ABSTRACT
Fieldwork offers students unique opportunities to encounter different landscapes and environments. Such opportunities are invaluable for exploring physical, human and applied geographies. Students can apply theory learned in class to the real-world, develop awareness and understanding of the differences inherent in places, recognise the changing nature of environments and explore the complexity of geographical issues and processes. In particular, the development of a sense of place is often pivotal to students acquiring a better understanding and deeper learning of geographical issues. Fieldwork encounters will vary by individual and environment, influencing the affective domain, and the behavioural and academic responses of students to (un)familiar environments. This chapter examines, firstly, the need to reconnect students to fieldwork in post-pandemic times and support their experiences, as some express anxiety. Secondly, the use of a palimpsest approach is explored as a method to better understand and engage with place and to facilitate deeper levels of meaning. Thirdly, two teachers of A-level geography apply a palimpsest approach in creating a fieldwork investigation of Hessle Road in Hull, UK, with their students. They reveal the benefits of the approach which can be modified for use at a variety of educational levels. The palimpsest offers a holistic approach to reveal the traces and meanings of the past that exist in the present. It encourages deeper learning by revealing potential avenues of investigation to inform a greater sense of place.
