Field Study Courses                * Edexcel pre-visit resources

AS and A2 Level Geography on the Isle of Wight 

*specimen fieldwork programmes for the specifications for Edexcel, OCR & AQA available for download in pdf format

Fieldwork continues to play an important part in all A Level geography courses, allowing students to get first hand experience of the interrelationship between the physical and human geographical components of the syllabus.

There are excellent case studies for a range of physical and human topics for both AS and A Level Geography on the Isle of Wight. The data collection and analysis can be achieved with support from staff with detailed local knowledge and fieldwork experience, along with crucial secondary data sources.

The Isle of Wight is an ideal venue for AS and A2 Level Geography fieldwork with a varied geology contributing to a diverse and spectacular landscape, protected by a raft of European and National conservation designations. The conflicts that arise from pressures for development on the outstanding landscape of the Isle of Wight provide exceptional case studies that highlight planning issues as people interact with the Island environment.

All field study sites are within a 30 minute drive from the Medina Valley Centre, or within walking distance.

Geography field study courses can be any length of time between two and five days. The example programmes (see box) meet the requirements for the new specifications for all the main syllabuses.

Please contact us for an informal discussion about the courses we can offer.

Some of the options recommended for fieldwork are listed below:

Coastal Processes and Coastal Management
The coastal zone of the Isle of Wight includes stretches of managed and unmanaged  coast, soft and hard cliffs, estuaries and coastal landslips. Hard and soft engineering schemes protect the predominantly coastal settlements offering quality coastal management case studies.

Landslide Activity and Coastal Road Case Study: Major conflicts have arisen since landslide activity has caused the closure of a major coast road. Students consider the conflicts and the options for re-routing the road.

Urban-Rural Fringe: The Medina Valley Centre is situated on Newport's urban-rural fringe along side the Medina estuary. Newport is a compact urban settlement with development pressures on the urban-rural fringe, which provide exceptional geographical case studies.

Estuarine Ecosystem: The Medina Valley Centre is located on the Medina estuary allowing easy access for students to study the ecosystem and the conflicts that arise as a result of the different stakeholders.

Sustainable Tourism: The pressures for development arising from the Isle of Wight's tourist industry, with an emphasis on Green and Sustainable Tourism, provide further geographical decision-making exercises and case studies.

Woodland, Rivers, Sand dunes, Saltmarsh: The Medina Valley Centre has access to woodland, rivers, sand dunes and salt marshes allowing a hands-on approach to biogeographical investigation.

Wind Farm Case Study: Students consider the conflicts that arise when siting a wind farm within or adjacent to the Isle of Wight's Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

• Fieldwork and the Edexcel GCE AS specification

Fieldwork and the Edexcel GCE AS specification

There is a statutory and curriculum requirement that all pupils of A Level Geography undertake fieldwork, including research outside the classroom.

Coursework has been removed from the specification but fieldwork is now core and therefore essential to each topic in Unit 2 Geographical Investigations. The board states that 'engagement and connection with the out-of-doors is very important and should be encouraged at all opportunities' (Edexcel Geography Teachers' Guide, 2007).

Exciting fieldwork programmes have developed for the 2009/2010 academic year for the AS Unit 2 topics Crowded Coasts, Extreme Weather, Re-branding Places and Unequal spaces.

Fieldwork will include data collection for displaying, manipulating and analysing on base maps loaded onto a GIS programme. 

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