Landscape detectives: developing a palimpsest approach to fieldwork

Abstract

Understanding the composition and meaning of landscapes is a fundamental skill of being a geographer. This article examines how students can become ‘landscape detectives’ using a palimpsest approach to unravel the form and processes that can be obscured within a landscape. Observing, recording and interpreting a landscape from multiple perspectives can lead to a deeper academic understanding as well as facilitating a maturing of perspectives about a sense of place and the students’ positionality with that place. The palimpsest approach provides a framework that supports teachers, enriches the field learning experience for students, can be applied to a variety of landscapes and can be adapted for most levels of education. This article outlines the palimpsest approach based on coastal fieldwork involving a small group of 16- and 17-year-old students studying A level geography in the UK and provides practical suggestions for its inclusion.