Page 35 - Science - Grade 9, DE-STREAMED COURSE (SNC1W)

This approach gives students a better understanding of both the system itself and the scientific
concepts involved;
• a hands-on, experiential way to do science. For example, students can obtain data from sensors
and use coding concepts and skills to analyse experimental data, draw conclusions, and solve
scientific problems;
• a hands-on, experiential way to demonstrate their learning. For example, students can program
automated digital stories, dioramas, presentation components, or interactive museum displays to showcase their skills and knowledge and to teach others about scientific concepts in an engaging and interactive way;
• a hands-on, experiential way to learn about the digital world around them. For example, students can learn about algorithms and automation and can develop an understanding of how social media, autonomous cars, artificial intelligence, and other digital technologies are programmed. Digital technologies are demystified as students develop an understanding of the foundational instructions that program our digital world;
• an opportunity to share and take pride in their work. For example, after students have programmed a computer, they can share their project with their classmates, peers, family, and/or community members. This gives them an opportunity to connect with others in a science context;
• an opportunity for agency in their science learning. For example, the coding context provides students with multiple entry points and multiple directions to take, allowing them to be creative and innovative as they design and build scientific solutions, and as they imagine what might be possible in the future;
• an opportunity for students to realize that they can shape the future in a positive way. For example, while students are accustomed to using digital technologies, they learn through coding that they also have the opportunity to develop these technologies and create change.
Teachers may find it valuable to connect coding expectations with an engineering design process (EDP), as the development of a coding project often requires a guiding design framework for which an EDP is very well suited. Students can define and research the specific science problem that they want to solve through coding and then generate ideas and select the best plan or program design. Coding environments allow for rapid ideating, prototyping, testing, and evaluating as students refine and debug their projects, projects, and as they connect these projects to entrepreneurial ventures or to solving problems in their communities. The finalizing and sharing stage of an EDP provides an exciting and enriching classroom and school experience where students can showcase their coding projects to classmates, peers, and/or the school community. Finally, students or teachers should find creative ways of archiving projects, through digital storage of code, photographs, or videos. Many students may want to keep these archived projects in a science portfolio.
It is important to note that the coding expectations in Grade 9 science build on the coding expectations in Grade 1 to 8 science and technology, and that these coding expectations complement the coding expectations in Grade 1 to 8 mathematics and in Grade 9 mathematics. Students and teachers will find that the skills and knowledge developed in one curriculum area will be supported in the other. By complementing each other, these expectations provide students with an in-depth exploration of coding concepts and skills within science, science and technology, and mathematics, which speaks to coding’s cross-curricular nature and its application in a wide variety of STEM fields.
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