CONT605: Senior Chemistry
In the Senior Chemistry AQ, you’ll work as part of a professional learning community to plan chemistry lessons linked to the Ontario Senior Chemistry curriculum. You’ll develop a greater understanding of the Senior Chemistry expectations, connect expectations to activities, and develop a variety of assessment and evaluation tools and instructional strategies, with a focus on student-centred learning and inquiry. Working both independently and collegially, you’ll reflect on historical perspectives, myths and misconceptions, and you’ll create and share authentic opportunities to incorporate chemistry concepts from historical and social justice perspectives into the classroom. Through the course you’ll document your learning by building a digital portfolio of resources for use in your Senior Chemistry practice. And you’ll finish the course having created another useful resource: a unit of study for a Grade 12 chemistry course.
Learning Outcomes
What You Will Learn and Do
In this course you’ll have the opportunity to
- plan and prepare summative and culminating tasks that assess overall expectations of the Ontario Chemistry Curriculum, using the backward design process
- develop lesson plans using a Universal Design for Learning approach to meet the strengths, needs and interests of all learners
- create learning materials using a variety of instructional strategies to improve students’ critical thinking and problem solving in the Chemistry classroom
- construct scaffolded lessons using a variety of formats to encourage student voice and autonomy
- collaboratively engage in inquiry and discussion to connect key concepts in chemistry to real life examples
- interpret the historical, societal, and environmental role of chemistry and identify potential myths and biases
- critically reflect on and refine subject and pedagogical knowledge, skills, and experience to improve professional practice
- identify key features of a student-centred learning community and the role of stakeholders in this process
- co-create practical activities, resources, lessons and assessment and evaluation tools within a professional learning community
Assessments
Module 1
Introduction and Safety
Module 2
Empowering Learners
Progress Update 1
Module 3
Instructional Design
Module 4
Literacy Strategies and Inquiry in Chemistry
Progress Update 2
Module 5
Developing Chemistry Skills for Lifelong Learning
Module 6
Sustainability, Society and Citizenship
Progress Update 3
Module 7
Course Conclusion
Final Report