Mr Gillingham

Science 9: Course Guide (Mr. Gillingham)

Demonstrate Student Skills by Managing the Course Material: It is expected that you will learn to manage yourself as a student by learning to manage the course material. Specifically, you will learn to take charge of tasks, pay full attention to instructional details, and seek clarification where needed; you will use class time wisely, submit the tasks on time (on the due date) and then move promptly on to the next task. Additionally, if you find that you have not used your time wisely, then you will find an open classroom at lunch in order to take care of the task in a timely fashion (in other words, today). If you are absent, you will seek out your teacher or a fellow classmate in an effort to ensure that you are up to speed on the current assignments. You will also hand in any assignments that were due the class you missed. If you are absent for an extended period of time, you will consult the teacher about the possibility of due date extensions.

Demonstrate Science Process Skills: Science process skills are developed through experimentation and assessed by the quality of the experimental write-up:  It is expected that you will complete all the experimental tasks in an effort to solve the problem (usually stated as the purpose and/or hypothesis). Observations and data should be recorded in an organized manner (i.e. in a table). Solving the experimental problem requires you to come to conclusion. This is a response to the purpose or hypothesis which consists of a statement and a proof. The statement should be precise, to the point and – whenever possible – make use of scientific language. The proof should support the statement by citing precise evidence gathered from the experiment or refer to a display of evidence like a graph.

Demonstrate Conceptual Understanding → Grade 9 Exam Study

Chemistry 9

• Chemical and Physical Changes: Recognize the types of chemical changes (bubbles of a gas, new colour etc) and contrast these to the types of physical change (state changes, dissolving, crystallization etc.).
• Formulas: Write and name formulas and other chemical symbols.
• Proteins, Electrons, Neutrons: Given an atom or ion (an atom which has acquired charge by gaining or losing electrons) use the Periodic Table to determine the number of protons, electrons and neutrons.
• Bohr Models: Given an atom or an ion, use the Periodic Table to draw or recognize Bohr models (electron orbital diagrams).

Biology 9

• Protein Synthesis: How is a gene segment of DNA copied to produce a specific protein? What is the role of RNA and Ribosomes?
• Mitosis: What are the stages of and what is the purpose of mitosis?
• Mitosis versus Meiosis: What is the purpose of meiosis? Why do humans require both types of cell division (mitosis and meiosis)? What is the difference – particularly as it pertains to daughter cells – of both types of cell division?
• Sexual Reproduction: How and why does a gamete have its chromosome numbers halved from 46 (diploid) to 23 (haploid)? How does the zygote obtain 46 chromosomes? What do the homologous chromosomes have to do with this? How does this result in genetic variation?
• Asexual Reproduction (AS): Understand the types of AS (budding, fragmentation etc), and how they compare to sexual reproduction in terms of advantage and disadvantage.
• Mutations: How do mutations occur? What is the relationship between cancer and mutations?
• Stem Cells: How do stem cells work? What is the difference between embryonic stem cells and somatic stem cells? How is cloning related to stem cells and stem cell technology?

Electricity 9

• Static Electricity: Understand how static electricity accumulates and transfers (discharges) through the process of induction, conduction and friction.
• Current Electricity: Recognize parallel and series circuit connections. Compare and contrast series and parallel circuits – particularly in terms of voltage. Use readings for circuits to calculate voltage, current or resistance. Similarly given readings for an electrical device, calculate the power output or energy consumption.

Space 9

• Life of the Universe (so far): Understand the evidence which supports the Big Bang and expanding universe theory – particularly “Red Shift”. Understand how early on in the universe massive nebulas resulted in massive stars, frequent supernovas and the production of heavy elements necessary for solar systems to form.
• The Tilted Earth: Understand how the tilt of the Earth and the revolution around the sun causes the Earth to have seasons, the fall and spring equinox, and the winter and summer solstice.
• Star Life and Star Death: Understand the sequence of star life which results in a white dwarf, neutron star, and a black hole. How is the mass of a star a factor in the formation of these objects? Also, where in a galaxy are older stars, newer stars, cold stars, hot stars, blue stars and red stars?
• Solar System Formation: From the nebula to the planets; what is the sequence of events that leads to a solar system?
• Planet Classification: What set of conditions define an object as a planet? In particular, why is Pluto now called a dwarf planet?