Undergraduate Course: Physical Geography Fieldwork: Scottish Highlands (GEGR10087)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Geography |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | The overall aims are:
To develop research skills, including the identification of research questions, the development of suitable approaches, the use of multiple working hypotheses and hypothesis testing, fieldwork methods, and dissemination of research plans and results via oral presentations and written scientific reports.
To assess landscape change in the Scottish Highlands, to understand how the modern landscape has been shaped by a complex interplay of natural and anthropogenic processes over centuries, millennia, and glacial-interglacial cycles; e.g. glaciation, ecology, climate change and human-environment interactions.
To understand the importance of marginality, sensitivity, thresholds and the susceptibility of both human and natural systems to cultural change and/or environmental perturbations.
To become skilled in the evaluation, synthesis, and interpretation of different lines of environmental, palaeoenvironmental, and cultural evidence.
The course is based around individual research projects and includes two fieldtrips to the Cairngorm Mountains. There will be initial classroom-based lectures introducing key themes and considering the development of Scottish upland environments through the Holocene, human dimensions of change and research design. This will be followed by a field-based introduction to the research projects followed by structured discussions and group working leading to research projects conducted over three further field days and student-lead seminars. Assessment will be in the form of a field notebook and a research report.
Preparation for the field-based research will take place during the first field excursion, and this will involve an overnight stay at a hostel in Braemar. Themes of Late Quaternary glaciation, geomorphological and ecological change, and cultural development and land use will be introduced. Student projects (working in groups but producing individual research reports) will be developed during a subsequent four day excursion also based at Braemar.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2013/14 Semester 1, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: 18 |
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Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
16/09/2013 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Fieldwork Hours 42,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
132 )
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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
At the end of the field course you should have developed your understanding of:
1 Forest and moorland ecology
2 Glacial geomorphology
3 The legacy of past natural and cultural influences upon the present-day highland landscape
4 The spatial and temporal dimensions of environmental change in archaeological, ecological and geomorphological contexts
5 Key tools for ecological and palaeoenvironmental studies
6 the multidisciplinary nature of environmental reconstruction
You should also have developed your skills in:
1 Project design, hypothesis testing, sampling strategy, and data analysis and interpretation
2 Field mapping, using ecological, morphological, archaeological and stratigraphic data
3 Critical evaluation and synthesis of relevant literature.
4 Team work, and presentation of ideas and results, both orally and in writing. |
Assessment Information
| Field notebook and research report (equiv 4,000 words) |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | GEGR10087 |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Anthony Newton
Tel: (0131 6)50 2546
Email: Anthony.Newton@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Beth Muir
Tel: (0131 6)50 9847
Email: beth.muir@ed.ac.uk |
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© Copyright 2013 The University of Edinburgh - 13 January 2014 4:16 am
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