Coastal Geography trip declared “one of the best!”

May 22, 2019

Excellent teamwork, accuracy and an abundance of energy and enthusiasm helped make this year’s Coastal Geography field trip “one of the best!”.

43 Year 10 Geography students visited Leeson House Field Studies Centre this month, to explore coastal geography in Swanage Bay: its processes, landforms and management.

The primary data collected over a long weekend supports a coursework report, which represents 27.5% of the iGCSE. The title, ‘How effective is coastal management in Swanage Bay?’, was broken down into four hypotheses:

  1. The groynes in Swanage Bay are slowing down the process longshore drift
  2. Beach replenishment has been successful in creating a wider beach
  3. Coastal management is linked to areas of high land value
  4. The current management policy (Hold the Line) is perceived to be the correct approach

All pupils had to study hypothesis one, and then choose a second hypothesis to investigate.

Head of Geography, Mr Meek, said: “The field trip proved to be extremely enjoyable and productive, one of the best. Year 10 were a pleasure to be with, demonstrating fantastic energy and enthusiasm.

“In order to answer their chosen hypotheses, and ultimately the title, pupils gathered a wide variety of data ranging from beach transects, cliff surveys, questionnaires and wave measurements. This required accuracy and excellent teamwork.”

Explaining further, Mr Meek said that aside from a field sketch on the Friday afternoon, all data was collected during a very busy and productive Saturday. Evening classroom sessions consolidated student knowledge and understanding of the location and its coastal geography, and data presentation and analysis skills.

The Saturday evening also gave students the opportunity to scale the heady heights of statistical analysis, with a T-Test to see if the there was a significant difference in beach height either side of the wooden groynes on Swanage beach.

He added: “This is general the preserve of Year 12 and the answer was yes, the T-Test value was higher than the critical value, so we could reject the null hypothesis. I look forward to reading some excellent quality Coursework projects next year.”