A look at the differences in fieldwork between the IGCSE and the normal route of Controlled Assessment. First presented at the Oxford GA Conference.

1. Fieldwork: Controlled
Assessment vs IGCSE
GA Conference February 2012
David Holmes
david@david-holmes-geography.co.uk
Twitter: dave905947
Slideshare: dave905947 (for a copy of this presentation)

2. What do you think?

3. Some advantages of controlled
assessment (CA) in Geography?
Variety of
‘products’
Encourages
Flexibility of Student-centred
approach learning
Should lead to Fairer and
a higher quality more equitable
end result

4. A review of CA benefits (1)
• Shorter pieces of work that are more tightly focused.
They are quicker and easier to mark and more
manageable from a students’ perspective.
• A more succinct style has led, in some instances, to
higher quality writing and more attention to detail.
• Doing the work over a more defined period of time
(both low and high control) has resulted in students
tending to work harder and more productively in
those time slots when they are completing the CA.
One Centre remarked “it hasn’t dragged on and on
like the coursework used to”.
Slide 4

5. CA benefits (2)
• The introduction of GIS and visualisation has led to
some innovative ways of working-with and displaying
data. This has hopefully made the CA experience
more enjoyable and relevant to students.
• The planning phase at the beginning of the process
has allowed candidates to research more fully what
is being investigated (e.g. find out about models,
places etc) and to take more responsibility for
developing recording sheets, methodologies, site
selection etc. See the bigger picture.
Slide 5

6. Possible reasons for
underachievement in CA
• Teacher error 1 – not making the transition from coursework to controlled
assessment
• Teacher error 2– not choosing the correct sites, lack of focus (or too much
breadth)
• Teacher error 3 – not giving enough support + guidance during the whole
process, especially the planning
• Student error type 1 – not knowing enough or not understanding enough
about the topic and the process of CA
• Student error type 2 – not managing their time well under high and low
levels of control.
Slide 6

7. This has been at the heart of the issue.....

8. Looking at some examples of pieces of
work and outcomes

9. A closer look at the Edexcel International
GCSE for Geography
Slide 9

10. Fieldwork: comparing the old and the new
OLD NEW
“Describe what data was collected and
how it was collected. [You will need to
refer to techniques,
equipment, time taken and sampling Section C (Practical geography
procedures].” enquiry) becomes the fieldwork
INTEGRATED INTO SECTIONs A & B –
component.
typically 6 marks.
Rather piecemeal in terms of the entire 50 marks (2x 25)
investigation. ~28% (50 minutes)
OR Coursework Option
Slide 10

11. Assessment is really based on:
A more complete simulation.....
which follows the full route to enquiry.
OLD NEW
“Tell me what you did on your trip” .
“Understand how and why you did
that (and transfer the knowledge to
a different, but similar exercise)”.
Slide 11

12. So assessment is really different....
• Section C is the third part of the
exam paper
• Students will have to do 2
questions, which are in pairs
linked to 6 x Topic areas. Each
Topic has 2x sub-questions
• There is a choice of 2 from 4.
• Mixture of shorter answer and
more extended writing (levels
marked).
• Marks range from 1-6 inclusively

13. The 6 Topics which form the assessment for
Section C
For the exam:
will have chose 1
1 from Section
A and 1 from
Section B
Topics will be
rotated from
series to series.
1

14. An emphasis on the
geographical
enquiry process as a
whole.
Assessment in Section C will
drawn across all aspects of the
enquiry process

15. Acquiring fieldwork and practical
skills as you learn
• Fieldwork and enquiry skills in readiness for assessment
must include:
• Pre-fieldwork planning — designing a fieldwork
investigation, as per the qualification content. This may
include a degree of planning research.
• Primary field skills — undertaking a field investigation; the
need for sampling, data collection and recording
techniques
• Presentation, analysis, conclusions and evaluation skills —
using the range of data presentation techniques; analysis of
data and drawing conclusions; evaluating the techniques
used and the conclusions drawn.

16. Looking at the assessment....(1)
Questions linked to the initial parts of the enquiry:
identification of a question, contextualising, design and
equipment
•Qs will follow a
more or less entire
enquiry sequence.
• Students will be
required to work
with data and
resources
provided for them.
•Qs have a clear
incline of difficulty.

17. Looking at the assessment....(2)
Questions linked to the last parts of the enquiry:
presentation, analysis, conclusions and evaluations
These are the harder
parts – Level marked.

18. Planning an integrated fieldwork
strategy for International GCSE
• Need to think about fieldwork as part of a 2-year
strategy.
• Establish links between fieldwork and content
knowledge.
• Order of fieldwork should dictate order of
teaching or vice-versa.
• Opportunity to audit fieldwork from KS3-post 16 –
check for content, coverage and overlap: dealt
with progression.

19. Examples of different models
of delivery x 3
Model 2 “residential plus
Model 1 “days-out” top-ups”
Model 3 “Virtual Fieldwork*
+ days out”

20. Opportunity to use technology in fieldwork?
The ultimate fieldwork
and research
companion?....
Nick will be discussing
this.

21. More sophisticated GIS / Visualisation
Slide 21

22. ArcGIS
http://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?useExisting=1

23. Doing the fieldwork.......
• Emphasis on quality not quantity
• Encourage detail, rigour and accuracy
• Support reasoning and skills transfer
• Try to get students to be more empowered in what they are
doing
• Ask questions at the beginning....”What would they do?”,
“How would they collect data etc”
• Students should understand the notion of the route to
enquiry.
• A good working knowledge of specialist fieldwork terms
• Recognise ‘bigger picture’ ideas and how fieldwork links into
other parts of the specification (map across)

24. In summary – International GCSE or
Controlled assessment?
Controlled Assessment International GCSE
Have to do the piece of work / Task set by More flexibility...but need to get the
AB students exam-ready (Topics)
One day of fieldwork is the norm...one Lots of fieldwork required...at least 6x
location with narrow focus. Can be Topics. Integrated planning solution
slotted in relatively easily. required.
Controlled conditions Do as you please
Quantity Quality and understanding
Some ABs have encouraged innovation Less emphasis on this...have to make it
and technology, especially GIS work for assessment
Less able candidates can do reasonably On your own in the exam – Qs have steep
well if correctly supported incline of difficulty
Doesn't always have to be in the written Assessment is written for all
Slide 24
form = more suited to individuals