New trends in physics teaching, v.4; The ... - unesdoc - Unesco

Qatar
Grade 8: Theme: ‘The use and development of the natural resources in the environment’
Unit 1 - The various natural resources.
Unit 2 - The use and development of renewable resources.
Unit 3 - The use and development of finite resources.
Unit 4 - Energy and industrialization in Qatar.
Unit 5 - The role of machines in improving the investment of natural resources.
Grade 9: Theme: ‘The building units and systems in the Universe, our largest environment’
Unit 1 - The atom is the building unit of all forms of matter; atoms form higher order systems
of matter.
Unit 2 - The cell is the building unit of the living organisms. Cells form systems in the living
body.
Unit 3 - The building units and systems in the Universe (macroscopic level).
Unit 4 - The Universe as the principal source for energy received by the Earth.
Within each unit there is a variety of modules inter-related together in a lattice to form the
whole. The same is true of the group of units composing a theme for a specific grade. Each theme
leads naturally to the next. This means children cannot do well in the second theme (grade 8)
unless they study the first theme (grade 7).
As an example, we now list the energy and energy related modules in each unit in grade 7.
Examples from grade 7
Unit 1 :
1. Each biosystem in Qatar involves energy components in various forms; sources of energy
in Qatar. (This is a field study module on the marine and desert biosystems.)
2. The role of energy in defining the characteristics of a biosystem. (Heat, light, running
water, humidity, wind . . . etc.)
3. We explore our environment and study it through the effect of energy forms on our senses
and our measuring equipment. (Light and vision, sound and hearing, touch, equipment for
precise measurements of heat, light, humidity, rainfall, sea wave energy etc.)
4. Making some thorough measurements on the energy components of both the desert and
marine environments in the field.
Unit 2:
1. The energy factors (components) in any biosystem. (The nature of heat, light, and their
role in the life cycle and on the survival of the living organisms.)
2. Climatic and physical factors resulting from the interaction between energy and matter.
(The role of energy in the water, carbon and wind cycles - and the role of energy changes in the
formation of soil.)
3. Adaptation of living organisms in a biosystem to the changes in the energy factors. (Adaptation
to heat changes in sea and on land in the various biosystems, the range of adaptation in cold-
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