Are you an entrepreneur of the future?  Is there a bright idea inside you bursting to get out?  If the answers are yes, then you could do no better than join this class. Business plays an important role in society.  We all rely on businesses and entrepreneurs to create wealth, prosperity, jobs and choices.  We often work in a business.  Start your journey here! 

Discover how businesses are organised in marketing, finance, operations and human resources.   Look at promoting products, calculating the profit made, correctly storing stock and recruiting the best person for the job. In addition, you will understand the factors that affect the success of an organisation, such as lack of cash flow, poorly trained staff, bad weather, new laws and changes in fashions. 

In the S3 course students will answer some big questions by learning about the following topics:

Rivers

• How do they shape our landscapes? How important are rivers to our planet?

Learning for Sustainability

• What will our cities of the future be like?

Climate Change

• How can we protect our planet? Can we save polar bears from extinction?

Coasts, Conflict and Change

• Is tourism a good thing?

Natural Wonders

• Where are they and how are they formed?

The course will also involve researching, presenting and interpreting information through a variety of activities. The skills and knowledge gained during this course will prepare learners for further education and a variety of careers.

Students will also have the opportunity to take part in outdoor learning by attending our annual river trip to explore the ideas studied in class.

All topics help develop knowledge and skills to progress seamlessly into Nat 4 and 5 courses. The Global Issues topic of Natural Hazards involving the study of Volcanoes, Earthquakes and Tropical Storms is started at the end of S3. 

More specifically each unit will cover:

Native Americans and White Settlers

This unit includes:

• Native American societies before the arrival of Europeans Contact and conflict between European settlers and Native American tribes

• The American frontier wars from the 1860s

The Rise of the Nazis

This topic will allow us to understand how Hitler and the Nazi Party were able to rise to power in the aftermath of the First World War. It will include:

• The Treaty of Versailles and German reactions to it.

• Social, political and economic challenges facing Germany in the 1920s.

• The promises made by Hitler and the Nazis.

• Reasons why Hitler had gained full control of Germany by 1934.

The Holocaust

This topic will allow us to have a greater understanding of arguably the darkest event of the 20th century. This topic will look at themes of racism, prejudice, discrimination and resistance and will very much focus on what lessons we can learn from this period. It will include:

• Anti-Semitism in before WW2

• The origins of the Holocaust

• Life in Ghettos and concentration camps

• Jewish and German resistance to the Holocaust.

Revolutionary Russia

This topic will cover life in Russia at the turn of the 20th Century, including:

• The social structure of Tsarist Russia

• The causes of the 1905 Revolution

• Reasons the 1905 Revolution failed to achieve its aims

• The role of the Tsar, the Tsarina and Rasputin in causing the 1917 Revolution.

What in the World?

During the course student will:

• • • Learn about the US political system and the rights individuals have in it by studying gun crimes and laws, the Black Lives Matter movement. Students will also debate the removal of statues of those involved in the slave trade.

    • Develop an awareness of the reasons for immigration while studying the challenges many people face in Mexico such as poverty, violence, drug cartels and the impact this has on the USA.

    • Understand the reasons why countries such as Afghanistan, Syria, North Korea, Israel and Palestine are listed as some of the most dangerous countries in the world.

    • Assess the effectiveness of international organisations such as the United Nations and the NATO in resolving ongoing conflict and human rights violations.

    • Study the causes and impact of poverty on disadvantaged groups in Scotland and the UK.

Morality and Belief

• Conflict – causes of war, types of war and the Geneva Convention.

• Justifications and consequences of war – human cost, environmental and economic impact.

• Modern armaments – weapons of mass destruction, smart weapons, conventional weapons.

• Alternatives to war – sanctions, diplomacy and pacifism

Religious and Philosophical Questions (BOTH RELIGIOUS AND NON-RELIGIOUS)

• Does God exist?

• What is the nature of God?  

• Cosmological arguments - Aquinas’ cosmological argument, counter-arguments, and science and the cosmological argument.

• Teleological argument - Paley’s teleological argument, counter-arguments, and science and the teleological argument

Throughout the three units students will gain a range of skills including investigation, analysis, evaluation, and the ability to express beliefs and views in a reasoned manner. Discussion and debate will be used regularly to form our views.