Fieldwork - Field sketches

Students assessed the focus area, which is on the border of the school, where they completed field sketches. The purpose of conducting a field sketch is to provide a more intense opportunity for environmental observation and recording. A photograph is obviously a more accurate recording of a place at a specific time, but the extra time that a field sketch takes, enables students to look beyond their immediate impressions of a place. Field sketches can be labelled with important features that are relevant to the study being undertaken.

Field Sketch

In the space below complete a field sketch.

How to draw a fieldsketch:

• Divide the space into three sections: foreground, middle ground and background.

• Draw the items you can see in the foreground, and add detail that you think is relevant.

• Next, draw what you can see in the middle ground.

• Then, draw what you can see in the background.

• Label the main features. In this case you are going to label features of the natural environment and human impacts on the environment.

Questions

How do you imagine this site would have looked prior to human settlement?

What have been the impacts of humans on the ecological functioning of the site? 

Identify issues or areas that you think need attention to make this a better environment.