Grade Two Science Curriculum Guide - Prince …

1 ATLANTIC CANADA Science Curriculum : Grade 2iAcknowledgementsThe departments of education of New Brunswick, Newfoundland andLabrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island gratefully acknowledge thecontributions of the following groups and individuals toward the developmentof this Grade 2 Science Curriculum Guide . The Regional Elementary Science Curriculum Committee; current and pastrepresentatives include the following: Prince Edward IslandClayton Coe, Mathematics and Science ConsultantDepartment of EducationSheila Barnes, Montgomery Elementary SchoolRon Perry, TeacherElm Street Elementary SchoolNew BrunswickMark Holland, Science ConsultantDepartment of EducationPeggy MacPherson, TeacherKeswick Ridge SchoolNova ScotiaMarilyn Webster, Science ConsultantDepartment of Education & CultureHazel Dill, PrincipalDr. Arthur Hines SchoolNewfoundland and LabradorDana Griffiths, Science ConsultantDepartment of EducationPaul Mills, TeacherBaie Verte Middle SchoolLorainne FolkesNotre Dame Academy The Provincial Curriculum Working Group, comprising teachers and othereducators in Prince Edward Island, which served as lead province indrafting and revising the document.

2 The teachers and other educators and stakeholders across Atlantic Canadawho contributed to the development of the Grade 1 Science CANADA Science Curriculum : Grade 2iiiIntroductionTable of ContentsTABLE OF CONTENTSF oreword .. 3 Aim .. 3 Program Designand ComponentsCurriculum OutcomesFrameworkLife Science : AnimalGrowth and ChangesEarth and SpaceScience: Air and Waterin the EnvironmentAppendixScience Safety .. 7 5 Attitude Outcome 7 1 1 Essential Graduation 1 2 General Curriculum 1 3 Key-Stage Curriculum 1 3 Specific Curriculum Outcomes .. 1 3 Attitude 1 4 Curriculum Guide 1 5 Unit 1 5 The Four-Column Spread .. 1 1 9 Focus and Context .. 1 9 Science Curriculum Links .. 1 9pan-Canadian Science Learning 2 0 PEI/APEF Specific Curriculum 2 3 3 Focus and Context .. 3 3 Science Curriculum Links.

3 3 3pan-Canadian Science Learning 3 4 PEI/APEF Specific Curriculum 3 5 1 Focus and Context .. 5 1 Science Curriculum Links .. 5 1pan-Canadian Science Learning 5 2 PEI/APEF Specific Curriculum 5 3 Physical Science :Liquids and SolidsPhysical Science :Relative Positionand 6 5 Focus and Context .. 6 5 Science Curriculum Links .. 6 5pan-Canadian Science Learning 6 6 PEI/APEF Specific Curriculum 6 7 Learning and Teaching 5 Writing in Science .. 6 The Three Processes of Scientific Literacy .. 7 Meeting the Needs of All Learners .. 8 Assessment and Evaluation .. 9 ATLANTIC CANADA Science Curriculum : Grade 21 ForewordThe pan-Canadian Common Framework of Science Learning Outcomes K to 12, released in October 1997, assists provinces in developing acommon Science Curriculum Science Curriculum for the Atlantic Provinces is described inFoundation for the Atlantic Canada Science Curriculum (1998).

4 This Curriculum Guide is intended to provide teachers with theoverview of the outcomes framework for Science education. It alsoincludes suggestions to assist teachers in designing learning experiencesand assessment CANADA Science Curriculum : Grade 23 IntroductionBackgroundThe Curriculum described in Foundation for the Atlantic CanadaScience Curriculum was planned and developed collaboratively byregional committees. The process for developing the common sciencecurriculum for Atlantic Canada involved regional consultation with thestakeholders in the education system in each Atlantic province. TheAtlantic Canada Science Curriculum is consistent with the frameworkdescribed in the pan-Canadian Common Framework of Science LearningOutcomes K to aim of Science education in the Atlantic provinces is to developscientific literacy is an evolving combination of the Science -relatedattitudes, skills, and knowledge students need to develop inquiry,problem-solving, and decision-making abilities; to become life-longlearners; and to maintain a sense of wonder about the world aroundthem.

