Gizmos for Ontario - Science: Earth and Space Science, Grade 12, University Preparation (Ontario Curriculum adopted 2008)

This correlation lists the recommended Gizmos for this province's curriculum standards. Click any Gizmo title below for more information.

A: Scientific Investigation Skills and Career Exploration

A1: demonstrate scientific investigation skills (related to both inquiry and research) in the four areas of skills (initiating and planning, performing and recording, analysing and interpreting, and communicating);

A1.5: Students will: conduct inquiries, controlling relevant variables, and adapting or extending procedures as required, and using appropriate materials and equipment safely, accurately, and effectively, to collect observations and data

A1.6: Students will: compile accurate observations and data from laboratory and other sources (e.g., field work), and organize and record the data, using appropriate formats, including tables, flow charts, graphs, and/or diagrams

A1.8: Students will: synthesize, analyse, interpret, and evaluate qualitative and/or quantitative data to determine whether the evidence supports or refutes the initial prediction or hypothesis and whether it is consistent with scientific theory; identify sources of bias and/or error; and suggest improvements to the inquiry to reduce the likelihood of error

A1.10: Students will: draw conclusions based on inquiry results and research findings, and justify their conclusions with reference to scientific knowledge

A1.11: Students will: communicate ideas, plans, procedures, results, and conclusions orally, in writing, and/or in electronic presentations, using appropriate language and a variety of formats (e.g., data tables, laboratory reports, presentations, debates, simulations, models)

A1.12: Students will: use appropriate numeric (e.g., SI and imperial units), symbolic, and graphic modes of representation (e.g., use appropriate time scales when representing geological time, or appropriate units to represent astronomical distances)

A1.13: Students will: express the results of any calculations involving data accurately and precisely, to the appropriate number of decimal places or significant figures

B: Astronomy (Science of the Universe)

B2: investigate and analyse the properties of the universe, particularly the evolution and properties of stars, in both qualitative and quantitative terms;

B2.1: Students will: use appropriate terminology related to astronomy, including, but not limited to: Doppler effect, electromagnetic radiation, protostar, celestial equator, ecliptic, altitude and azimuth, and right ascension and declination

B2.3: Students will: analyse spectroscopic data mathematically or graphically to determine various properties of stars (e.g., determine surface temperature from peak wavelength using Wein’s law; predict chemical composition from spectral absorption lines; determine motion using the Doppler effect)

B2.4: Students will: use the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram to determine the interrelationships between the properties of stars (e.g., between mass and luminosity, between colour and luminosity) and to investigate their evolutionary pathways

B2.5: Students will: investigate, in quantitative terms, properties of stars, including their distance from Earth (using the parallax method), surface temperature, absolute magnitude, and luminosity

B3: demonstrate an understanding of the origin and evolution of the universe, the principal characteristics of its components, and techniques used to study those components.

B3.1: Students will: describe the theoretical and evidential underpinnings of the big bang theory (e.g., the theory that cosmic microwave background radiation is an echo of the big bang; physical evidence of the mass of the universe, and the relationship between mass and gravity) and their implications for the evolution of the universe

B3.2: Students will: explain the scale of distances between celestial bodies (e.g., with reference to astronomical units, light years, and parsecs) and the methods astronomers use to determine these distances (e.g., stellar parallax, cepheid variables)

B3.4: Students will: explain how stars are classified on the basis of their surface temperature, luminosity, and chemical composition

B3.6: Students will: describe the sequence of events in the life cycle of a star, from its formation to the main sequence phase and beyond, with specific reference to energy sources and forces involved

C: Planetary Science (Science of the Solar System)

C2: investigate features of and interactions between bodies in the solar system, and the impact of these features and interactions on the existence of life;

C2.1: Students will: use appropriate terminology related to planetary science, including, but not limited to: solar system, geocentric, heliocentric, geodesy, geosynchronous, eccentricity, apogee, aphelion, perigee, and perihelion

C3: demonstrate an understanding of the internal (geological) processes and external (cosmic) influences operating on bodies in the solar system.

