Vegreville Composite High

Below is a list, and brief description of the science courses offered at VCHS.

Summary of Units and Major Concepts:

Unit 1: Structures and Forces
1.0 Structures are found in natural and human-made environments.
2.0 External and internal forces act on structures.
3.0 Structural strength and stability depend on the properties of different materials and how they are joined together.
4.0 Structures are designed, evaluated, and improved in order to meet human needs.

Unit 2: Heat and Temperature
1.0 Human needs have led to technologies for obtaining and controlling heat.
2.0 Heat affects matter in different ways.
3.0 Understanding heat and temperature helps explain natural phenomena and technological devices.
4.0 Technologies that use heat have benefits and costs to society and to the environment.

Unit 3: Planet Earth
1.0 Earth's surface undergoes gradual and sudden changes.
2.0 The rock cycle describes how rocks form and change over time.
3.0 Landforms provide evidence of change.
4.0 The fossil record provides evidence of Earth's changes over time.

Unit 4: Interactions and Ecosystems
1.0 Relationships exist between living things and their environments.
2.0 The flow of energy and the cycling of matter can be traced and interpreted in ecosystems.
3.0 Changes can be observed and monitored in ecosystems.
4.0 Maintaining sustainable environments requires knowledge, decisions, and actions.

Unit 5: Plants for Food and Fibre
1.0 Understanding structures and life processes of plants helps us to interpret their needs.
2.0 Plants play an essential role in the environment and in meeting human needs.
3.0 Soil is an important resource that human activity can protect or degrade.
4.0 The ways that plants are grown and used are related to human needs, technology, and the environment.

     The grade 9 science curriculum includes 5 units of study that have expectations, objectives and outcomes based on the Alberta Program of Studies.  This course provides students with a more advanced look at some concepts already covered in grades seven and eight, as well as a foundation for the senior high science courses.

     Throughout the five units, every opportunity is taken to do labs in order to experience the science first hand.  The focus is to have student's research, observe, question, and draw conclusions about scientific ideas and how they are related to society and technology.

Units of Study:

1. Space Exploration
2. Biological Diversity
3. Matter and Chemical Change
4. Environmental Chemistry
5. Electrical Principles and Technologies

     The Science 10 course is comprised of four units of study which build upon the material studied in junior high school science and set the foundation for grade 11 and 12 biology, chemistry and physics.

     In the first unit a wide variety of chemistry concepts is examined, including (but not limited to) the development of the atomic model; classifying and naming chemical compounds; characterizing chemical compounds based on various properties; determining the solubility of substances; examining different types of chemical reactions; and balancing chemical reactions.

     The second unit focuses on physics principles, laws, and calculations.  In addition, students will examine how physics concepts are applied in everyday life.

     Studying microscope technology; cell theory, structure, and function; multicellular organisms; cellular specialization; and plants are the concepts of focus in unit three. 

     In the final unit, climate change, biomes, solar radiation, and cycling of energy will be discussed.

Units of Study:

1. Energy and Matter in Chemical Change
2. Energy Flow in Technological Systems
3. Cycling of Matter in Living Systems
4. Energy Flow in Global Systems

     Biology 20 is a course that deals with the study of energy and matter exchange in living systems.  Throughout the course students will study the biosphere & ecosystems, cellular processes, and the human body systems.  A major focus of the course is the exchange of energy and matter in systems.  As well, students will discuss advances in biotechnology that apply to the course content.

Units of Study:

1. Energy, Matter and Exchange in the Biosphere
2. Populations and Ecosystems
3. Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration
4. Human Systems

     Biology 30 is a course that deals with the study of change and equilibrium in living systems.  Throughout the course students will study regulatory systems in the human body, reproduction and development, the role of DNA and genetics, and population biology.  Each section has an emphasis on changes and equilibrium within systems.  As well, students will discuss advances in biotechnology that apply to the course content.

Units of Study:

1. Systems Regulating Change in Human Organisms
2. Reproduction and Development
3. Cells, Chromosomes and DNA
4. Change in Populations and Communities

     Chemistry 20 consists of four units of study:

 

• A. The Diversity of Matter and Chemical Bonding
• B. Matter as Solutions, Acids and Bases
• C. Quantitative Relationships in Chemical Changes
• D. Forms of Matter: Gases

     Students will begin the course by extending their previous knowledge of bonding as they study the diversity of matter through the investigation of ionic compounds and molecular substances.  In the second unit, students will apply information examined in Science 10 and concepts learned in the first unit to gain insight into the nature of matter through an investigation of solutions, acids and bases.  They will then focus on chemical change and use mathematical manipulation to predict quantities of substances consumed or produced in chemical reactions.  Lastly, students will expand their knowledge of the nature of matter through the investigation of the properties and behaviour of gases. 

     Chemistry 30 consists of four units of study:

 

• A. Thermochemical Changes
• B. Chemical Changes of Organic Compounds
• C. Electrochemical Changes
• D. Chemical Equilibrium Focusing on Acid-Base Systems

     In the first unit, students will study energy as it relates to chemical changes and determine the quantity of energy involved in various chemical reactions.  Students are then introduced to organic chemistry, where common organic compounds, their properties, and chemical reactions are examined. The significance of organic chemistry, in the context of technological applications and quality of life, will be explored.  Students will study electrochemical change (eg. batteries, corrosion) and analyze the matter and energy changes within a system.  In the last unit, students will extend concepts learned in Chemistry 20 as they focus on the quantitative treatment of acid-base solutions and will examine the concept that chemical change eventually attains a state of dynamic equilibrium.

     Physics 20 consists of four units of study:

 

• A. Kinematics
• B. Dynamics
• C. Circular Motion, Work and Energy
• D. Oscillatory Motion and Mechanical Waves

     Students begin the course by investigating changes in the position and velocity of objects and systems in the Kinematics unit.  In Dynamics, students investigate causes of change in the position and velocity of objects and systems.  Students extend their study of kinematics and dynamics to uniform circular motion, gravitation, mechanical energy, work and power in the unit Circular Motion, Work, and Energy.  (The concept of fields is introduced in the explanation of gravitational effects.)  Lastly, students investigate simple harmonic motion and mechanical waves in unit four.

     Physics 30 consists of four units of study:

 

• A. Momentum and Impulse
• B. Forces and Fields
• C. Electromagnetic Radiation
• D. Atomic Physics

     In the first unit, Newton's Second Law of Motion (studied in Physics 20) is linked to the concepts of momentum and impulse, and the Law of Conservation of Energy is used to determine if collisions are elastic or inelastic.  In the second unit, students investigate electric and magnetic forces and fields and their applications in technological devices.  Students then apply this information as they study the nature and characteristics of electromagnetic radiation (EMR), using the wave and photon models of light in the third unit.  Finally, students study the development and modification of models of the structure of atom and are introduced to the Standard Model of Matter.