5 To develop scientific literacy, students require diverse learningexperiences that provide opportunities to explore, analyse, evaluate,synthesize, appreciate, and understand the interrelationships amongscience, technology, society, and the CANADA Science Curriculum : Grade 25 Program Design and ComponentsLearning andTeaching ScienceWhat students learn is fundamentally connected to how they learn aim of scientific literacy for all has created a need for new forms ofclassroom organization, communication, and instructional teacher is a facilitator of learning whose major tasks include creating a classroom environment to support the learning andteaching of Science designing effective learning experiences that help students achievedesignated outcomes stimulating and managing classroom discourse in support ofstudent learning learning about and then using students motivations, interests,abilities, and learning styles to improve learning and teaching assessing student learning, the scientific tasks and activitiesinvolved.

6 And the learning environment to make ongoinginstructional decisions selecting teaching strategies from a wide repertoireEffective Science learning and teaching take place in a variety ofsituations. Instructional settings and strategies should create anenvironment that reflects a constructive, active view of the learningprocess. Learning occurs through actively constructing one s ownmeaning and assimilating new information to develop a development of scientific literacy in students is a function of thekinds of tasks they engage in, the discourse in which they participate,and the settings in which these activities occur. Students dispositiontowards Science is also shaped by these factors. Consequently, the aimof developing scientific literacy requires careful attention to all of thesefacets of experiences in Science education should vary and shouldinclude opportunities for group and individual work, discussionamong students as well as between teacher and students, andhands-on/minds-on activities that allow students to construct andevaluate explanations for the phenomena under investigation.

7 Suchinvestigations and the evaluation of the evidence accumulated provideopportunities for students to develop their understanding of thenature of Science and the nature and status of scientific CANADA Science Curriculum : Grade 26 Writing in ScienceLearning experiences should provide opportunities for students touse writing and other forms of representation as ways to , at all Grade levels, should be encouraged to use writing tospeculate, theorize, summarize, discover connections, describeprocesses, express understandings, raise questions, and make sense ofnew information using their own language as a step to the languageof Science . Science logs are useful for such expressive and reflectivewriting. Purposeful note making is also an instrinsic part of learningin Science that can help students better record, organize, andunderstand information from a variety of sources.

8 The process ofcreating webs, maps, charts, tables, graphs, drawing, and diagramsto represent data and results help students learn and also providesthem with useful study experiences in Science should also provide abundantopportunities for students to communicate their findings andunderstandings to others, both formally and informally, using a varietyof forms for a range of purposes and audiences. Such experiencesshould encourage students to use effective ways of recording andconveying information and ideas and to use the vocabulary of sciencein expressing their understandings. It is through opportunities to talkand write about the concepts they need to learn that students come tobetter understand both the concepts and related will need explicit instruction in and demonstration of thestrategies they need to develop and apply in reading, viewing,interpreting, and using a range of Science texts for various purposes.

9 Itwill be equally important for students to have demonstrations of thestrategies they need to develop and apply in selecting, constructing,and using various forms for communicating in CANADA Science Curriculum : Grade 27 The Three Processesof Scientific LiteracyInquiryScientific inquiry involves posing questions and developingexplanations for phenomena. Students require certain skills toparticipate in the activities of Science . Skills such as questioning,observing, inferring, predicting, measuring, hypothesizing, classifying,designing experiments, collecting data, analysing data, andinterpreting data are fundamental to engaging in Science . Theseactivities provide students with opportunities to understand andpractise the process of theory development in Science and the natureof SolvingThe process of problem solving involves seeking solutions to humanproblems.

10 It consists of proposing, creating, and testing prototypes,products, and techniques to determine the best solution to a individual can be considered scientifically literate when he/she isfamiliar with, and able to engage in, three processes: inquiry,problem-solving, and decision MakingThe process of decision making involves determining what we, ascitizens, should do in a particular context or in response to a givensituation. Decision-making situations are important in their ownright, and but they also provide a relevant context for engaging inscientific inquiry and/or problem CANADA Science Curriculum : Grade 28 Meeting theNeeds of AllLearnersThe Foundation for the Atlantic Canada Science Curriculum stressesthe need to design and implement a Science Curriculum thatprovides equitable opportunities for all students according to theirabilities, needs, and interests.