In Science, students explore and investigate big questions related to the world around them. When students learn through the lens of science, they move beyond factual recall and develop the science-related attitudes, skills and knowledge needed to solve problems and make decisions. Students become lifelong learners through maintaining their sense of wonder about the world around them.
They explore, investigate and find out how things work in order to answer questions and satisfy their curiosities. Learning about science provides a framework for students to deepen their understanding and interpret the world around them. At each grade level, students explore topics related to: change; energy; matter; systems; interactions/relationships; forces; and diversity.
Science 7
Unit 1: Heat and Temperature
Focusing Questions: What heat-related technologies do we use to meet human needs? Upon what scientific principles are these technologies based? What implications do these technologies have for sustainable use of resources?
Unit 2: Structures and Forces
Focusing Questions: How do structures stand up under load? What forces act on structures, and what materials and design characteristics contribute to structural strength and stability?
Unit 3: Interactions and Ecosytems
Focusing Questions: How do human activities affect ecosystems? What methods can we use to observe and monitor changes in ecosystems, and assess the impacts of our actions?
Unit 4: Plants for Food and Fibre
Focusing Questions: How do we produce useful plant products? What techniques do we use, what knowledge are these techniques based on, and how do we apply these techniques in a sustainable way?
Unit 5: Planet Earth
Focusing Questions: What do we know about Earth—about its surface and what lies below? What evidence do we have, and how do we use this evidence in developing an understanding of Earth and its changes?
Science 8
Unit A: Mix and Flow of Matter
Focusing Questions: What are fluids? What are they made of and how do we use them? What properties of fluids are important to their use?
Unit B: Cells and Systems
Focusing Questions: How can we make sense of the vast diversity of living things? What do living things have in common—from the smallest to the largest—and what variations do we find in the structure and function of living things?
Unit C: Light and Optical Systems
Focusing Questions: What do we know about the nature of light? What technologies have been developed that use light, and what principles of light do they show?
Unit D: Mechanical Systems
Focusing Questions: How is energy transferred in mechanical devices? How do mechanical devices provide for controlled application of energy in ways that are efficient, effective and responsible?
Unit E: Fresh and Saltwater Systems
Focusing Questions: How do water, land and climate interact? What are the characteristics of freshwater and saltwater systems, and how do they affect living things, including humans?
Science 9
Unit A: Biological Diversity
Focusing Questions: What is biological diversity, and by what processes do diverse living things pass on their characteristics to future generations? What impact does human activity have on biological diversity?
Unit B: Matter and Chemical Change
Focusing Questions: What are the properties of materials, and what happens to them during chemical change. What evidence do we have of chemical change; and what ideas, theories or models help us explain that evidence?
Unit C: Environmental Chemistry
Focusing Questions: What substances do we find in local and global environments? What role do they play, and how do changes in their concentration and distribution affect living things?
Unit D: Electrical Principles and Technologies
Focusing Questions: How do we obtain and use electrical energy? What scientific principles are involved? What approaches can we use in selecting, developing and using energy-consuming devices that are efficient and effective in their energy use?
Unit E: Space Exploration
Focusing Questions: How have humans attained a presence in space? What technologies have been developed and on what scientific ideas are they based? How has the development of these technologies contributed to the exploration, use and understanding of space and to benefits on Earth?
