AB--Alberta Program of Studies
A.1: Investigate and describe relationships between humans and their environments, and identify related issues and scientific questions
A.1.1: illustrate how life-supporting environments meet the needs of living things for nutrients, energy sources, moisture, suitable habitat, and exchange of gases
Coral Reefs 1 - Abiotic Factors
A.1.2: describe examples of interaction and interdependency within an ecosystem (e.g., identify examples of dependency between species, and describe adaptations involved; identify changing relationships between humans and their environments, over time and in different cultures—as, for example, in aboriginal cultures)
Coral Reefs 1 - Abiotic Factors
Food Chain
A.2: Trace and interpret the flow of energy and materials within an ecosystem
A.2.1: analyze an ecosystem to identify biotic and abiotic components, and describe interactions among these components
A.2.2: analyze ecosystems to identify producers, consumers and decomposers; and describe how energy is supplied to and flows through a food web, by:
A.2.2.b: describing how matter is recycled in an ecosystem through interactions among plants, animals, fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms
A.2.2.c: interpreting food webs, and predicting the effects of changes to any part of a web
A.3: Monitor a local environment, and assess the impacts of environmental factors on the growth, health and reproduction of organisms in that environment
A.3.2: investigate and interpret evidence of interaction and change (e.g., population fluctuations, changes in weather, availability of food or introduction of new species into an ecosystem)
Food Chain
Rabbit Population by Season
A.4: Describe the relationships among knowledge, decisions and actions in maintaining life-supporting environments
A.4.1: identify intended and unintended consequences of human activities within local and global environments (e.g., changes resulting from habitat loss, pest control or from introduction of new species; changes leading to species extinction)
Coral Reefs 1 - Abiotic Factors
Coral Reefs 2 - Biotic Factors
Pond Ecosystem
Rabbit Population by Season
A.4.2: describe and interpret examples of scientific investigations that serve to inform environmental decision making
Coral Reefs 1 - Abiotic Factors
A.IP: Initiating and Planning
A.IP.1: Ask questions about the relationships between and among observable variables, and plan investigations to address those questions
A.IP.1.1: identify science-related issues (e.g., identify a specific issue regarding human impacts on environments)
Coral Reefs 1 - Abiotic Factors
Coral Reefs 2 - Biotic Factors
Pond Ecosystem
Water Pollution
A.IP.1.2: identify questions to investigate arising from practical problems and issues (e.g., identify questions, such as: “What effects would an urban or industrial development have on a nearby forest or farming community?”)
A.IP.1.4: select appropriate methods and tools for collecting data and information (e.g., select or develop a method for estimating a plant population within a given study plot; design a survey as a first step in investigating an environmental issue)
Hearing: Frequency and Volume
Real-Time Histogram
Sight vs. Sound Reactions
Time Estimation
Triple Beam Balance
A.PR: Performing and Recording
A.PR.1: Conduct investigations into the relationships between and among observations, and gather and record qualitative and quantitative data
A.PR.1.3: use tools and apparatus effectively and accurately for collecting data (e.g., measure factors, such as temperature, moisture, light, shelter and potential sources of food, that might affect the survival and distribution of different organisms within a local environment)
A.AI: Analyzing and Interpreting
A.AI.1: Analyze qualitative and quantitative data, and develop and assess possible explanations
A.AI.1.2: compile and display data, by hand or computer, in a variety of formats, including diagrams, flow charts, tables, bar graphs and line graphs (e.g., illustrate a food web, based on observations made within a given environment)
Earthquakes 1 - Recording Station
Graphing Skills
Identifying Nutrients
A.AI.1.3: classify organisms found in a study plot
A.CT: Communication and Teamwork
A.CT.1: Work collaboratively on problems; and use appropriate language and formats to communicate ideas, procedures and results
A.CT.1.1: communicate questions, ideas, intentions, plans and results, using lists, notes in point form, sentences, data tables, graphs, drawings, oral language and other means (e.g., present findings from an analysis of a local issue, such as the control of the beaver population in a nearby wetland)
Graphing Skills
Hearing: Frequency and Volume
Identifying Nutrients
Ocean Mapping
A.CT.1.2: evaluate individual and group processes used in planning, problem solving, decision making and completing a task
B.1: Investigate plant uses; and identify links among needs, technologies, products and impacts
B.1.1: illustrate and explain the essential role of plants within the environment
B.2: Investigate life processes and structures of plants, and interpret related characteristics and needs of plants in a local environment
B.2.3: investigate and interpret variations in needs of different plants and their tolerance for different growing conditions (e.g., tolerance for drought, soil salinization or short growing seasons)
B.2.4: describe the processes of diffusion, osmosis, conduction of fluids, transpiration, photosynthesis and gas exchange in plants
Cell Energy Cycle
Osmosis
Photosynthesis Lab
Plants and Snails
B.2.5: describe life cycles of seed plants, and identify example methods used to ensure their germination, growth and reproduction (e.g., describe propagation of plants from seeds and vegetative techniques, such as cuttings; conduct a germination study; describe the use of beehives to support pollination)
Germination
Pollination: Flower to Fruit
Seed Germination
B.IP: Initiating and Planning
B.IP.1: Ask questions about the relationships between and among observable variables, and plan investigations to address those questions
B.IP.1.2: identify questions to investigate arising from practical problems and issues (e.g., What methods will help limit moisture loss from plants and soil? What reduction in the loss of soil moisture can be achieved through the use of a plastic ground sheet or through the use of a plastic canopy?)
