Planning Index: Matter & Chemical Change | Print |

Grade 9 Science Unit Plan
Unit B - Matter and Chemical Change
(Nature of Science emphasis)

Grade 9 Unit Overview (Alberta)
Different materials have different properties. The ability to distinguish between different substances and make sense of their properties, interactions and changes requires development of ideas about chemical substance. In this unit, students are introduced to the formal study of chemical substances through laboratory investigations and introductory studies of chemical theory. In the laboratory, students observe and compare chemical substances and, with guidance on safety, investigate the properties of materials and the ways they interact. In conjunction with these studies, students are introduced to ideas about elements and compounds, and corresponding structural ideas of atoms and molecules. Theoretical ideas are introduced as means for explaining, interpreting and extending their laboratory findings; and include a general introduction to the periodic table, chemical nomenclature and simplified ways of representing chemical reactions.

Concepts Covered and Developed through Instruction

  • elements, compounds and atomic theory
  • reactants and products
  • chemical nomenclature (introductory treatment)
  • periodic table
  • conservation of mass
  • endothermic and exothermic reactions

 

This unit builds on ideas introduced in Grade 8, Unit B: Mix and Flow ofMatter, and introduces ideas that will be developed further in Science 10, Unit A: Energy and Matter in Chemical Change. 


What do the students already know?

Can students explain the science of Chemistry?
What do they know about atoms and molecules, the periodic table and chemical reations?

What must they Learn?

Chemistry through laboratory investigations and chemical theory. Elements and compounds, and corresponding structural ideas of atoms and molecules and an introduction to the periodic table, chemical nomenclature and simplified ways of representing chemical reactions.

General
Learner
Outcome

Specific Learner Outcomes

Instructional Focus

Focus 1

Material Properties

Investigate materials, and describe them in terms of their physical and chemical properties

1.0

- solubility
- conductivity
- properties of materials
- classify materials
- changing conditions

WHMIS Safety Unit / Lab Activities
Lab Activities
Lab Activities
Classification Chart / Graphic Organizer
Lab Activities

Focus 2

Chemical Reactions

Describe and interpret patterns in chemical reactions.

2.0

- conservation of chemical substance
- household reactions
- ability to react
- dangers
- endothermic and exothermic reactions
- rates of reactions
- types of reactions
- impacts of reactions

Law of Conservation of Mass

Lab activities
Lab Activities
WHMIS Safety Unit
Lab Activities

Lab Activities
Graphic Organizers
Text

Focus 3

Chemical Nature of Matter

Describe ideas used in interpreting the chemical nature of matter, both in the past and present, and identify example evidence that has contributed to the development of these ideas.

3.0

- observation and theory
- models and theoretical ideas
- early ideas
- periodic table
- properties of elements

Research / Internet
Building Models

Timeline
Internet / Agenda / Project
 Lab Activities

Focus 4

Nomenclature/Reactions

Apply simplified chemical nomenclature in describing elements, compounds and chemical reactions.

4.0

- nomenclature
- household chemicals
- chemical formulae
- combining ratios
- molecular models
- chemical reactions
- models of reactants and products

Scientific Symbols
 Lab Activities
Scientific Symbols / Calculations
Scientific Symbols
Building Models
Scientific Symbols / Calculations
Building Models