Exploring environmental change

To enrich the work they have been doing in the classroom Year 7 Geographers ventured to Prestwood Nature Reserve for an afternoon of fieldwork. The excursion was designed to help the girls apply their understanding of the subject and develop their fieldwork skills in authentic surroundings.

On arrival at the reserve, the girls were placed into groups and were given nine tasks to complete. The tasks included data collection through quadrat sampling, land use analysis, field sketching, locating grid references and using technology to annotate photographs, measure decibels and identify tree species.

During the afternoon the girls were able to consider the impact of change on the natural environment around them, as well as in the wider world. They had the opportunity to use Google Expeditions to take a trip to Borneo to see how the rainforest had been affected by large scale development projects. The girls were encouraged to think about how the two environments can be connected with the impending construction of the HS2 rail line and how this might impact on the local environment.

The Geography Department at Pipers has been working closely with Open University researchers who have been researching the effectiveness of Google Expeditions in promoting higher level questioning skills amongst students. Some of the researchers accompanied the girls on the field trip to see how Google Expeditions could be used in the field.  Following the fieldwork the girls completed an Open University survey which revealed an unanticipated level of depth of understanding as a result of the activities carried out during the afternoon.

Head of Geography, Mrs Collins said “The fieldtrip to Prestwood Nature Reserve was a brilliant way for the girls to develop their analytical and fieldwork skills. It was also great to share this with the Open University and experiment with new ways of learning in the field with Google Expeditions.”

For more information contact:

Rebecca Conroy, Senior Marketing Executive, Pipers Corner School. Telephone 01494 719850 or email [email protected] | www.facebook.com/PipersCornerSchool | @PipersCornerSch