 12 students Jessica Morrison and Naomi Pridham share their thoughts on their trip:
On the day of our arrival we enjoyed learning about water and carbon storage fieldwork techniques in the surrounding forest. This included learning how to calculate the height of a tree with pythagoras, how to work out how much carbon is stored in a tree and how to measure infiltration levels in the soil.
On the second day we traveled to nearby Ribblesdale valley to look at drumlins and how to measure them. We then visited Kingsdale Valley, shortly after, which is one the most studied glaciated valleys in the UK to refine our field sketching skills and identify features of glaciation with our guides Sam and Dave.
Our trip concluded with a visit to Leeds Dock accompanied by Ms Boyes to look at the human side of field work techniques. We explored the different ways of measuring regeneration and we got to learn more about the city which we all thoroughly enjoyed.
(Jessica) I would have to say my favourite part of the trip was seeing the Kingsdale valley because it really brought to life what we’d been studying in class and made me love the topic even more!
(Naomi) The highlight of my trip was definitely the first day where we got to explore Malham and developed many new skills and techniques that we can now use as part of our coursework. I also loved bonding with the group and having so much fun whilst still working.
