A. SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION SKILLS AND CAREER EXPLORATION

OVERALL EXPECTATIONS
Throughout this course, students will:

1. demonstrate scientific investigation skills (related to both inquiry and research) in the four areas of skills (initiating and planning, performing and recording, analysing and interpreting, and communicating);
2. identify and describe a variety of careers related to the fields of science under study, and identify scientists, including Canadians, who have made contributions to those fields.
    

B. BIOLOGY: SUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEMS

OVERALL EXPECTATIONS
By the end of this course, students will:

1. assess the impact of human activities on the sustainability of terrestrial and/or aquatic ecosystems, and evaluate the effectiveness of courses of action intended to remedy or mitigate negative impacts;
2. investigate factors related to human activity that affect terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and explain how they affect the sustainability of these ecosystems;
3. demonstrate an understanding of the dynamic nature of ecosystems, particularly in terms of ecological balance and the impact of human activity on the sustainability of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
    

C. CHEMISTRY: ATOMS, ELEMENTS, AND COMPOUNDS

OVERALL EXPECTATIONS
By the end of this course, students will:

1. assess social, environmental, and economic impacts of the use of common elements and compounds, with reference to their physical and chemical properties;
2. investigate, through inquiry, the physical and chemical properties of common elements and compounds;
3. demonstrate an understanding of the properties of common elements and compounds, and of the organization of elements in the periodic table.
    

D. EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE: THE STUDY OF THE UNIVERSE

OVERALL EXPECTATIONS
By the end of this course, students will:

1. assess some of the costs, hazards, and benefits of space exploration and the contributions of Canadians to space research and technology;
2. investigate the characteristics and properties of a variety of celestial objects visible from Earth in the night sky;
3. demonstrate an understanding of the major scientific theories about the structure, formation, and evolution of the universe and its components and of the evidence that supports these theories.
    

E. PHYSICS: THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ELECTRICITY

OVERALL EXPECTATIONS
By the end of this course, students will:

1. assess some of the costs and benefits associated with the production of electrical energy from renewable and non-renewable sources, and analyse how electrical efficiencies and savings can be achieved, through both the design of technological devices and practices in the home;
2. investigate, through inquiry, various aspects of electricity, including the properties of static and current electricity, and the quantitative relationships between potential difference, current, and resistance in electrical circuits;
3. demonstrate an understanding of the principles of static and current electricity.