Year 13 Geography Fieldtrip to Derrygonnelly
On the 14th and 15th October the Year 13 geography students headed off ‘Into the West’ with their teachers on fieldwork.
Changes to the AS specification meant that students needed a wider range of fieldwork knowledge earlier in the course. The geography department responded by organising a two day residential trip to Derrygonnelly Field Studies Centre in Fermanagh.
The boys set off early Wednesday morning in good spirits despite the rainy weather and treated their teachers to an impromptu concert of their favourite songs for most of the two and a half hour journey!
On arrival they had a short while to settle in to their rooms and then it was straight to the classroom to begin work.
Day one consisted of a river study. The students were first reminded of river theory and then versed in the skills and methods of collecting data. Finally it was back into the bus and off to the source of the river. The students were very focused and dedicated to the task. As a result, despite the rain, and a rather nosey herd of cows, the data was collected in time for tea.
After a welcome meal and a chance to dry out the students returned to the classroom to analyse and collate their data, creating tables and drawing graphs.
At the end of the evening there was a little time to relax, and with only a few gentle reminders from the teachers it was off to bed.
On day two it was a rather weary bunch of geographers who made it to breakfast, but sustained by a lovely fry it was back to the classroom find out about the next task.
This time they were to analyse a sand dune system in Mullaghmore giving them an opportunity to develop a new range of skills. The weather was much kinder on the second day, and with the magnificent setting it was easy to reflect that ‘geography is probably the best subject in the world’. With the data gathered it was back on the bus a quick pack lunch and off to the field centre.
After analysing the sand dune data there was just time to pack up and gather the equipment for the final task.
In a departure from physical geography the final exercise involved an analysis of land use patterns in Enniskillen town and an opportunity to learn one of the compulsory statistical analysis techniques.
With all the data gathered it was time to return to the ‘big smoke’. After a brief stop at a well known fast food chain Danny pointed the bus for home.
It was a quieter but infinitely better informed group of students that pulled into the College that evening following a very successful field trip.