Monday 25 June 2007

Section 11: Evaluation

This section is to summarise what you did in your coursework and consider what went well / what didn't go so well. Make sure you cover these key points:

1. How did you collect your data?

  • Was this successful?
  • Did it tell you what you needed to know?
  • Was there any bias in your data collection? Maybe you collected some of it on a sunny day and some of it on a rainy day, or perhaps your sampling methods weren't very well planned (see previous post on this).
  • Was any of your data unrealiable? Maybe you could only find out of date information or had to use an old map etc.

2. How would you improve your project if you did it again?

  • Was there one part of your coursework that you think lets it down? (maybe the analysis, the data collection or the original hypotheses)
  • What could you do to improve this?

3. What could you do to extend your study?

  • Maybe you could investigate another hypothesis
  • Or you could use an additional method of data collection to find out more information about one element of your work?

Read this document for some more detail.

Section 10: Conclusion

What have you found out in your investigation?

In this section you need to give a clear overview of what you have discovered about your neighbourhood, especially focusing on your hypotheses.
  • Say what your hypotheses were
  • For each, say whether you found them to be true or false
  • And refer to what evidence you have to back this up.

There is some example work on the G drive.

Section 9: How does my neighbourhood compare with others?

You must complete this section if you want to get a B grade or higher in your coursework. This is the section which links your coursework with some geographical ideas or theories.

Again, this section comes in 2 parts:

1. Compare your neighbourhood with another neighbourhood
  • Find a friend who has done environmental quality surveys in a different part of Long Eaton.
  • Swap environmental quality surveys with them.
  • Make sure you include a map to show the location of the 2 neighbourhoods.
  • Compare the information that your friend has collected with the information that you collected - you could present this information as graphs.
  • Describe what the data tells you about the two neighbourhoods - are they very similar or very different? Do they have some common features e.g. parking problems, or good street lighting.

2. How does your neighbourhood compare with models of land use?

  • You should compare your neighbourhood with land use models like Burgess or Mann.
  • The Burgess model suggests that environmental quality should improve the further you travel from the CBD.
  • Where does your neighbourhood fit into this model?
  • There is some information about land use models on the G drive.


Section 8: Improving my neighbourhood

You should select an issue that is relevant to your neighbourhood. Ideas include:
  • some run down or empty buildings
  • a park that is neglected
  • some waste land or open space that could be put to better use
  • a lack of services in your neighbourhood
  • litter / vandalism / lack of street lighting

You should describe:

1. What the problem is - including a map and some labelled photographs

2. What you would do to improve the area - you could be really creative here - design a plan of what it will look like (you can do this by hand); include some images from the Internet of similar designs / services etc;

Sunday 24 June 2007

Traffic counts

As well as writing this blog, I also spend far too long reading blogs written by other Geography teachers! Whilst trawling the blogosphere today, I have come across this survey which you may find useful for your data collection.

Traffic Counts


You could use the results of this survey in section 7: Describing my neighbourhood.

Friday 22 June 2007

Sampling Methods

Read this word document to remind you of the discussion we had about sampling methods. To open it, click on the tiny link at the bottom of the image!

Wednesday 20 June 2007

New coursework deadline

The coursework deadline had been moved to:

Friday 6th July 2007

This is to take account of the fact that you have had exams, as well as coursework in other subjects due in around the same time. This is a final deadline and will not be moved again. You go on work experience the following week, so aim to have your coursework complete and ready to hand in on or before that date!

Section 7: Describing my neighbourhood

Section 7 is the largest part of your coursework and is your chance to show that you can collect, present and understand information about your neighbourhood. You should split this section into:

a) Describing my neighbourhood
Some general information about your neighbourhood using data you have collected from surveys. You should be aiming to include information from at least 3 of these – types of houses, age of houses, litter, vandalism, noise pollution, traffic problems, environmental quality etc.

b) Testing my hypotheses
For each of your hypotheses you should show what evidence you have collected and explain what this shows about your neighbourhood. Finally, have you shown your hypothesis to be true or false (it is fine to say that it was wrong!)

Make sure this section is well structured, with sub-headings and thorough explanations of all graphs, photographs etc. You should include a range of data such as maps, graphs, tables, photographs etc. The more data the merrier – as long as you explain it thoroughly!! There are some examples of how you could present this work on the G drive – in Geog coursework folder called ‘Student work’.

Monday 11 June 2007

Y10 Exam revision

Your exam will be on Tuesday 19th June at 1:15pm. It will last 1hr 30 minutes and will be divided into 3 sections:

Question 1: World cities and LEDCs
Question 2: Settlement and OS map skills
Question 3: Economic Activities

Use this powerpoint to guide your revision


Case study of Linby