B.IP.1.3: rephrase questions in a testable form, and clearly define practical problems (e.g., rephrase a broad question, such as: “What amount of fertilizer is best?” to become “What effect will the application of different quantities of fertilizer X have on the growth of plant Y and its environment?”)
B.PR: Performing and Recording
B.PR.1: Conduct investigations into the relationships between and among observations, and gather and record qualitative and quantitative data
B.PR.1.3: observe and record data, and create simple line drawings (e.g., describe plant growth, using qualitative and quantitative observations; draw and describe plant changes resulting from an experimental procedure)
Pendulum Clock
Seed Germination
Temperature and Sex Determination - Metric
B.AI: Analyzing and Interpreting
B.AI.1: Analyze qualitative and quantitative data, and develop and assess possible explanations
B.AI.1.1: identify strengths and weaknesses of different methods of collecting and displaying data (e.g., compare two different ways to measure the amount of moisture in soil; evaluate different ways of presenting data on the health and growth of plants)
B.AI.1.2: use and/or construct a classification key (e.g., distinguish among several grain varieties, using a classification guide or key)
Dichotomous Keys
Human Evolution - Skull Analysis
B.AI.1.3: compile and display data, by hand or computer, in a variety of formats, including diagrams, flow charts, tables, bar graphs and line graphs (e.g., prepare a record of a plant’s growth that charts its development in terms of height, leaf development, flowering and seed production)
B.CT: Communication and Teamwork
B.CT.1: Work collaboratively on problems; and use appropriate language and formats to communicate ideas, procedures and results
B.CT.1.2: communicate questions, ideas, intentions, plans and results, using lists, notes in point form, sentences, data tables, graphs, drawings, oral language and other means (e.g., show the growth of a group of plants over time through a data table and diagrams)
Graphing Skills
Hearing: Frequency and Volume
Identifying Nutrients
Ocean Mapping
Sight vs. Sound Reactions
C.1: Illustrate and explain how human needs have led to technologies for obtaining and controlling thermal energy and to increased use of energy resources
C.1.3: identify and explain uses of devices and systems to generate, transfer, control or remove thermal energy (e.g., describe how a furnace and wall thermostat keep a house at a constant temperature)
Conduction and Convection
Energy Conversion in a System
Heat Absorption
Heat Transfer by Conduction
Radiation
Temperature and Particle Motion
C.1.4: identify examples of personal and societal choices in using energy resources and technology (e.g., identify choices that affect the amount of hot water used in their daily routines; identify choices in how that water is heated)
C.2: Describe the nature of thermal energy and its effects on different forms of matter, using informal observations, experimental evidence and models
C.2.1: compare heat transmission in different materials (e.g., compare conduction of heat in different solids; compare the absorption of radiant heat by different surfaces)
Conduction and Convection
Heat Transfer by Conduction
C.2.2: explain how heat is transmitted by conduction, convection and radiation in solids, liquids and gases
C.2.3: describe the effect of heat on the motion of particles; and explain changes of state, using the particle model of matter
C.2.4: distinguish between heat and temperature; and explain temperature, using the concept of kinetic energy and the particle model of matter
C.3: Apply an understanding of heat and temperature in interpreting natural phenomena and technological devices
C.3.6: investigate and describe practical problems in controlling and using thermal energy (e.g., heat losses, excess energy consumption, damage to materials caused by uneven heating, risk of fire)
C.IP: Initiating and Planning
C.IP.1: Ask questions about the relationships between and among observable variables, and plan investigations to address those questions
C.IP.1.2: identify questions to investigate arising from a problem or issue (e.g., ask a question about the source of cold air in a building, or about ways to prevent cold areas)
Pendulum Clock
Sight vs. Sound Reactions
C.IP.1.4: design an experiment, and control the major variables (e.g., design an experiment to evaluate two alternative designs for solar heating a model house)
Effect of Environment on New Life Form
Growing Plants
Pendulum Clock
Real-Time Histogram
