Geography

Geographical knowledge plays a leading role in addressing the key challenges we face and helps us make sense of a complex and dynamically changing world.

At the High School of Dundee we strive to create future thinkers who can conceptualise social, environmental, economic and geo-political challenges the world may face in the future and provide them with an armoury of practical decision-making skills needed to address them.

Geography provokes and answers questions about the natural and human worlds, using different scales of enquiry to view them from different perspectives. As a discreet subject it develops knowledge of people, places and environments that helps learners to understand how nations rely on each other and the level of interconnectivity between the natural and man-made world. It is also an important link between the natural and social sciences.

Geography can inspire learners to think about their own place in the world, their values and attitudes, their rights and responsibilities beyond their own experiences.

The Programme of Study is designed to offer learners the valuable experience of a geographical approach to an understanding of the world - from a variety of perspectives. Geography aims to foster an enquiring approach to learning while developing pupils into independent learners.

A variety of themes are studied throughout F1 and F2 include; ‘The Geography of Crime’, ‘People and the Planet’, ‘Earthquakes and Volcanoes’, ‘Weather & Climate’ and ‘China Studies’. This is in preparation for continuation onto the National 5 course where learners will further develop their understanding of the roles people play in an ever changing world and the challenges facing the global village in the 21st Century, for example how to manage a growing population and ever decreasing planetary resources.

Geography is a popular subject at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher level that challenges learners to deepen their understanding of a spectrum of global themes, including Climate Change and Global Health. It is this multi-disciplinary approach that allows the study of geography to bridge the gap between the natural and social sciences and is a popular route into a variety of undergraduate courses.

We relish the opportunity to extend learning beyond the classroom, using places and spaces on our doorstep to support geographical fieldwork, be it exploring the changing population of Dundee at the Howff or investigating urban change along the waterfront. We also challenge our learners to take a different view and experience their learning in new and unfamiliar locations.

A variety of field work opportunities support learners through their studies, including: trips to the Cairngorms to investigate tourism in a glaciated area; exploring coastal erosion on Europe’s fastest eroding coastline on the Holderness coast in Yorkshire; understanding stark variations in levels of deprivation and affluence in Barcelona; or visiting Iceland in the knowledge that they could bare witness to a volcanic eruption!