C3.6: Students will: compare Earth with other objects in the solar system with respect to properties such as mass, size, composition, rotation, magnetic field, and gravitational field

C3.7: Students will: identify Kepler’s laws, and use them to describe planetary motions (e.g., the shape of their orbits; differences in their orbital velocity)

D: Recording Earth’s Geological History

D3: demonstrate an understanding of how changes to Earth’s surface have been recorded and preserved throughout geological time and how they contribute to our knowledge of Earth’s history.

D3.2: Students will: describe various kinds of evidence that life forms, climate, continental positions, and Earth’s crust have changed over time (e.g., evidence of mass extinction, of past glaciations, of the existence of Pangaea and Gondwanaland)

D3.5: Students will: identify and describe the various methods of isotopic age determination, giving for each the name of the isotope, its half-life, its effective dating range, and some of the materials that it can be used to date (e.g., uranium-lead dating of rocks; carbon dating of organic materials)

E: Earth Materials

E2: investigate the properties of minerals and characteristics of rocks, including those in their local area;

E2.1: Students will: use appropriate terminology related to Earth materials, including, but not limited to: geothermal vents, porosity, permeability, cleavage, fracture, cementation, evaporite, and foliation

E2.2: Students will: investigate the properties of various Earth materials (e.g., density, conductivity, porosity; whether they are magnetic or radioactive), and explain how these properties affect how the materials are used and what technologies and techniques are used to explore for or extract them (e.g., radiometric instruments, electromagnetic or gravity surveys)

E2.3: Students will: conduct a series of tests (e.g., hardness, streak, density) to identify and classify common minerals (e.g., quartz, calcite, potassium feldspar, plagioclase feldspar, muscovite, biotite, talc, graphite, hornblende)

E3: demonstrate an understanding of the properties of minerals and the formation and characteristics of rocks.

E3.1: Students will: identify the physical and chemical properties of selected minerals, and describe the tests used to determine these properties

E3.2: Students will: describe the formation (i.e., intrusive or extrusive) and identify the distinguishing characteristics of igneous rocks (e.g., composition and eruption type; mineralogical content indicating the type of volcano in which a rock was formed)

F: Geological Processes

F2: investigate, through the use of models and analysis of information gathered from various sources, the nature of internal and surficial Earth processes, and the ways in which these processes can be quantified;

F2.1: Students will: use appropriate terminology related to geological processes, including, but not limited to: shear forces, compression forces, liquifaction, Benioff zone, aquifer, internal plastic flow, basal slip, midoceanic ridge, bedding, cross-cutting, isostasy, and lithification

F2.2: Students will: investigate the difference between weathering and erosion (e.g., weathering occurs when the edge of a riverbank disintegrates from the force of the water; erosion occurs when the water transports the soil downstream), and construct models of the processes of physical, chemical, and biological weathering (e.g., tap water dripping on a bar of soap; vinegar dripping on a marble chip; dried beans soaking in a sealed plastic jar)

F2.4: Students will: investigate, through laboratory inquiry or computer simulation, the main types of seismic waves, and produce a model (e.g., using 3D block diagrams or springs and ropes) to illustrate for each the nature of its propagation, the transfer of energy, and its movement through rocks

F2.5: Students will: locate the epicentre of an earthquake, given the appropriate seismographic data (e.g., the travel-time curves to three recording stations for a single event)

F3: demonstrate an understanding of the processes at work within Earth and on its surface, and the role of these processes in shaping Earth’s surface.

F3.1: Students will: describe the types of boundaries (convergent, divergent, transform) between lithospheric plates, and explain the types of internal Earth processes occurring at each (e.g., subduction, divergence, convergence, hot spot activity, folding, faulting)

F3.2: Students will: describe the characteristics of the main types of seismic waves (i.e., P- and S-waves; R- and L-waves), and explain the different modes of travel, travel times, and types of motion associated with each

F3.8: Students will: identify major areas of tectonic activity in the world by plotting the location of major recorded earthquakes and active volcanoes on a map, and distinguish the areas by type of tectonic activity (e.g., Japan – convergent boundary; Iceland – divergent boundary; California – transform boundary)

Correlation last revised: 9/1/2026

Ontario - Science: Earth and Space Science, Grade 12, University Preparation

Ontario Curriculum | Adopted: 2008