Time Estimation
C.PR: Performing and Recording
C.PR.1: Conduct investigations into the relationships between and among observations, and gather and record qualitative and quantitative data
C.PR.1.1: identify data and information that are relevant to a given problem or issue
C.PR.1.3: use instruments effectively and accurately for collecting data and information (e.g., accurately read temperature scales and use a variety of thermometers; demonstrate skill in downloading text, images, and audio and video files on methods of solar heating)
C.PR.1.4: carry out procedures, controlling the major variables (e.g., show appropriate attention to controls in investigations of the insulative properties of different materials)
Effect of Environment on New Life Form
Growing Plants
Pendulum Clock
Real-Time Histogram
Seed Germination
Sight vs. Sound Reactions
Temperature and Sex Determination - Metric
Time Estimation
C.AI: Analyzing and Interpreting
C.AI.1: Analyze qualitative and quantitative data, and develop and assess possible explanations
C.AI.1.4: test the design of a constructed device or system (e.g., test a personally-constructed heating or cooling device)
C.CT: Communication and Teamwork
C.CT.1: Work collaboratively on problems; and use appropriate language and formats to communicate ideas, procedures and results
C.CT.1.1: communicate questions, ideas, intentions, plans and results, using lists, notes in point form, sentences, data tables, graphs, drawings, oral language and other means (e.g., use electronic hardware to generate data summaries and graphs of group data, and present these findings)
Graphing Skills
Hearing: Frequency and Volume
Identifying Nutrients
Sight vs. Sound Reactions
D.1: Describe and interpret different types of structures encountered in everyday objects, buildings, plants and animals; and identify materials from which they are made
D.1.2: interpret examples of variation in the design of structures that share a common function, and evaluate the effectiveness of the designs (e.g., compare and evaluate different forms of roofed structures, or different designs for communication towers)
D.2: Investigate and analyze forces within structures, and forces applied to them
D.2.2: identify examples of frictional forces and their use in structures (e.g., friction of a nail driven into wood, friction of pilings or footings in soil, friction of stone laid on stone)
D.PR: Performing and Recording
D.PR.1: Conduct investigations into the relationships between and among observations, and gather and record qualitative and quantitative data
D.PR.1.3: carry out procedures, controlling the major variables (e.g., ensure that tests to determine the effect of any one variable are based on changes to that variable only)
Effect of Environment on New Life Form
Growing Plants
Pendulum Clock
Real-Time Histogram
Seed Germination
Time Estimation
D.AI: Analyzing and Interpreting
D.AI.1: Analyze qualitative and quantitative data, and develop and assess possible explanations
D.AI.1.1: compile and display data, by hand or computer, in a variety of formats, including diagrams, flow charts, tables, bar graphs, line graphs and scatterplots (e.g., plot a graph, showing the deflection of different materials tested under load)
Earthquakes 1 - Recording Station
Graphing Skills
Identifying Nutrients
D.AI.1.3: test the design of a constructed device or system (e.g., test and evaluate a prototype design of a foundation for a model building to be constructed on sand)
Growing Plants
Pendulum Clock
Trebuchet
D.CT: Communication and Teamwork
D.CT.1: Work collaboratively on problems; and use appropriate language and formats to communicate ideas, procedures and results
D.CT.1.1: communicate questions, ideas, intentions, plans and results, using lists, notes in point form, sentences, data tables, graphs, drawings, oral language and other means (e.g., produce a work plan, in cooperation with other team members, that identifies criteria for selecting materials and evaluating designs)
Graphing Skills
Hearing: Frequency and Volume
Identifying Nutrients
Sight vs. Sound Reactions
E.1: Describe and demonstrate methods used in the scientific study of Earth and in observing and interpreting its component materials
E.1.1: investigate and interpret evidence that Earth’s surface undergoes both gradual and sudden change (e.g., recognize earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides as examples of sudden change; recognize glacial erosion and river erosion as examples of gradual/incremental change)
