F4 Geography Trip 2019

By: L. Thompson

​Last Wednesday, the Form 4 IGCSE Geography classes went on a field trip to a couple of parks in the city. The main reason for the outing was to collect information and data for our coursework, which was specifically about what these public spots provided for the citizens of São Paulo. 

Both Geography classes met at school and went straight to Parque Villa Lobos, where we collected our first set of statistics. When we first got there, we were divided into two groups: group A was Mr. Silva’s class, and group B was Mr. Harris’ class. Group A went to Villa Lobos, Parque do Povo and Parque Ibirapuera respectively, whilst group B departed to Parque Villa Lobos, Jardim Botânico and Parque Ibirapuera. 

On all of the parks, we had to ask the people passing by what were their thoughts on the park based on a questionnaire. This included questions such as “Does this park provide you with everything you need?”, “What needs to be added to this park?” and “Do you think there should be more parks throughout the city?” (their answers would be converted to specific set of data). We also had to produce a land use map and rate the environment on a scale from –2 to +2 based on many factors. 

If we finished our work, we could relax and just enjoy the parks... Which added a fun touch to the outing. This was my first IGCSE field trip, and I'm extremely happy to say it was enjoyable as well as and useful for our coursework! I learned a lot from the classroom, but a practical experience
consolidated all my knowledge by making the moment memorable!