Big Ideas
Big Ideas
An object’s motion can be predicted, analyzed, and described.
- Sample questions to support inquiry with students:
- How can uniform motion and uniform acceleration be modelled?
- How can the path of a projectile be changed?
Forces influence the motion of an object.
- Sample questions to support inquiry with students:
- How can forces change the motion of an object?
- How can Newton’s laws be used to explain changes in motion?
Energy is found in different forms, is conserved, and has the ability to do work.
- Sample questions to support inquiry with students:
- What is the relationship between work, energy, and power in a system?
- How are the conservation laws applied in parallel and series circuits?
- Why can’t a machine be 100% efficient?
Mechanical waves transfer energy but not matter.
- Sample questions to support inquiry with students:
- What are the factors that affect wave behaviours?
- How would you investigate the relationships between the properties of a wave and properties of the medium?
- How can you determine which harmonics are audible in different musical instruments?
Content
Learning Standards
Content
vector and scalar quantities
- addition and subtraction
- right-angle triangle trigonometry
horizontal uniform and accelerated motion
graphical and quantitative analysis
projectile motion
1D and 2D, including:
- vertical launch
- horizontal launch
- angled launch
contact forces
for example, normal force, spring force, tension force, frictional force
and the factors that affect magnitude and direction
mass, force of gravity, and apparent weight
Newton’s laws of motion and free-body diagrams
- First: the concept of mass as a measure of inertia
- Second: net force from one or more forces
- Third: actions/reactions happen at the same time in pairs
balanced and unbalanced forces in systems
- one-body and multi-body systems
- inclined planes
- angled forces
- elevators
conservation of energy; principle of work and energy
power and efficiency
- mechanical and electrical (e.g., light bulbs, simple machines, motors, steam engines, kettle)
- numerical examples (e.g., resistance, power, and efficiency in circuits)
simple machines
lever, ramp, wedge, pulley, screw, wheel and axle
and mechanical advantage
applications of simple machines by First Peoples
electric circuits (DC), Ohm’s law, and Kirchhoff’s laws
including terminal voltage versus electromotive force (EMF) (e.g., safety, power distribution, fuses/breakers, switches, overload, short circuits, alternators)
thermal equilibrium
as an application of law of conservation of energy (e.g., calorimeter)
and specific heat capacity
generation and propagation of waves
- transverse versus longitudinal
- linear versus circular
properties and behaviours of waves
- properties: differences between the properties of a wave and the properties of the medium, periodic versus pulse
- behaviours: reflection (open and fixed end), refraction, transmission, diffraction, interference, Doppler shift, standing waves, interference patterns, law of superposition
characteristics
for example, pitch, volume, speed, Doppler effect, sonic boom
of sound
resonance and frequency
for example, harmonic, fundamental/natural, beat frequency
of sound
graphical methods in physics
- plotting of linear relationships given a physical model (e.g., uniform motion, resistance)
- calculation of the slope of a line of best fit, including significant figures and appropriate units
- interpolation and extrapolation data from a constructed graph (e.g., position, instantaneous velocity)
- calculations and interpretations of area under the curve on a constructed graph (e.g., displacement, work)
Curricular Competency
Learning Standards
Curricular Competency
Questioning and predicting
Questioning and predicting
- Sample opportunities to support student inquiry:
- Make observations to determine the effect that launch angle has on the path of a projectile.
- Generate a hypothesis about the factors that affect the force of friction.
- Find examples of simple machines developed by local First Peoples.
- Observe the similarities and differences between series and parallel circuits.
- Observe waves in natural settings (e.g., lakes, oceans, rivers).
Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal, local, or global interest
Make observations aimed at identifying their own questions, including increasingly abstract ones, about the natural world
Formulate multiple hypotheses and predict multiple outcomes
Planning and conducting
Planning and conducting
- Sample opportunities to support student inquiry:
- Choose appropriate equipment and variables to experimentally determine acceleration due to gravity.
- Collect accurate and precise data to determine a spring constant, using correct units.
- Compare weight measurements from a stationary and accelerating elevator (i.e., apparent weight).
- Collect voltage and current data with analog and digital tools using appropriate units.
- Use a calorimeter to collect accurate and precise data needed to determine specific heat capacity.
- What data are needed to determine the speed of sound in air?
