Science Co-ordinators' and Consultants' Organization of Ontario

“Differentiating Science” Curriculum Institute

A Free Curriculum Institute open to all full SCCAO members

explore how inquiry supports differentiation
share your board model, burning questions and solutions
examine Differentiated Instructional Strategies for Science (Gayle Gregory & Elizabeth Hammerman)
align your understanding of inquiry science
using situational leadership to meet the needs of your learners
participate in activities that you can use in your board to implement Differentiating Science

You will receive:

Morning coffee, snacks, and a full lunch
a free copy of Gayle Gregory’s Differentiated Instructional Strategies for Science book

Please complete and bring the DI Board Template, for sharing during our Institute.

Time: 9 am to 3 pm
Location: Board Room, Halton Catholic School Board, 802 Drury Lane, Burlington, ON

Register Online before Fri Feb 12

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Single Day SCCAO Conference – November 11, 2009

Second annual SCCAO Mini-Conference a great success!

The day brought together more than thirty science board leads (consultants, coordinators, teachers representing their boards) and many associate members. The morning session with Dr. Llewellyn helped all of us to identify our own leadership strengths, and learn how and when to apply alternate leadership styles in the session entitled ‘Situational Leadership’. Mike Newnham provided a sneak preview of Smarter Science, and described how we can each play an active role in supporting our teachers in the quest to develop better inquiry skills with our students.

We would also like to thank our associate sponsors, Diane Wyman (McGraw-Hill Ryerson), Reid McAlpine (Pearson Education), and John Yip-Chuck (Nelson Education) for providing meals throughout the day.

The afternoon began with the chairperson’s report, and the release of the SCCAO Resource Assessment Tool. This tool is intended to be used by SCCAO members to assist in the review of events, opportunties and resources intended for use in our schools. Maureen Callan shared updates from the Ministry of Education. The rest of the afternoon included special presentations and reports from many of our associates, including an opportunity to learn more about Explore Learnings’ ‘gizmos‘, ’play’ with Merlan’s Labquests, see the possibilities with Ken-A-Vision, and hear about Scientists in Schools. Other presenters included Bob Morrow (CSA and Tomatosphere), Lionel Sandner (Edvantage Press), James Palcik (Palcik Educational), Mars Bloch (Let’s Talk Science), Paul Kortenaar (Ontario Science Centre). All members were also invited to share the different initiatives being supported in their home boards, along with a ‘wish list’ of areas they would like to collaborate on. This information will be used to plan out future SCCAO meetings. These will take place in the GTA but we will be working towards the goal of enabling remote members to join us with Adobe Connect.

STAO Conference 2009

Thank you for attending – see you next year at STAO 2010!

Go to http://www.stao.org/ to access session handouts and for new developments.

November 12-14, 2009

DoubleTree by Hilton – Toronto Airport

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The theme for this conference captures the intent to provide a conference featuring information and practical learning experiences that will enable teachers to confidently and competently implement the revised Science and Technology (Grades 1-8) and Science (Grades 9-12) curricula. As the sub-theme indicates, the renewed emphasis on the investigation skills of Scientific Inquiry and Technological Problem Solving will be addressed with a variety of hands-on, classroom-ready activities, and resources.

Climate Change Education: Meeting the Challenge
Steps to Inquiry Using “Smarter Science” (including a provincial launch event)
Exploring Relevant STSE Issues with Wikis
Problem-Based Learning in Your Classroom
Bringing Biotechnology to the Classroom
Beginning Teachers’ Workshop
and much more!

Implementation Planning Science Grades 9-12

The implementation approach is only for the school year 2009-2010.
The approach is designed to avoid duplication of materials and overlap of content for students.

For the following courses, teach the revised strands as published in the revised curriculum document:

Science Grade 9 Applied and Academic,

Biology SBI 3U, SBI3C, Chemistry SCH3U, SCH4U, SCH4C,

Environmental Science SVN3E, SVN3M,

Science SNC4E, SNC4M, Earth and Space Science SES4U

The remaining courses have a one year modified implementation:

Science Grade 10 Applied and Academic

Teach strand in Chemistry, Earth and Space Science, and Physics as published in the revised curriculum document
Teach the Biology strand (Sustainable Ecosystems and Human Activity (1P) or Sustainable Ecosystems (1D)) as published in the revised curriculum document pages 50 or 62

Biology Grade 12 University (SBI4U)

replace the revised biochemistry strand with the revised evolution strand (3U) as published in the revised curriculum document

Physics Grade 11 University (SPH3U)

Focus on projectiles for the Kinematics strand and replace the rest of the strand with the revised light and geometric optics strand (SNC2D)

Physics Grade 12 University (SPH4U)

Add the study of projectiles from Kinematics (3U) as well as nuclear energy from the Energy and Society strand (3U)

Physics Grade 12 College (SPH4C)

replace Motion and its Applications strand with Light and Application of Optics (SNC2P)

Website Upgrade

As you can see, SCCAO’s website has undergone a major upgrade. The website is in the process of being migrated to a Wordpress-based CMS which means that there will be a number of Web 2.0 features available. SCCAO members will be able to sign into members-only areas such as forums dedicated to certain discussion areas and renew their memberships online.

Some tabs at the top of the page are functional now but keep checking back as we add more capabilities.

If you want to be notified each time this Main Page changes then click on the RSS button at the bottom left of the page and subscribe to our newsfeed.

Science Curriculum Documents

Curriculum Grades 1-8: Science and Technology, 2007

The updated electronic version of The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8: Science and Technology, 2007 includes the glossary, omitted from the previously posted version. Please note that this update also includes a revision in the Achievement Chart category “Thinking and Investigation” and reflects factual corrections in some expectations. This updated electronic version is the same as the published document.

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

The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: Science, 2008 (revised)

PDF Format (1.4 MB)

Canadian Nuclear Association

Let’s Talk Science has helped the Canadian Nuclear Association develop some excellent resources for teachers. Take advantage of curriculum-approved lesson plans, developed according to the Pan Canadian Framework with Ministries of Education across the country, for grades 9–12. Curriculum tie-ins include science, environmental science, biology, physics, history, social studies or world issues. Additional materials including lesson plan and answer keys is also available to you. Go here