Page 10 - Science - Grade 9, DE-STREAMED COURSE (SNC1W)

The Program in Science
Overview
The Grade 9 science course builds on the elementary science and technology program and is based on the same broad areas of learning. The first strand focuses on investigation skills. Each of the other four strands focuses on one of the scientific subdisciplines – biology, chemistry, physics, and Earth and space science. The transition from Grade 8 to Grade 9 is a smooth one because the strands of the elementary science and technology curriculum are closely aligned with those of the Grade 9 science course.
The Grade 9 science course is designed to be inclusive of all students in order to facilitate their transition from the elementary grades to the secondary level. It offers opportunities for all students to build a solid foundation in science, broaden their knowledge and skills, and begin to see themselves as scientists. This approach allows students to make informed decisions in choosing future science courses based on their interests, and in support of future plans for apprenticeship training, university, college, community living, or the workplace.
Similar to the elementary curriculum, the Grade 9 course adopts a strong focus on the processes that best enable students to understand scientific concepts and learn related skills. Attention to scientific and engineering design processes is considered essential to a balanced science program. In this course, these processes include a scientific research process, a scientific experimentation process, and an engineering design process.
Throughout the course, students make connections to real-life applications and to their lived experiences. Teachers implement the curriculum through effective assessment and instructional practices that are rooted in culturally responsive and relevant pedagogy (CRRP). Teachers utilize a variety of assessment and instructional approaches that provide students with multiple entry points to access science learning and multiple opportunities to demonstrate their achievement in science.
This course continues the learning from the elementary science and technology curriculum and prepares students for success in all senior secondary science courses in all pathways moving forward. Students who successfully complete the Grade 9 science course may proceed to a science course in Grade 10.
The course information that appears in the next section is in effect starting in the 2022–23 school year. The 2008 science curriculum for Grade 10 and the 2008 science curriculum for Grades 11–12 remain in effect. All references to Grade 9 that appear in The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 and 10: Science, 2008 and The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: Science, 2008 have been superseded by the section below.
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