The map. Ontario Science and Technology splits into 4 content strands plus a STEM/process strand on top. The 4 strands appear in every grade, but the topics get more complex each year. Use this page to know which strand you're in and what's coming.
🌱 Life Systems
Living things: how they're built, what they need, how they fit together in ecosystems.
What you learn
- Characteristics of living things
- Plants, animals, and habitats
- Food chains, food webs, ecosystems
- Body systems (digestive, respiratory, etc.)
- Biodiversity and conservation
- Cells (G7-8)
Progression: G4 habitats → G5 human organ systems → G6 biodiversity → G7 interactions in ecosystems → G8 cells and systems.
⚛️ Matter & Energy
What stuff is made of, how it changes, and how energy moves between things.
What you learn
- States of matter: solid, liquid, gas
- Physical vs chemical change
- Heat, light, sound, electricity
- Properties of materials
- Atoms and molecules (G7-8)
- Fluids, particle theory (G8)
Progression: G4 sound + light → G5 properties of matter + heat → G6 air and flight → G7 mixtures and solutions → G8 fluids + particle theory.
⚙️ Structures & Mechanisms
How things are built and how they work. Forces, machines, and design.
What you learn
- Pulleys, gears, levers, simple machines
- Forces (push, pull, gravity, friction)
- Stability and strength of structures
- Design and build challenges
- Mechanical efficiency (G7-8)
- Engineering trade-offs
Progression: G4 simple machines (pulleys/gears) → G5 forces acting on structures → G6 flight → G7 form and function → G8 systems in action.
🌍 Earth & Space
The planet we live on, the sky we look up at, and the systems that connect them.
What you learn
- Rocks, minerals, soil
- Weather, water cycle, climate
- Solar system, moon phases, eclipses
- Earth's resources and conservation
- Plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes (G7-8)
- Climate change and human impact
Progression: G4 rocks/soil + habitats → G5 conservation of energy + earth's water cycle → G6 space (solar system) → G7 earth's crust → G8 water systems / climate.
STEM / Inquiry strand (sits on top of all 4).
Every Ontario science unit also asks you to use the inquiry process: ask questions, plan, conduct fair tests, analyze results, communicate findings. Plus the coding and design strand: design solutions, build prototypes, and use coding tools to model science. See the scientific method page for the inquiry framework.