Semester 2

SNC1W - Grade Nine Course Outline

SOSIL 

Science of Self-Sufficiency an Inquiry Based Learning approach to Science

We are a part of Nature, not apart from it.

LINK TO SNC1W @ BHS With Mr. Stoppels Website

Teacher Name: Derek Stoppels → derek.stoppels@ocdsb.ca

During this course students will: build a self-sustainable home and/or property.  They will learn how to live off the grid, grow their own food, think about recyclable materials and products that can be used for more than one purpose, how to produce electricity, and how science is a tool we use to explain what we see happening in the world around us.  

Where and when do we meet?

This semester we will be learning in room 206 at Brookfield High School.

Why should you care about being self-sufficient? 

What do we need to survive?  How do we get those things?  Where does our food come from?  How do we grow our own food?  How do we improve our relationship with nature?  How do we live in reciprocity with nature?  What can the American eel teach us about relationships and reciprocity?  How does a self-sufficient home contribute to ecosystem sutainability?  How can we produce our own energy?  How do the choices we make everyday impact the energy we consume?  Which type of energy consumption is best?  Can biomimicry help us solve climate change?  How would we survive a lightning strike?  How do seasons occur?  How do seasons affect the food we can grow?  Should we colonize Mars?  What processes occur on Earth that we would need to recreate on Mars in order to survive?   What can we do to regenerate our planet?  How do you promote healthy soil so that you can eat a healthy, balanced diet?  

These are only some of the challenges we will be looking at during this course to develop our understanding of human ecosystems on the environment, characteristics of electricity, chemical compounds and properties and space exploration.

How will this course help your career development? 

SOSIL 1W with Mr. Stoppels is going to be driven by a project where students will build and design a self-sufficient home/lifestyle.  We will be uncovering the content by finding answers to big questions and hopefully coming up with more questions!  The course is designed to develop not only our knowledge and understanding of grade 9 science but also to develop skills and characteristics that are going to help you become greater people here, now and always.  The skills and characteristics we will be developing can be found by clicking on the OCDSB Exit Outcomes. 

The OCDSB Exit Outcomes will provide you with a greater ability to tackle problems, and acquire a greater sense of agency, so that you will be more successful in this class, in your school career in general and will ultimately make you more marketable as you make your way through this world, from here, now, and always.  

By the end of the course, you will be able to answer the following questions:

Why are lightning rods attached to copper wires buried in the ground?

What can living off the grid teach us about living in space?

What everyday products are potentially harmful to our health and why do we keep using them?

How can you promote biodiversity in Ottawa?  On earth?

How do you impact your environment on a daily basis?

Can you build a windmill to turn on a lightbulb? 

Where can you look for important information? 

Anywhere you want! Bring your favorite web-enabled device (with a fully charged battery!) to every class if you can; we’ll use it often. “Real” scientists use handbooks, textbooks, online resources, peer- reviewed articles, and personal communications with colleagues (in person and virtually), etc. to learn what they need to know to answer complex questions like the ones listed above. As your colleague, I will recommend some resources and post my notes in the Google Classroom, but you should not feel limited to only the materials I suggest. In fact, you will probably need additional resources to complete the full story surrounding some of these challenging questions. 

How will you succeed in this course? 

Participate. You are expected to participate actively in the course based on your own learning goals. We will regularly work in collaborative teams (in person and virtually). This approach facilitates our learning and mimics your future role as a member of interdisciplinary teams and a contributing member of society (not that I’m saying you aren’t already). Since you all come from different backgrounds and science experiences, your peers are valuable resources for learning. Don’t shortchange them, or yourself, by coming to class without preparing or by sitting quietly during class discussion.

Communicate. This course may be unlike any of your previous courses. Because I am committed to helping you address new challenges, I have an open door policy in addition to class and office hours; I will meet with you or respond to your email within 24 hours whenever possible. You should let me know what ideas and tools are challenging to you and how you are doing in the class. If you start this habit early in the quadmester, then I will be able to better tailor our activities to help you learn.

Take risks. The Big Questions we will be working on do not necessarily have a wrong answer.  Just varying degrees of correct, or complete answers.  Nobel Prize breakthroughs have resulted from attempting to support a “best guess” with incomplete data or from finding evidence to explain an “experiment gone wrong.” My goal is to create a safe classroom environment in which you will be rewarded for going out on a limb to defend your ideas. Do your best to make your assumptions and decision-making process transparent in your answers. If you’re not sure how to start a problem, don’t be scared to defend your assumptions and go for it!

Have fun. Sometimes we all need a mental break. During each class, we will take a break while a few of us tell a joke. The only rule is that it must not be a joke that will get me fired! Dad jokes are my favourite! 

How will you and I evaluate your progress?  

Conversations: During class you will have many, many, opportunities to be working on building and designing your self-sufficient home.  I will be in the class as well, speaking with you, asking you questions, and having conversations with you.  These conversations we will be having will count as a demonstration of your learning.  Our conversations will also be opportunities for me to help you further your learning and develop your self-sufficient home.  

Observations:  During class, as you are working, I will have my eyes and ears open to be seeing what you and your classmates are working on. While I may not address you directly, I will consider the things I see you do in class as a demonstration of your learning.  You may not have to hand things in, but if you do work on a white board, or if you make a mistake, that counts as learning.  Mistakes in this class will not be a bad thing if you can show me how you’ve learned from them!   

Products:  The things you produce will count towards your final grade as well.  However, that being said, the most important part of learning is the process.  Demonstrating your process as you build and design your self-sufficient home will count towards your final grade.  Keep track of the mistakes you make, and the times you had to start over to show me, Mr. Stoppels, how you have grown throughout the semester.    You will also be working on a Portfolio of your learning as we progress through the semester.  This portfolio will count as a demonstration of your learning and for your final grade.  

Professional and Academic Integrity 

As members of this class, this school, this school board, this community, and this world, you will be held to the highest standards of professional and academic integrity.  If you are communicating with someone from the community, or the school board, you will be expected to communicate in the most respectful and professional ways possible.  This includes, face to face (in person or virtual), emails and social media.  Click the link to access the OCDSB Academic Integrity page to get an understanding of the expectations for your classwork submissions.  All work must be accompanied by an APA formatted Works Cited page.  

What will we do in this course? 

School is about a place to explore, make mistakes and try again in a safe supportive environment.  School provides the stage for learning to occur.  The curriculum standards are there to ensure the minimal stage conditions are created, but they aren’t the learning.

This syllabus has been adapted from Professor Helmke’s syllabus from the University of Virginia.