The course aims to provide students with a wide range of learning and social skills through the study of physical environments and human activities and the way in which they affect each other. Throughout the course students are encouraged to work on their own and in groups, thus developing initiative and a sense of responsibility.

Areas of Study
There are three broad streams of study
1. The Physical Environment - including weather, climate, glaciations, rivers and conservation.
2. The Human Environment - including urban development, farming systems and industrial change.
3. International Issues - including population trends, trade and aid, and the geographical aspects of world conflicts.

Through a study of these themes, students acquire an understanding of Scottish, European and World issues, using a geographical framework to assemble information, draw conclusions and express points of view.

The course is divided into eight Units designed and produced by staff in the school to allow ample extension work and provide a solid basis for progression into Higher.

Within each unit, the evaluation of geographic phenomena in practical terms is exercised, linked to fieldwork investigation.

Homestudy:

As dictated by the demands of the syllabus.
Students are expected to read around the subject and may wish to become involved in online ‘geogchat’ sessions through the medium of the Departmental website - GEOJGHS.

Examination Board Assessment:

The course is assessed on performance in the following course elements:

1. Knowledge and Understanding 2. Enquiry Skills

Other Information:

The course is fully supported by IT and all study materials are available online or as CD-based packages

Throughout the course, students carry out investigative work, in the local area and further afield. It is our intention to build a variety of skills which will allow students to tackle the enquiry skills element in examination questions. This work should be completed by mid-February to avoid a clash with the demands of other subjects.

The Department offers all of its students an opportunity to conduct field study in an exotic environment, in S3 in either the French or Austrian Alps . In addition, the Department offers a residential study weekend in Fife for candidates in S4 who may wish to improve their overall grade, as a combination of field study and student-led workshop study sessions.
The Department has a great expertise in assisting students with this type of work at all levels.

Higher Geography

Entry Level: Standard Grade 1 or 2.

Course Description:

The Higher Grade course deals with contemporary issues, through which the student will investigate elements of the environment and study how man responds to his surroundings and, over time, changes them. The syllabus is man-orientated and examines the relationships we have with our surroundings in order to explain the forces, which shape society. Students should be able to recognise the distributional patterns of which man is a part or for which his plans derive from actions and reactions to both physical and human processes.

Paper I
Deals with 8 Environments - 4 from the Physical realm and 4 from the Human realm
Physical : Atmosphere : Lithosphere : Population : Industrial :
Hydrosphere : Biosphere : Rural : Urban

In addition, a minimum of two Environmental Interactions - case study applications of theory from geographic concepts must be offered for Paper II.

Paper II
The Department uses the application of management strategies to investigate the areas of Rural Land Use resources from Section A of Paper 2 and Development and Health in Section B

In practice, up to three Interactions may be attempted, using a mixed diet of learning approaches involving Resource-Based and Student-Centred Learning, Self-Study and Computer-Based Applications.

The course is fully supported by IT and all study materials are available online or as CD-based packages

Textbook: "Geography - An Integrated Approach", by D. Waugh, published by Nelson.
Higher Core Geography - Thomson and Maclean, Heinemann

Homestudy:

One of the core elements is dealt with as a Pupil Centred Learning Unit and will involve a great deal of individual work from the diligent student.
General Homestudy (Past Papers, etc.) may involve students in one hour's work per week, outwith the distance learning package, described above.

Scottish Qualifications Authority Assessment:

Final Examination: Paper 1 1 hour 25 minutes.
Application Paper 2 1 hour 20 minutes.

Paper 1 50 % marks
Part 2 50% marks

To be awarded a Higher Certificate, students must have passed all the elements of the internal assessment.

Higher Intermediate 2 Geography

Entry Level: Candidates would normally be expected to have attained a Grade 3 or 4 in Standard Grade Geography or another Standard Grade Social Subject or an Intermediate 1 pass in Geography or an Intermediate 2 pass in another Social Subject.

Course Description:

The study of Geography at Intermediate 2 level provides for the development of skills through a range of learning experiences, including IT.

The course is designed to allow candidates to take a problem-solving and decision-making approach to gaining knowledge and understanding of themes from both physical and human environments. There are three mandatory units with a choice of topic in each and refer to different geographic scales of study and area context:

Unit 1 - People and the Environment - Scotland/British Isles
Physical landscapes.
Landscapes and tourism.

