Fieldwork and skills, Year 7: more practice

It is vague: it names no place and nothing you can measure

提示Think about whether you could collect numbers or counts to answer it.

为什么A sharp enquiry question names a place and something that can be measured or counted, so evidence can answer it. 'How many people use Hill Park on a Saturday?' is much stronger.

'How many shops on our high street are empty?'

提示One question is a matter of opinion; the other is a matter of counting.

为什么Opinions cannot be measured or checked, so they make poor enquiry questions. A count of empty shops can be collected, recorded and compared.

Secondary data

提示Primary is first-hand; this is second-hand.

为什么Secondary data comes from books, websites, maps and official statistics. An enquiry often uses both: primary data from the field and secondary data to set it in context.

A clinometer

提示Think of the angle between the ground and the flat.

为什么A clinometer is held up and sighted along the slope to read the angle in degrees. It is used when comparing the steepness of a hillside or a beach.

Sunlight would heat the thermometer itself and give a reading hotter than the air

提示Think about what the Sun does to the glass and liquid inside.

为什么Air temperature is the temperature of the air, not of the instrument. Meteorologists use shaded, ventilated boxes for the same reason.

15

提示Add all three days, including the dry one.

为什么4 + 0 + 11 = 15 mm. Rainfall is measured as a depth in millimetres.

A satellite image

提示It is taken from higher than any aircraft.

为什么Satellite images cover whole regions and can be taken again and again, so they are good for showing change over time.

A river

提示Natural features curve; roads and railways tend to be straighter.

为什么Rivers wind across the land in curves, called meanders, and trees often line the banks. Man-made routes such as motorways run straighter.

To see how the land has changed

提示Think about what is different between two dates.

为什么Pairs of images can show a city spreading, a forest shrinking or a coast eroding, which a single image cannot.

You can leave out clutter and highlight only what matters

提示A photograph records everything; a drawing lets you choose.

为什么A sketch is an argument in pencil: the geographer decides what to draw and label. It focuses on the features relevant to the enquiry.