Page 21 - The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 and 10: Science, 2008 (revised)

SKILLS OF SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION (INQUIRy AND RESEARCH)
The goal of science education is more than just providing students with a knowledge of facts. Mastery of the subject can no longer be evaluated solely in terms of students’ ability to recall specialized terminology, memorize isolated facts, or repeat a theory. Rather, stu- dents must be given opportunities to learn through investigation. In doing so, they can practise and become proficient in various scientific investigation skills. These skills not only develop critical thinking and allow students to extend their understanding of science; they are also useful in students’ everyday lives and will help them in pursuing their post- secondary goals, whether in science or some other area of endeavour.
As students advance from grade to grade, they practise these skills more fully and in- dependently and in increasingly demanding contexts. Initially, students become aware of and familiar with each new skill. With emerging understanding, students reflect on and practise aspects of these skills when conducting investigations. As their knowledge and confidence grow, students begin to implement the skills more fully. Through repeated use, they are able to increase and refine their understanding of and proficiency in each skill. Finally, once they become proficient, they can extend skills, incorporating them into other areas of study as well as everyday activities.
Four Broad Areas of Scientific Investigation
Students learn to apply scientific investigation skills in four broad areas: initiating and planning; performing and recording; analysing and interpreting; and communicating.
• Initiating and planning skills include formulating questions or hypotheses or making predictions about ideas, issues, problems, or the relationships between observable variables, and planing investigations to answer those questions or test those hypotheses.
• Performing and recording skills include conducting research by gathering, organizing, and recording information, and safely conducting inquiries to make observations and to collect, organize, and record data.
• Analysing and interpreting skills include evaluating the adequacy of the data from inquiries or the information from research sources, and analysing the data or information in order to draw and justify conclusions.
• Communication skills include using appropriate linguistic, numeric, symbolic, and graphic modes of representation, and a variety of forms, to communicate ideas, procedures, and results.
Skills in these four areas are not necessarily performed sequentially. As the figure on page 20 illustrates, investigation may begin in any one of the areas, and students will tend to move back and forth among the areas as they practise and refine their skills. Students should
THE PROGRAM IN SCIENCE
Awareness
Become familiar with the skills
Emergence
Reflect on and practise aspects of the skills
Refinement
Refine and increase understanding of the skills
Extension
Extend and incorporate skills into other areas
19