Ontario Curriculum Grade 11

Earth Materials

Overall Expectations

By the end of this course, students will:
* distinguish between minerals and rocks, and describe the formation and characteristics of both;
* apply a series of specific tests to identify minerals and rocks, including those in the local area, and to determine their physical properties;
* demonstrate an understanding of society’s dependence on Earth materials, of the effects of developments in technology on the exploration and mining of Earth materials, and of the ways in which the use and extraction of Earth materials have affected natural and human-made environments.

Specific Expectations

Understanding Basic Concepts

By the end of this course, students will:
* identify different minerals by their physical and chemical properties, and demonstrate understanding that minerals are the constituents of rocks;
* describe the formation of igneous rocks (plutonic and volcanic), and identify their distinguishing characteristics (e.g., composition and flow behaviour; characteristics of volcanic rocks that indicate the type of volcano in which they were formed);
* describe the formation of clastic and chemical sediments, and of the corresponding sedimentary rocks;
* describe the different ways in which metamorphic rocks are formed (i.e., through changes in temperature, pressure, and chemical conditions) and the factors that contribute to their variety (e.g., variation in parent rock);
* explain (e.g., by interpreting a rock cycle diagram) how rocks and their constituent minerals are continuously being recycled.

Developing Skills of Inquiry and Communication

By the end of this course, students will:
* apply a series of tests (e.g., tests evaluating hardness, streak, and density) to identify common minerals (e.g., quartz, calcite, potassium feldspar, plagioclase feldspar, muscovite, biotite, talc, graphite, gold, silver);
* identify and classify selected hand samples of unknown minerals on the basis of their physical properties (e.g., sort the groups by hardness, colour, streak);
* apply a series of tests to identify common igneous rocks (e.g., granite, obsidian, andesite, basalt, gabbro, peridotite), and classify each according to its origin (e.g., volcanic, plutonic), texture (e.g., coarse-or fine-grained, vesicular, glassy), and composition (e.g., mafic, felsic, intermediate);
* apply a series of tests to identify sedimentary rocks (e.g., conglomerate, breccia, sandstone, shale, limestone, chert, gypsum, rock salt, coal), and classify each according to its origin (e.g., clastic, chemical), texture (e.g., coarse- or fine-grained, detrital), and composition;
* apply a series of tests to identify and classify metamorphic rocks (e.g., slate, phyllite, schist, gneiss, quartzite, marble) and, on the basis of the characteristics of each type, identify its parent rock and the temperature, pressure, and chemical conditions at its formation;
* investigate and describe the geological setting of the local area (e.g., examine the geological setting of a local river/stream bed or lakeshore, and identify and classify rock types on the basis of representative samples collected at the site).

Relating Science to Technology, Society, and the Environment

By the end of this course, students will:
* explain the importance of minerals and other Earth resources (e.g., sand, gravel, dimension stone, oil and gas), and of exploration for these resources, for the local, provincial, and national economies;
* describe and assess the role of Earth materials in the safe disposal of industrial and urban waste and toxic materials;
* describe the uses and evaluate the economic importance of minerals, rocks, and metallic resources (e.g., gold, silver, nickel, copper) and non-metallic resources (e.g., sand and gravel, aggregates, oil and gas, lime, gypsum, industrial minerals, gems);
* describe the use of dimension stone (e.g., in buildings and cemeteries) and explain how the development of new technologies has influenced the type of stone used in the local area (e.g., relate advances in the technology for quarrying and cutting stone to changes in the type of stone used);
* describe some of the technologies used to recover natural resources from the Earth, and evaluate economic, social, and environmental ramifications of their use (e.g., the need for fewer workers and the practice of site rehabilitation resulting from the use of improved technologies in the mining of nickel).