Last updated: 07 Mar 2008

Task summary

This task is part of a unit on population. Students conducted an enquiry into diversity and community cohesion in a local multi-ethnic community. They planned and carried out local fieldwork and used a variety of new technologies.

The task addressed all three assessment objectives. It was set by the awarding body and adapted to take into account the resources available and the school's desire to focus on an issue of local significance. The task was assessed by the teacher according to awarding body criteria and was externally moderated.

Detailed description

Students were tasked with producing a report on community relations within Kirklees for a regional television news programme. They were asked to focus on three enquiry questions:

• Where do ethnic minority groups live in Kirklees today?
  The students started at district level (Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Batley and rural Kirklees) and then focused on Batley.
• How have these areas changed in the last 25 years?
  This included studying the distribution of the ethnic community.
• How do different South Asian residents perceive these neighbourhoods?
  The students canvassed the views of a cross-section of the communities to identify the features and landmarks people particularly valued, or wished to change. They found out what was happening within the area, what still needed to happen, and how the community could play a key role in any future developments.

The news report could take the form of a PowerPoint presentation with accompanying script or a Moviemaker presentation or equivalent with dialogue. These presentations could include different features such as a spoken presentation, a dramatic reconstruction, an animation, an interview, a debate, graphics and/or maps.

The teacher monitored the students' work, providing support and feedback where appropriate, and noting the extent and quality of the contribution of individual students. The students also kept research logs, which were submitted as evidence.

Initial phase

The first few lessons were teacher directed and introduced students to the task and the assessment criteria. As a class students explored how they might effectively present their findings as a TV broadcast.

During these initial lessons, the teacher provided the students with background information and the resources that they would use for their research. These resources included locally produced information about the ethnic communities in the area, films of discussions with community elders about their early experiences of immigration to Kirklees, maps showing the religious communities of Kirklees based on the 2001 Census, Ordnance Survey maps of Batley, other Census-generated maps for 1981-2001, interactive whiteboard Census maps demonstrating a sequence of growth in both time and space, photographs and a 1:50 000 OS Map of Batley and Dewsbury.

Planning and analysis

The students then planned their research and fieldwork within the broad parameters set by the teacher and started to extract and interpret information from the different sources. This early analysis of sources enabled the students to make tentative conclusions about the changing population of Kirklees, increase their understanding of the experiences of local ethnic communities and the issues relevant to them, and prepare for their fieldwork visit to Batley.

As well as the chance to engage with an issue of local relevance, the task offered opportunities for students to use a variety of new technologies such as geographical information systems (GIS), podcasts, image capture and manipulation and data capture and processing. Using these techniques students could, for example, extrapolate the relationship between Mosque location and heartlands of the local Muslim communities. They began to consider how they might use these technologies to enhance their final presentations.

Research and fieldwork

The fieldwork took place within the Batley Muslim community. The students carried out a variety of activities; for instance, they explored a transect of growth in the Asian community and interviewed members of the local community using digital cameras.

Students worked collaboratively in planning, carrying out and sharing their research and fieldwork and independently of the teacher when making specific decisions.

Final evaluation and presentation

Once the research and fieldwork were complete, the students used the information they had extracted and interpreted to construct their presentations, which formed the controlled assessment.

The teacher set a much higher element of control for this part of the enquiry. The presentations had to be produced independently, under direct teacher supervision and within a set time.

Students were given access to the research resources along with the data they had extrapolated from their research and fieldwork, and the teacher noted where this had been gathered in collaboration with other students. Their presentations had to be produced independently. The teacher's feedback was limited to advising the students on how best to use their time, ensuring that they remained focused on the enquiry questions, and answering technical questions about PowerPoint or Moviemaker.

The students then presented their completed TV news reports to the rest of the class. The teacher assessed students primarily on how effectively they were able to use a range of sources and show any limitations of these, on the quality of their analysis and evaluation of their findings and on how they used their findings to support their conclusions.

The presentations were saved on a CD and, along with the research logs, formed a record of the students' attainment. The teacher assessed each student using the awarding body's guidelines and the awarding body moderated the teacher's marking, drawing on a sample of the students' controlled assessments and research logs.

How did this task contribute to geography and the whole curriculum?

The students:

• recalled, selected and communicated their knowledge and understanding of places, environments and concepts and applied this in a range of familiar and unfamiliar contexts
• used a variety of skills and techniques, including new technologies, to carry out a geographical enquiry
• built on their understanding of some of the key concepts and processes in the revised key stage 3 programme of study for geography, including cultural understanding and diversity, place, geographical enquiry and geographical communication
• progressed towards the national curriculum aim of being a successful learner by enquiring into an issue and thinking for themselves to process information, reason, question and evaluate
• developed several of the personal, learning and thinking skills, in particular team working, independent enquiry and effective participation.

Through enabling students to understand themselves and the world in which they live, the task made a significant contribution to the curriculum dimensions of identity and cultural diversity and technology and the media. In addition, it linked to work in citizenship.