GCSE geographers measured noise levels and annotated photos using ‘apps’ on their smartphones during a field trip to East London.
The Year 10 boys’ main objective was to investigate the question: How socially sustainable is East Village in the Olympic Park, Stratford? However, their day also included a tour of the London Stadium, currently rented by West Ham United FC, where technology was again to the fore, as the boys were each given a small device to watch videos about the facility.
The visit was split into two groups over two days, with each half of the large AQA Geography GCSE cohort spending a full day conducting fieldwork. The boys applied four fieldwork techniques in East Village, a new residential district which was the athletes’ village in the 2012 Olympic Games:
- Environmental Quality Surveys (EQS), which included the recording of decibel levels
- Questionnaires
- Land-use mapping
- Photographs, duly annotated using the Skitch app.
In the afternoon, they had a part-guided, part-multi-media tour of the 60,000-capacity London Stadium (the former Olympic Stadium). The tour looked both at the development of the stadium and at the history of the football club.
Highlights included the panoramic views across the stadium from the stands, exploring the home changing room, visiting the indoor running track and walking down the players’ tunnel.