Leaving Cert Fieldwork Fieldwork is now an essential part of Leaving Cert Geography, representing 20% of the marks. In general, the fieldwork is done as whole class activity when the class go to a particular river or beach and carry out the fieldwork. Each student then writes up their own report booklet based on the information they gathered during the fieldwork.
Each year, the State Exams Commission decides the fieldwork topics. They select five different topics, ranging from physical to economic geography, and the class select one. Generally speaking, the most popular topic is physical geography. For the 2014 topics, click on LC Fieldwork Topics 2014
Parents are required to fill out a permission slip for students attending the fieldwork investigation. This will be given out in class.
Fieldwork Report Booklet The report booklet is sent out to each school in January and this is where students will write up the fieldwork. The booklet limits the report to a 1000 words and includes the headings for each part of the report. For these reasons, it is reasonably straight forward to complete.
Fieldwork Marking Scheme The report booklet is made up of 5 different sections, each carrying a set number of marks. The notes below explain the marking scheme for a fieldwork project on a river meander.
1. Introduction (5 marks) 4 x Specific Relevant Points + 1 mark for overall coherence Hypothesis, Aims, 4 objectives
2. Planning (5 marks) 4 X Specific Relevant Points + 1 mark for overall coherence 4 or 5 activities that involved planning for the fieldwork
3. Gathering Data (40 marks) Two tasks to be reported on. Task 1 – 9 x Specific Relevant Points (2 marks) = 18 marks Task 2 – 9 x Specific Relevant Points (2 marks) = 18 marks Overall Coherence – 4 marks You need to focus on two tasks. Task 1 - Channel Shape (width & depth) Task 2 - Channel velocity and stone size
4. Results / Conclusions / Evaluation (30 marks) Results – 4 x Specific Relevant Points (2 marks) = 8 marks Put results in table format Conclusions – 4 x Specific Relevant Points (2 marks) = 8 marks Conclusions are based on results 4 separate conclusions needed - based on depth, velocity, stone size, observations of the meander Evaluation – 4 x Specific Relevant Points (2 marks) = 8 marks 4 separate evaluations needed. Can be issues (different issues to the ones you mentioned in gathering data), time of year, equipment, positive or negative Evaluation can consider what we would do differently in the future, what did not work so well, difficulties we had, what worked well.
5. Presentation of Results (20 marks) 2 different forms of graph Graph1 = 4 x Specific Relevant Points (2 marks) = 8 marks Graph 2 = 4 x Specific Relevant Points (2 marks) = 8 marks Overall coherence = 4 marks Graphic representation of your data can be: Bar Chart / Line Graph / Trend Graph / Table / Pie Chart / Sketch Maps Marks for title, labelled axes, two results accurately represented
Each year, the State Exams Commission decides the fieldwork topics. They select five different topics, ranging from physical to economic geography, and the class select one. Generally speaking, the most popular topic is physical geography. For the 2014 topics, click on LC Fieldwork Topics 2014
Parents are required to fill out a permission slip for students attending the fieldwork investigation. This will be given out in class.
Fieldwork Report Booklet The report booklet is sent out to each school in January and this is where students will write up the fieldwork. The booklet limits the report to a 1000 words and includes the headings for each part of the report. For these reasons, it is reasonably straight forward to complete.
Fieldwork Marking Scheme The report booklet is made up of 5 different sections, each carrying a set number of marks. The notes below explain the marking scheme for a fieldwork project on a river meander.
1. Introduction (5 marks) 4 x Specific Relevant Points + 1 mark for overall coherence Hypothesis, Aims, 4 objectives
2. Planning (5 marks) 4 X Specific Relevant Points + 1 mark for overall coherence 4 or 5 activities that involved planning for the fieldwork
3. Gathering Data (40 marks) Two tasks to be reported on. Task 1 – 9 x Specific Relevant Points (2 marks) = 18 marks Task 2 – 9 x Specific Relevant Points (2 marks) = 18 marks Overall Coherence – 4 marks You need to focus on two tasks. Task 1 - Channel Shape (width & depth) Task 2 - Channel velocity and stone size
4. Results / Conclusions / Evaluation (30 marks) Results – 4 x Specific Relevant Points (2 marks) = 8 marks Put results in table format Conclusions – 4 x Specific Relevant Points (2 marks) = 8 marks Conclusions are based on results 4 separate conclusions needed - based on depth, velocity, stone size, observations of the meander Evaluation – 4 x Specific Relevant Points (2 marks) = 8 marks 4 separate evaluations needed. Can be issues (different issues to the ones you mentioned in gathering data), time of year, equipment, positive or negative Evaluation can consider what we would do differently in the future, what did not work so well, difficulties we had, what worked well.
5. Presentation of Results (20 marks) 2 different forms of graph Graph1 = 4 x Specific Relevant Points (2 marks) = 8 marks Graph 2 = 4 x Specific Relevant Points (2 marks) = 8 marks Overall coherence = 4 marks Graphic representation of your data can be: Bar Chart / Line Graph / Trend Graph / Table / Pie Chart / Sketch Maps Marks for title, labelled axes, two results accurately represented