SCIENCE 14–24 Program of Studies - Alberta Education

1 Updates SCIENCE 14 24. Minor revisions were made in 2014 and are described in 2014 Summary of Updates. Program of Studies 2003 (Updated 2014). Program RATIONALE AND Program Vision PHILOSOPHY. The secondary SCIENCE Program is guided by the Students graduating from Alberta schools require vision that all students have the opportunity to the scientific and related technological knowledge develop scientific literacy. The goal of scientific and skills that will enable them to understand and literacy is to develop the SCIENCE -related interpret their world and become productive knowledge, skills and attitudes that students need members of society. They also need to develop to solve problems and make decisions, and at the attitudes that will motivate them to use their same time help them become lifelong learners . knowledge and skills in a responsible manner.

2 Maintaining their sense of wonder about the world SCIENCE programs provide opportunities for around them. students to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes Diverse learning experiences within the SCIENCE that they need to explore interests and prepare for Program provide students with opportunities to further Education and careers. explore, analyze and appreciate the interrelationships among SCIENCE , technology, To become scientifically literate, students must society and the environment, and to develop develop a thorough knowledge of SCIENCE and its understandings that will affect their personal lives, relationship to technologies and society. They their careers and their futures. must also develop the broad-based skills needed to identify and analyze problems; explore and test Goals solutions; and seek, interpret and evaluate information.

3 To ensure that programs are relevant The following goals for Canadian SCIENCE to students as well as societal needs, a SCIENCE Education are addressed through the Alberta Program must present SCIENCE in meaningful SCIENCE Program . SCIENCE Education will: context providing opportunities for students to encourage students at all grade levels to explore the process of SCIENCE , its applications and develop a critical sense of wonder and implications, and to examine related technological curiosity about scientific and technological problems and issues. By doing so, students endeavours become aware of the role of SCIENCE in responding enable students to use SCIENCE and technology to social and cultural change and in meeting needs to acquire new knowledge and solve problems, for a sustainable environment, economy and so that they may improve the quality of their society.

4 Own lives and the lives of others prepare students to critically address SCIENCE - related societal, economic, ethical and environmental issues Alberta Education , Alberta , Canada SCIENCE 14 24 /1. provide students with a foundation in SCIENCE that creates opportunities for them to pursue progressively higher levels of study, prepares them for SCIENCE -related occupations, and engages them in SCIENCE -related hobbies appropriate to their interests and abilities enable students, of varying aptitudes and interests, to develop a knowledge of the wide spectrum of careers related to SCIENCE , technology and the environment. 2/ SCIENCE 14 24 Alberta Education , Alberta , Canada Program FOUNDATIONS. To support the development of SCIENCE literacy, school programs must provide a foundation of learning experiences that address critical aspects of SCIENCE and its application.

5 These critical areas the foundations of the Program provide general direction for the Program and identify major components of its structure. Program Rationale and Philosophy . Foundation 1 Foundation 2 Foundation 3 Foundation 4. SCIENCE , KNOWLEDGE SKILLS ATTITUDES. TECHNOLOGY. AND SOCIETY. (STS). nature of SCIENCE Life SCIENCE Initiating and Interest in SCIENCE Planning SCIENCE and Physical Mutual Respect Technology SCIENCE Performing and Recording Scientific Inquiry Social and Earth and Space Environmental SCIENCE Analyzing and Collaboration Contexts of Interpreting Stewardship SCIENCE and Technology Communication Safety and Teamwork Foundation 1. SCIENCE , Technology and Society (STS) Students will develop an understanding of the nature of SCIENCE and technology, the relationships between SCIENCE and technology, and the social and environmental contexts of SCIENCE and technology.

6 Foundation 2. Knowledge Students will construct knowledge and understandings of concepts in life SCIENCE , physical SCIENCE and Earth and space SCIENCE , and apply these understandings to interpret, integrate and extend their knowledge. Foundation 3. Skills Students will develop the skills required for scientific and technological inquiry, for solving problems, for communicating scientific ideas and results, for working collaboratively and for making informed decisions. Foundation 4. Attitudes Students will be encouraged to develop attitudes that support the responsible acquisition and application of scientific and technological knowledge to the mutual benefit of self, society and the environment. Alberta Education , Alberta , Canada SCIENCE 14 24 /3. Foundation 1: SCIENCE , Technology and Today, research is often driven by societal and Society (STS) environmental needs and issues.

7 As technological solutions have emerged from previous research, Foundation 1 is concerned with understanding the many of the new technologies have given rise to scope and character of SCIENCE , its connections to complex social and environmental issues. technology, and the social context in which it is Increasingly, these issues are becoming part of the developed. The following is a brief introduction political agenda. The potential of SCIENCE to to the major ideas that underlie this component of inform and empower decision making by the Program . individuals, communities and society is a central role of scientific literacy in a democratic society. nature of SCIENCE SCIENCE provides an ordered way of learning about Foundation 2: Knowledge the nature of things, based on observation and evidence. Through SCIENCE , we explore our Foundation 2 focuses on the subject matter of environment, gather knowledge and develop ideas SCIENCE , including the theories, models, concepts that help us interpret and explain what we see.

8 And principles that are essential to an Scientific activity provides a conceptual and understanding of each SCIENCE area. For theoretical base that is used in predicting, organizational purposes, this foundation is framed interpreting and explaining natural and using widely accepted SCIENCE disciplines. technological phenomena. SCIENCE is driven by a combination of specific knowledge, theory and Life SCIENCE experimentation. SCIENCE -based ideas are Life SCIENCE deals with the growth and interactions continually being tested, modified and improved of life forms within their environments in ways as new knowledge and explanations supersede that reflect their uniqueness, diversity, genetic existing knowledge and explanations. continuity and changing nature . Life SCIENCE includes such fields of study as ecosystems, SCIENCE and Technology biological diversity, the study of organisms, the Technology is concerned with solving practical study of the cell, biochemistry, genetic problems that arise from human needs.

9 Engineering and biotechnology. Historically, the development of technology has been strongly linked to the development of Physical SCIENCE SCIENCE , with each making contributions to the Physical SCIENCE , which encompasses chemistry other. While there are important relationships and interdependencies, there are also important and physics, deals with matter, energy and forces. differences. Where the focus of SCIENCE is on the Matter has structure, and there are interactions development and verification of knowledge, in among its components. Energy links matter to technology the focus is on the development of gravitational, electromagnetic and nuclear forces solutions, involving devices and systems that meet in the universe. The conservation laws of mass a given need within the constraints of the problem. and energy, and of momentum and charge, are The test of SCIENCE knowledge is that it helps us addressed in physical SCIENCE .

10 Explain, interpret and predict; the test of technology is that it works it enables us to Earth and Space SCIENCE achieve a given purpose. Earth and space SCIENCE brings global and Social and Environmental Contexts of SCIENCE universal perspectives to student knowledge. and Technology Earth, our home planet, exhibits form, structure and patterns of change, as does our surrounding The history of SCIENCE shows that scientific development takes place within a social context. solar system and the physical universe beyond it. Many examples can be used to show that cultural Earth and space SCIENCE includes such fields of and intellectual traditions have influenced the study as geology, meteorology and astronomy. focus and methodologies of SCIENCE , and that SCIENCE in turn has influenced the wider world of ideas. 4/ SCIENCE 14 24 Alberta Education , Alberta , Canada Foundation 3: Skills shown not by the events of a particular moment Foundation 3 is concerned with the skills that but by the pattern of behaviours over time.