Coastal Fieldwork at Robin Hood's Bay
Robin Hood's Bay offers tremendous opportunities for geography fieldwork and whenever possible we are happy to tailor make activities to support KS3, GCSE and A-level fieldwork investigations.
Coastal Themes and Tasks
- Geology of the bay - a classic UK site for geological study
- Landforms resulting from coastal erosion
- Coastal recession and why rates vary along this stretch of coast
- Sea defences - examples from pre-1890 to present
- Current threats from coastal erosion
- Coastal management and defence strategy
- Longshore drift fieldwork related to beach size and pebble analysis
Our most popular coastal fieldwork option is a day spent at Robin Hoods Bay, with half a day evaluating the coastal defences (including bi-polar assessments, mapping management strategies and undertaking a cost-benefit analysis of each defence). The second half of the day focuses on coastal processes, including collecting pebble data and comparing a sample of stones from the north and south of the bay, and collecting data on the beach profiles in front of the village, this is then linked to the concept of Long Shore Drift, coastal processes and coastal defence issues.
Resources Supporting Primary Data Collection and Geographical Skills Fieldwork
- Student Introduction (fieldwork learning objectives, key concepts, study area and hypotheses) (pdf)
- PowerPoint (for teachers to use in advance of a visit, briefly introduces the site and issues) (ppt)
- Fieldwork lesson plan (includes detailed activity descriptor and use of formative assessment) (pdf)
- Defence Map Example (filled in sheet, similar to those completed by students during fieldwork) (pdf)
- Bi-polar GCSE example (Similar to the assessments completed by students during fieldwork) (pdf)
- Bi-polar A-level example (Similar to the assessments completed by students during fieldwork) (pdf)
- Pebble recording sheet (pdf)
- Powers roundness and Cailleux Roundness Chart (to assess pebble roundness) (pdf)
- Coastal Methods sheet (filled in as an example for teachers and students) (pdf)
- Spreadsheet to enter Beach profile data (also creates beach profiles and calculates beach size) (xlsx)
- Spreadsheet to enter Pebble data (also displays data utilising a range of techniques) (xlsx)
- Student Locational PowerPoint (resource for teachers and students to use post fieldwork) (ppt)
- Background information (overview of site, geology, coastal processes and history of defences) (pdf)
Logistics
- Duration: up to 7 hours depending on tide times, your requirements, your journey time and weather
- Cost: 'Extended day' or 'day' rate per pupil (current prices are displayed on our 'how to book' page
- All equipment provided
- All activities are fully risk assessed and Risk Assessments are available
Additional Resources
Click here for more information about the coast and how it is managed.