Unit 2 - People and the Environment - Europe
Environmental use and abuse.
Population issues.

Unit 3 - People and the Environment - Global Issues
Development and health.
Environmental hazards.

Homestudy:

The requirements of the course demand a full programme of home study, which will be given to candidates in the form of a 'timeline' at the beginning of the course.

Scottish Qualifications Authority Assessment:

The course will be assessed internally in the form of three unit tests and an external examination.

Internal Assessment
A pass in each assessment is necessary for inclusion in the final examination.
External Assessment

A 1 hour 25 minutes examination. Grading is based on this examination.

A' Level Geography

Entry Level: Higher Grade at A or B.

Course Description:

The course offers a strong foundation in physical and human geography and practical skills. It addresses many themes important today, such as concern for the environment and an appreciation of global changes and inequalities. The syllabus is a systematic one and there is no regional element as such. There is, however, scope for the study of places. In the Natural Environment, the focus on specific natural environments in the Options gives the opportunity for the physical character of an area to be studied in detail. In the Human Environment, the question of perception has been introduced into the rural and urban environments, while the Investigative Study allows, for many, a detailed opportunity of studying a specific area.

Course Specifications:

The Department has chosen the AQA Advanced Specification B as its mode of delivery for A Level. This course offers all the advantages of a new approach to the rapidly changing nature of Geography, allied to maximum overlap with the ideas and concepts introduced in Higher, when appropriate. The modular approach is ideal for pacing what is a very intense year of study.

The A Level structure requires examination in both AS and A" modes, the latter being of particular interest as an introduction to the subject at a tertiary level of study.

AS Mode

Using the experience of Higher Geography, candidates will choose three modules of work, to be assessed in the January examination diet, with three written papers.
Teaching and learning in the period up to that examination will concentrate on consolidating study and introducing new areas such as Coastal Environments, Energy, Population Policies and Urban Physical Environments.

A2 Mode

Approaches Geography in a number of stimulating ways, including a structured Decision-Making Exercise, People and the Environment and Sustainable Development. It offers the candidates the choice of a major piece of individual fieldwork or a practical written exercise.

Candidates will sit two papers in June, one being the completion of a decision-making exercise. Those undertaking a Personal Investigation will complete for assessment by early May.

Homestudy:

The demands of the Investigative element will vary from student to student.
All staff teaching this course use Tutorial methods from time to time and students may be asked to prepare papers for group presentation.
Essays are given on a regular basis.

AQA Assessment:

AQA B Specification
Paper 1 AS 3 hour-long papers, - 40 % -

Paper 2 A2 2 , 11/2 papers - 40 % -

The Investigation 20%.

Other Delivered Courses

The Department also delivers SQA Higher courses in Psychology and Managing Environmental Resources to selected senior school candidates on a conventional - or distance-learning basis.

Field Work Programme

The Department sees field study approaches as being integral to the understanding of all Geography and associated courses. It has a longitudinal programme of field study from local area exercises in S1 and S2 including practical application of data collecting techniques ito Senior School expeditions in such locations as Norway and Wyoming.

S4 Revision Weekend Fordell March 2008	S3 French Alps May 2008	S5/S6 Barcelona, Catalunya October 2008.

Vocational Training and ‘Applied Geography’

The Department recognises the value of illustrating the potential applications of the subject to its students throughout their geographical experience. The Department is instigating a programme of Geographic Information Systems (G.I.S) approaches to its junior and middle school courses where appropriate and uses visiting experts to demonstrate the way in which the subject has both an intrinsic value to society at large and can be seen as the spatial mechanism of research in the future.

Citizenship

As an adjunct to the Junior School Unit - Water and Health -the S2 cohort are encouraged to make a subscription-style contribution to a water-based charity. This allows them to feel directly involved with the process of improving people's lives at a local and regional level and empathise with the plight of the less fortunate in terms of water provision.

This process of empowering young people to make a contribution to improve the lives of others is seen as an elemental part of citizenship. The Department is pleased to support WaterAid in providing clean water to countries in Africa and Asia and students from S2 Geography have contributed over £7000 since 1999