UK & IrelandHistoryNovember 29, 2018 | 3 min read
A St Andrew’s Day classroom activity can combine Scottish culture with a practical discussion about community and kindness. Students can learn about the celebration while planning meaningful good deeds of their own. A cultural identity that have influenced the world far beyond what its size would suggest.
For student groups, it offers history teachers the Jacobite risings and the Scottish Enlightenment. Literature teachers Robert Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson, science teachers James Watt and Alexander Fleming. Geography teachers one of the most distinctive landscapes in Europe. A Scotland student trip covering history, culture, and landscape gives teachers one of the most curriculum-rich destinations in Europe.
Edinburgh Castle, perched on volcanic rock at the head of the Royal Mile. Has been continuously occupied as a fortification since at least the 12th century. The castle houses the Honours of Scotland, the oldest set of crown jewels in Britain. The Royal Mile that descends from the castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse passes through the Old Town.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site whose medieval closes and tenement buildings form one of the most intact examples of pre-industrial European urban fabric surviving in any capital city. Our UK and Ireland: Scotland and Ireland Adventures Tour gives student groups substantial time in Edinburgh.
The Scottish Highlands are defined by the geological upheavals of the Caledonian Orogeny some 400 million years ago and subsequently sculpted by glaciation. The result is a landscape of extraordinary spatial drama: steep-sided glens, long sea lochs, bare quartzite peaks. The geological scar of the Great Glen running diagonally across the country from Fort William to Inverness.
For geography and earth science students, the Highlands are a field classroom in glacial geomorphology. The Jacobite Steam Train, running between Fort William and Mallaig across the Glenfinnan Viaduct. Provides one of the most scenic rail journeys in Britain.
The Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century produced, per capita, one of the most significant concentrations of intellectual achievement in Western history. Adam Smith, whose Wealth of Nations established the framework for modern economics, was from Kirkcaldy in Fife. David Hume, whose empiricism reshaped European philosophy, was from Edinburgh.
James Watt, whose improvements to the steam engine made the Industrial Revolution possible, was from Greenock. For students studying the history of science, economics, or philosophy. Scotland offers the physical sites of some of the most consequential intellectual work in the modern era.
Robert Burns (1759-1796) is the national poet of Scotland and one of the most widely read poets in the English language. The Burns Cottage and Museum in Alloway, Ayrshire. Burns came into the world in 1759, is the most visited literary heritage site in Scotland. For English and literature teachers, a Burns itinerary in Ayrshire connects directly to the curriculum while giving students access to the landscape that shaped his work.
St. Andrew, patron saint of Scotland, is the source of the Saltire. The white diagonal cross on a blue background that is the oldest national flag in Europe still in use. St. Andrew’s Day on November 30 is the national day of Scotland, celebrated with festivals and torchlight parades across the country.
The cross of St. Andrew is incorporated into the Union Jack alongside the crosses of St. George and St. Patrick, making it one of the most visible symbols of British national identity in the world.
Prometour builds fully private, custom school group tours to Scotland for history, literature, geography. Performing arts programmes. Browse theUK and Ireland: Scotland and Ireland Adventures Tour, UK and Ireland: Cultural Tour. Or UK and Ireland: Britain History and World at War Tour to see what a customised Scotland itinerary could look like. For teachers planning a scotland student trip history culture, the curriculum connections and logistical support available make this one of the most rewarding programmes to build.
