Growing Green

**Students will be required to draw on their understanding acquired from previous courses (identified by italics) and apply this knowledge to address the outcomes presented in the Science 10 program of studies where outlined below. Outcomes pertaining to the scope of this project have been identified below. 

Note: bolded orange identifies direct alignment with the project.**

 

Unit A: Energy and Matter in Chemical Change

Previous knowledge:

 Grade 9 Science – Unit C: Environmental Chemistry

• Chemicals essential to life

• Substrates and nutrients

• Air and water quality

• Acids and bases

• Stability and biodegradability

• Concentration and dispersal

 

Key Concepts

How chemical substances meet human needs.

 

Outcomes for Science, Technology and Society (STS) and Knowledge

Students will:

1. Describe the basic particles that make up the underlying structure of matter, and investigate related technologies.

   • Identify historical examples of how humans worked with chemical substances to meet their basic needs (e.g., how pre-contact First Nations communities used biotic and abiotic materials to meet their needs).

2. Explain, using the periodic table, how elements combine to form compounds, and follow IUPAC guidelines for naming ionic compounds and simple molecular compounds.

   • Outline the issues related to personal and societal use of potentially toxic or hazardous compounds (e.g., exposure to toxic substances; environmental concerns related to the handling, storage and disposal of heavy metals, strong acids, flammable gases, volatile liquids).

3. Identify and classify chemical changes, and write word and balanced chemical equations for significant chemical reactions, as applications of Lavoisier’s law of conservation of mass identify chemical reactions that are significant in societies.

   • (e.g., reactions that maintain living systems, such as photosynthesis and respiration; reactions that have an impact on the environment, such as combustion reactions and decomposition of waste materials).

 

Unit B: Energy Flow in Technological Systems 

Key Concepts

Efficient use of energy and the environmental impact of inefficient use of energy apply concepts related to efficiency of thermal energy conversion to analyze the design of a thermal device. 

 

Outcomes for Science, Technology and Society (STS) and Knowledge

Students will:

1. Apply the principles of energy conservation and thermodynamics to investigate, describe and predict efficiency of energy transformation in technological systems.

   • Explain the need for efficient energy conversions to protect our environment and to make judicious use of natural resources (e.g., advancement in energy efficiency; Aboriginal perspectives on taking care of natural resources).

 

Unit C: Cycling of Matter in Living Systems 

Previous knowledge:

• Grade 7 Science – Unit B: Plants for Food and Fibre

• Needs and uses of plants

• Fertilizers and soil nutrients

• Plant varieties

• Resource management

• Sustainability

• Chemical and biological controls

 

Key Concepts

Mechanisms of transport, gas exchange, and environmental response in multicellular organisms (i.e. plants).

 

Outcomes for Science, Technology and Society (STS) and Knowledge

Students will:

1. Analyze plants as an example of a multicellular organism with specialized structures at the cellular, tissue and system levels.

2. Describe how the cells of the leaf system have a variety of specialized structures and functions; i.e., epidermis including guard cells, palisade tissue cells, spongy tissue cells, and phloem and xylem vascular tissue cells to support the process of photosynthesis.

 

Skill Outcomes

Students will:

Ask questions about observed relationships, and plan investigations of questions, ideas, problems and issues.

• Define and delimit problems to facilitate investigation (e.g., how do plants adjust to accommodate different environmental conditions such as varying levels of light and fertilizer).

 

Communication and Teamwork

Students will:

Work as members of a team in addressing problems, and apply the skills and conventions of science in communicating information and ideas and in assessing results, communicate questions, ideas and intentions; and receive, interpret, understand, support and respond to the ideas of others.

 

Attitude Outcomes

Interest in Science

Students will be encouraged to:

Show interest in science-related questions and issues, and confidently pursue personal interests and career possibilities within science-related fields (e.g., apply concepts learned in the classroom to everyday phenomena related to cells and multicellular organisms; investigate careers in fields, such as botany, forestry, horticulture, cytology, genetics and health care).

 

Mutual Respect

Students will be encouraged to:

Appreciate that scientific understanding evolves from the interaction of ideas involving people with different views and backgrounds (e.g., value the roles and contributions of men and women from many cultures in using science and technology to further our understanding of the cell and of living systems, recognize and appreciate the contributions of the traditional knowledge of Aboriginal peoples to science and technology).

 

Unit D: Energy Flow in Global Systems 

Previous knowledge:

Grade 7 – Unit A: Interactions and Ecosystems

• Environmental monitoring

• Environmental impacts

• Nutrient cycles and energy flow

• Species distribution

• Producers, consumers, decomposers 

Grade 9 Science – Unit A: Biological Diversity

• Biological diversity

• Habitat diversity

 

Key Concepts

Social and environmental contexts for instigating climate change, relationship between biomes, solar energy and climate, and human activity and climate change.

 

Outcomes for Science, Technology and Society (STS) and Knowledge

Students will:

1. Describe how the relationships among input solar energy, output terrestrial energy and energy flow within the biosphere affect the lives of humans and other species.

   • Explain how climate affects the lives of people and other species, and explain the need to investigate climate change.

   • Describe and explain the greenhouse effect and the role of various gases—including methane, carbon dioxide and water vapour—in determining the scope of the greenhouse effect.

2. Relate climate to the characteristics of the world’s major biomes, and compare biomes in different regions of the world, describe a biome as an open system in terms of input and output of energy and matter and exchanges at its boundaries.

3. Investigate and interpret the role of environmental factors on global energy transfer and climate change.

   • Investigate and identify human actions affecting biomes that have a potential to change climate (e.g., emission of greenhouse gases, draining of wetlands, forest fires, deforestation) and critically examine the evidence that these factors play a role in climate change.

   • Assess, from a variety of perspectives, the risks and benefits of human activity and its impact on the biosphere and the climate (e.g. identify and analyze various perspectives on reducing the impact of human activity on the global climate).