The "New" Grade Nine Science Curriculum

Environmental chemistry is done ona large scale at wastewater treatment plants

The new curriculum for Junior High Science is the result of an extensive consultation process for the Pan-Canadian Science Framework. The Alberta curriculum was changed to meet that framework and was published in November 1999 and revised in May 2000.

Environmental Chemistry Unit

The new Grade Nine "Environmental Chemistry Unit" has a social and environmental context that examines human-produced chemicals and their impact environments. That describes RiverWatch perfectly!

STS and Knowledge Outcomes

RiverWatch conveniently delivers several of the STS and Knowledge Outcomes for the new Grade Nine "Environmental Chemistry" Unit in the areas where students will:

• describe and illustrate processes by which chemicals are introduced to the environment or their concentration is changed (e.g. dilution in streams)
  
  
• describe and illustrate the use of biological monitoring as one method for determining environmental quality (e.g. assess water quality by observing the relative abundance of various vertebrate and invertebrate species)
  
  
• comprehend and interpret information on the biological impacts of hazardous chemicals on local and global environments ( e.g. interpret evidence for environmental changes in the vicinity of a substance release)

Environmental chemistry is key to understanding how ecosystems function!

Click here to view the actual Alberta Learning document for the "New" Junior High Science Curriculum in PDF format. Scroll down to Unit C, page 13 for "Environmental Chemistry".