Edexcel GCSE Science: fieldwork opportunities

Specification sections

Learning objectives

Possible outdoor investigations

Edexcel Science

B1a Environment

1. Describe food chains quantitatively using pyramids of biomass

2. Describe how organisms in an ecosystem compete with each other for resources

3. Explain why it is more cost effective, in terms of energy, to produce a field of wheat rather than a field of beef cows

4. Explain population data in terms of predator-prey interdependence and intra-species competition

5. Use secondary data to explain how human activity can affect the environment, especially changes in population size and in economic and industrial conditions (Higher only)

6. Demonstrate an understanding of how computer models can be used to study populations, and show an awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of these models compared with real data

Holly leaf miner-study

Holly leaf-miners show basic living food chains. They directly can be used to study pyramid of numbers and these numbers can be used to construct pyramids of biomass.

Feeding relationships - small invertebrates (pyramids of numbers, predator-prey relationships, role in decomposition) - sweep netting of longer vegetation (nettles, cow parsley, etc.)

Aquatic habitats - pyramids of numbers

Edexcel Additional Science

B2.4 Interdependence

1. Explore the principles of interdependence, adaptation, competition and predation and explain how these factors influence the distribution and population sizes of organisms in a given terrestrial or aquatic environment

2. Use primary and secondary data to consider how human activity, including differing economical and industrial conditions, can affect the environment and cause changes in sizes of population

3. Investigate, using primary and secondary data, the impact of human activity on the environment, including the pollution of air and of water; and the effects of air pollutants (including carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide) and of water pollutants (including sewage, nitrates and phosphates)

4. Interpret data to show the impact of human activity on the environment to include:

- living indicators eg lichen distribution and incidence of skin cancer

- non-living indicators eg global temperature and ozone depletion

Consider conservation management techniques, including reforestation, coppicing, replacement planting and discuss how conservation can lead to greater biodiversity.

Trampling studies -

A study across a pathway species composition, plant morphology along a transect

A comparison of a undisturbed site and trampled site (spots field)

Mowing regime - long/short grass comparisons, sweep netting for invertebrates.

Study specific plants in shade and unshaded (nettles) - leaf area, , internode length, leaf thickness.

Contrasting aquatic habitats - What species live where and why?

A lichen transect from a busy road to the centre of a parkland along a footpath/

Compared to pollution - transects / mapping of particulates - using Vaseline slides / sellotape / leaf washing.