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Year 4 · Fieldwork in our local area

Fieldwork: observe, measure, record, present

Use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies

25 minutes4 checks6 exit questionsNational curriculum objective

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies

Key learning points

  • • Question first
  • • Making it a fair test
  • • Recording as you go
  • • Presenting your findings

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 20 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • No marked quiz yet
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

fieldworkobservemeasurerecordpresent

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 20 · Intro5%
1

Introduction

Part 1 of 20

Fieldwork: observe, measure, record, present illustrationArchive-led lesson

Historical enquiry

Fieldwork: observe, measure, record, present

Fieldwork is geography done outdoors. You ask a question, go and collect real data, then present what you found.

Do it for real

These practicals use the ideas in this lesson, with a full method you can follow at home.

Traffic and footfall count

In a nutshell

Use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 20

Before we start

What you already know

You can use compass points, grid references and OS symbols.

Recap: y4-geography-9
3

Key words

Part 3 of 20

Key words

Words you'll need today

fieldwork
Collecting geographical data outside, first-hand.
sketch map
A quick hand-drawn map showing only what matters.
tally
A counting record made with marks as things happen.
fair test
A test where you keep everything the same except one thing.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 20

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 — Collecting data properly

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 20

Learn

Question first

Good fieldwork starts with a question you can measure: is our street busier at 8am than at 11am? Which side of the playground is windiest? How much rain fell this week? A measurable question tells you exactly what to record.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 20

Learn

Making it a fair test

Count traffic at the same spot, for the same five minutes, using the same tally sheet each time — then only the time of day changes. If you move the spot too, you will not know which change caused the difference. Same everything, except the one thing you are testing.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 20

Quick check

Good fieldwork starts with...

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 20

Quick check

To make a traffic count fair, you keep the same...

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 20

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 20

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 — Presenting what you found

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 20

Learn

Recording as you go

Take a clipboard, a prepared table, a pencil (pens fail in rain) and your marked map. Write down the time, the weather and the grid reference of each stop, because you will not remember them later. Add a sketch map with a north arrow and a rough scale.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 20

Learn

Presenting your findings

Choose the right chart: a bar chart to compare counts, a line graph for change over time, a pictogram for a younger audience, and a labelled sketch map or annotated photograph for what a place is like. Finish with one sentence answering your question and one on what you would do better next time.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 20

Quick check

Which chart compares counts in different places?

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 20

Quick check

Why record the time and weather at each stop?

15

Investigate evidence

Part 15 of 20

Evidence 1 of 1

primary

A pupil's completed traffic count tally sheet

Local school geography fieldwork, Fieldwork record

Site A, 9:00–9:15: cars 62, vans 9, buses 3, bikes 4. Site B, 11:30–11:45: cars 21, vans 6, buses 1, bikes 2. Weather: dry, breezy.

Fieldwork data is only as good as the record made at the time, which is why the sheet notes place, time and weather.

Think like a historian

Is it fair to say Site A is always busier than Site B? Point to the part of the record that makes you cautious.

Source: Class fieldwork record.

View the archive record ↗
16

Common mix-ups

Part 16 of 20

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Changing more than one thing at a time, so the test is not fair.
  • Relying on memory instead of writing measurements down at the time.
  • Using a line graph for separate categories. Bar charts compare categories.
17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 20

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

18

Challenge round

Part 18 of 20

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Good ____ starts with a question you can measure: is our street busier at 8am than at 11am?

A measurable question tells you exactly what to ____.

19

Mastery quiz

Part 19 of 20

No quiz for this one

This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.

20

Lesson round-up

Part 20 of 20

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Flooding on the River Calder

The town of Harbrook sits where a steep valley opens onto a flat floodplain. In December 2015, 120 mm of rain fell in 36 hours onto ground that was already saturated. The river rose 2.4 m in five hours, and 380 homes and 54 businesses flooded. Two roads and the railway closed for eleven days.

Geographers pointed to physical causes — steep slopes, impermeable rock, heavy rainfall — and human causes: moorland drained upstream, new housing built on the floodplain, and drains designed for smaller storms.

Since then the town has planted 40 hectares of woodland upstream, built leaky dams in small streams, and raised flood walls to 1.8 m. In the storm of 2020 the peak river level was 0.3 m lower and 40 homes flooded, not 380.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. List two physical and two human causes of the 2015 flood.
  2. Explain how planting woodland upstream lowers the river's peak level.
  3. Using the figures, judge how successful the scheme has been. Quote data in your answer.

Source for this lesson

Use this for the source work task below.

A pupil's completed traffic count tally sheet

primary

Local school geography fieldwork, Fieldwork record

Site A, 9:00–9:15: cars 62, vans 9, buses 3, bikes 4. Site B, 11:30–11:45: cars 21, vans 6, buses 1, bikes 2. Weather: dry, breezy.

Fieldwork data is only as good as the record made at the time, which is why the sheet notes place, time and weather.

Source: Class fieldwork record.

View the original record ↗

  • Case study notes

    Writing

    Write the place, the facts and the figures from this lesson so you can revise them later.

    Half a page

  • Explain answer

    Writing

    Answer in full sentences, giving causes and effects. Use one figure or place name as evidence.

    8–10 sentences

  • Map or sketch

    Diagram

    Draw the map, cross-section or field sketch with a key, title and labels, then photograph it.

    1 map with a key

  • Data work

    Working out

    Plot your figures as a graph on paper and write one sentence about the pattern.

    1 graph + 1 sentence

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 20 · Introduction

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