Curricular Competencies

The BC 2016 Science curriculum "Curricular Competencies" (similar to the "Processes and Skills of Science" in the 2005 curriculum) are an excellent ladder of science skills for students to progress through.

I would like to stress that counter to the often-emphasized 'hypothesis testing' in elementary science classes, careful observation and accurate recording of data are the most important skills to master first. Hypothesis testing will then follow naturally, and with understanding of its purpose.

A summary of the Curricular Competencies, showing the new skills added at each grade (a more detailed table is attached below):

• Curiosity, questioning, observation, manipulation, non-standard measuring, First People's knowledge sharing, discussion and drawing of observations, oral sharing (grade K and up)
• Simple predictions, recording, classifying and tabulating data, identifying patterns in data, comparing observations with others and with predictions, written communication (grade 1 and up)
• Planning inquiries, ethical responsibilities, formal measuring using tools, data collection, graphing data, making simple inferences, evaluating fair testing, cooperatively designing projects, diagrams and simple reports (grade 3 and up)
• Sustained curiosity, planning investigations, deciding variables, data selection, risk assessment, identify connections in data, consideration of alternative ideas, error recognition and method improvement, identify assumptions and social implications, reflect on others' experiences (grade 5 and up)
• Hypothesis testing, collaboratively plan investigations, accurately measure and record data, other ways of knowing and local knowledge, keys and scale models, connections between own data and secondary sources, identify relationships and draw conclusions, assess adequacy of controls and data quality, awareness of assumptions and bias, healthy scepticism, using scientific language and representations, variety of perspectives and experiences of place (grade 7)

For the activities and lesson plans on this website, it would be overwhelming to link to the curricular competencies they each cover, as every hands on activity naturally incorporates many competencies. The teacher can incorporate the competencies through how the results are recorded and analysed, and through discussion during the activity.

The Science Big Ideas and Content for each grade is also attached below for reference.