Collaboratively and individually plan, select, and use appropriate investigation methods, including field work and lab experiments, to collect reliable data (qualitative and quantitative)
Assess risks and address ethical, cultural, and/or environmental issues associated with their proposed methods
Use appropriate SI units and appropriate equipment, including digital technologies, to systematically and accurately collect and record data
Apply the concepts of accuracy and precision to experimental procedures and data:
- significant figures
- uncertainty
- scientific notation
Processing and analyzing data and information
Processing and analyzing data and information
- Sample opportunities to support student inquiry:
- Derive equations and construct diagrams that use graphical vector addition or subtraction to determine a resultant for a physical phenomenon (e.g., displacement of an object, change in velocity or acceleration of an object, Fnet equations).
- Compare an experimental result with a theoretical result and calculate % error or difference (e.g., acceleration due to gravity, coefficient of friction).
- Diagram the orthogonal components of the forces acting on an object on a horizontal surface and an inclined plane.
- Interpret free-body diagrams to develop an equation that describes the motion of an object.
- Create and interpret circuit diagrams.
- Identify wave behaviour patterns in mediums with different properties (e.g., material, fixed/open-end, densities).
Experience and interpret the local environment
Apply First Peoples perspectives and knowledge, other ways of knowing, and local knowledge as sources of information
Seek and analyze patterns, trends, and connections in data, including describing relationships between variables, performing calculations, and identifying inconsistencies
Construct, analyze, and interpret graphs, models, and/or diagrams
Use knowledge of scientific concepts to draw conclusions that are consistent with evidence
Analyze cause-and-effect relationships
Evaluating
Evaluating
- Sample opportunities to support student inquiry:
- Identify sources of random and systematic error in lab activities.
- Investigate assumptions regarding surface area and the force of friction.
- What are the limitations of free-body diagrams?
- What explanations can you offer when your experimental data show that energy is not conserved?
- Describe ways to improve accuracy and precision when launching projectiles.
- Consider the social and environmental implications of noise pollution generated by sources such as ear buds, cell phones, or sporting events.
Evaluate their methods and experimental conditions, including identifying sources of error or uncertainty, confounding variables, and possible alternative explanations and conclusions
Describe specific ways to improve their investigation methods and the quality of their data
Evaluate the validity and limitations of a model or analogy in relation to the phenomenon modelled
Demonstrate an awareness of assumptions, question information given, and identify bias in their own work and in primary and secondary sources
Consider the changes in knowledge over time as tools and technologies have developed
Connect scientific explorations to careers in science
Exercise a healthy, informed skepticism and use scientific knowledge and findings to form their own investigations to evaluate claims in primary and secondary sources
Consider social, ethical, and environmental implications of the findings from their own and others’ investigations
Critically analyze the validity of information in primary and secondary sources and evaluate the approaches used to solve problems
Assess risks in the context of personal safety and social responsibility
Applying and innovating
Applying and innovating
- Sample opportunities to support student inquiry:
- Design and create a carnival game that applies the principles of projectile motion.
- Collaboratively design an obstacle course that demonstrates Newton’s laws.
- Using exemplars of First Peoples traditional dwellings, design your own heat-efficient structure.
- Use research to present possible innovations to replace the internal combustion engine.
- How has an understanding of physics influenced innovations in sports (e.g., technical clothing and/or materials, ski design, luge technique, bicycle gears, skate parks)?
Contribute to care for self, others, community, and world through individual or collaborative approaches
Co-operatively design projects with local and/or global connections and applications
Contribute to finding solutions to problems at a local and/or global level through inquiry
Implement multiple strategies to solve problems in real-life, applied, and conceptual situations
Consider the role of scientists in innovation
Communicating
Communicating
- Sample opportunities to support student inquiry:
- Present and defend evidence to prove that an object has uniform or accelerated motion.
- Visually represent the differences between scalar and vector quantities on a local map.
- Model the reduction in friction on an object as the angle of inclination increases.
- Create a model that demonstrates constructive and destructive interference of waves.
Formulate physical or mental theoretical models to describe a phenomenon
Communicate scientific ideas and information, and perhaps a suggested course of action, for a specific purpose and audience, constructing evidence-based arguments and using appropriate scientific language, conventions, and representations
Express and reflect on a variety of experiences, perspectives, and worldviews through place
Place is any environment, locality, or context with which people interact to learn, create memory, reflect on history, connect with culture, and establish identity. The connection between people and place is foundational to First Peoples perspectives.