E.1.4: explain the need for common terminology and conventions in describing rocks and minerals, and apply suitable terms and conventions in describing sample materials (e.g., use common terms in describing the lustre, transparency, cleavage and fracture of rocks and minerals; apply the Mohs’ scale in describing mineral hardness)
E.2: Identify evidence for the rock cycle, and use the rock cycle concept to interpret and explain the characteristics of particular rocks
E.2.1: distinguish between rocks and minerals
E.2.2: describe characteristics of the three main classes of rocks—igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic—and describe evidence of their formation (e.g., describe evidence of igneous rock formation, based on the study of rocks found in and around volcanoes; describe the role of fossil evidence in interpreting sedimentary rock)
E.2.4: investigate and interpret examples of weathering, erosion and sedimentation
E.3: Investigate and interpret evidence of major changes in landforms and the rock layers that underlie them
E.3.1: investigate and interpret patterns in the structure and distribution of mountain formations (e.g., describe and interpret mountain formations of the North American cordillera)
E.3.2: interpret the structure and development of fold and fault mountains
E.3.3: describe evidence for crustal movement, and identify and interpret patterns in these movements (e.g., identify evidence of earthquakes and volcanic action along the Pacific Rim; identify evidence of the movement of the Pacific plate relative to the North American plate)
E.3.4: identify and interpret examples of gradual/incremental change, and predict the results of those changes over extended periods of time (e.g., identify evidence of erosion, and predict the effect of erosional change over a year, century and millennium; project the effect of a given rate of continental drift over a period of one million years)
E.4: Describe, interpret and evaluate evidence from the fossil record
E.4.3: describe patterns in the appearance of different life forms, as indicated by the fossil record (e.g., construct and interpret a geological time scale; and describe, in general terms, the evidence that has led to its development)
Human Evolution - Skull Analysis
E.4.4: identify uncertainties in interpreting individual items of fossil evidence; and explain the role of accumulated evidence in developing accepted scientific ideas, theories and explanations
Human Evolution - Skull Analysis
E.IP: Initiating and Planning
E.IP.1: Ask questions about the relationships between and among observable variables, and plan investigations to address those questions
E.IP.1.1: identify questions to investigate (e.g., How are rocks formed?)
Effect of Environment on New Life Form
Hearing: Frequency and Volume
Pendulum Clock
Sight vs. Sound Reactions
E.IP.1.2: define and delimit questions to facilitate investigation (e.g., ask a question about a sample group of rocks from a specific region, or about a specific type of rock or rock formation)
Hearing: Frequency and Volume
Pendulum Clock
Sight vs. Sound Reactions
E.IP.1.4: formulate operational definitions of major variables and other aspects of their investigations (e.g., define hardness by reference to a set of mineral samples, or by reference to the Mohs’ scale of hardness)
Effect of Environment on New Life Form
Pendulum Clock
E.PR: Performing and Recording
E.PR.1: Conduct investigations into the relationships between and among observations, and gather and record qualitative and quantitative data
E.PR.1.1: carry out procedures, controlling the major variables
Effect of Environment on New Life Form
Growing Plants
Pendulum Clock
Real-Time Histogram
Seed Germination
Time Estimation
E.PR.1.5: organize data, using a format that is appropriate to the task or experiment (e.g., use diagrams to show the shape and thickness of different layers in a rock outcrop)
E.AI: Analyzing and Interpreting
E.AI.1: Analyze qualitative and quantitative data, and develop and assess possible explanations
E.AI.1.2: interpret patterns and trends in data, and infer and explain relationships among the variables (e.g., interpret example graphs of seismic data, and explain the lag time between data received at different locations)
E.AI.1.3: predict the value of a variable, by interpolating or extrapolating from data (e.g., determine, in a stream table study, the quantity of sediment carried over a half-hour period, then extrapolate the amount that would be carried if the time were extended to a day, month, year or millennium)
Density Experiment: Slice and Dice
Pendulum Clock
Correlation last revised: 11/17/2022