Introductory techniques

Take pupils into the school grounds and, working in small groups, give them a clinometer and a metre ruler. Ask pupils to all have a go at using the equipment. What do they think it does? What could they use it to measure?

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Soil and slopes fieldwork

Clinometers can be used to measure slopes, but they can also be used to measure the height of things using simple trigonometry.

Tree Height = (Distance from Tree) x tan(Angle Measured) + Height of Observer

Split pupils into two groups. One group needs to find the steepest slope on the school grounds and the other group needs to find the tallest tree. You could turn this into a competition and you can obviously adapt this to the features that are available in the school grounds. Pupils only have the clinometers and metre rulers that they used in the introductory activity.

Only give the pupils these instructions to give them the freedom and flexibility to organise themselves and to think critically to find a solution.

However, you may want to give them prompts. For example, how many slopes / trees do you think you should measure? Can you use observation skills to suggest the best slopes / trees to measure? How are you going to record or map your results?

Once pupils have carried out the activity, make sure that you carry out a debrief. How do you know that you have found the steepest slope / tallest tree? Are there other ways that you could find this out? Why might it be useful or important to know where the steepest slope / tallest tree is?

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The Geographical Association (GA) has worked closely with the Field Studies Council (FSC) to develop these resources.