Higher Geography

The Higher Geography Course is split into 4 Sections;

Section 1: Physical Environments (Paper 1)

Lithosphere – investigates how certain processes and conditions form Glaciated and Coastal environments that exist today in locations within Scotland, the UK and the wider world.
Hydrosphere – develops understanding of how water cycles through global and local systems and the impact humans can have on local systems. The unit also looks at how rivers shape landscapes forming features such as waterfalls.
Atmosphere – helps explain the role of circulation cells, winds and ocean currents in redistributing excess energy from the Equator towards the Poles. We also find out why West Africa ranges from Rainforest to Desert climate regions moving inland from the sea.
Biosphere – a short unit that investigates the factors that help form 3 different soils found in the UK.

Section 2: Human Environments (Paper 1)

Population – looks at issues sure as information gathering eg census, the consequences of rapid growth populations (eg Uganda) or slow growth populations (eg UK, Germany), and issues related to migrations (eg Poles to UK, Syria).
Urban – investigates issues linked to transport and housing in urban areas requiring management solutions and how effective these are – Glasgow/Rio cases studies.
Rural – focuses on pressures and problems facing rural areas, solutions used to try and overcome these, and analysis of their success. Case Studies are Loch Lomond (Tourism Pressures) and the Sahel in Africa (Desertification)

Section 3: Global Issues (Paper 2)
Development & Health – emphasises understanding how development is measured and the limitations of methods and why development within developing countries still varies significantly. We also look at Malaria as a water-related disease to understand the causes, impacts and developments in possible solutions.
Climate Change – considers the physical/human causes, the impacts on people and the environment, possible solutions to reduce global warming or mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Section 4: Skills
development of skills for using OS Maps, as well as other sources of data including graphs, maps and tables to answer a geographical question (Paper 2).
development of research skills including fieldwork techniques to complete a geographical study. (Assignment component)

Some useful links