Environmental Science and Technology, Secondary 4

Unit 1: The Living World

The EST-specific overlay on the Living World: the ecological footprint, ecotoxicology and contaminant accumulation, and the Mendelian genetics of heredity.

• Ecological footprint
• Ecotoxicology and contaminants
• Bioconcentration, bioaccumulation and the toxicity threshold

• Heredity, genes, alleles and cross-breeding
• Genotype, phenotype, dominance and recessivity
• Protein synthesis and DNA

Unit 2: The Material World

The EST-specific overlay on the Material World: electrolyte strength and reaction energy, stoichiometry and the mole, atomic structure and periodicity, nomenclature and bonds, nuclear transformations, electrostatics and circuit laws, and work-energy and specific heat.

• Strength of electrolytes
• Oxidation reactions
• Endothermic and exothermic reactions
• Stoichiometry, the mole and Avogadro's number

• The simplified atomic model and isotopes
• Periodicity of properties
• Nomenclature, notation and polyatomic ions
• Types of bonds: covalent and ionic

• Nuclear stability, radioactivity, fission and fusion
• Coulomb's law and the electrical field
• Kirchhoff's laws and the solenoid field
• Work, force and mechanical energy
• Heat energy and specific heat capacity

Unit 3: The Earth and Space

The EST-specific overlay on the Earth and Space: the phosphorus cycle and soil buffering capacity, eutrophication, and atmospheric contamination.

• The phosphorus cycle and soil depletion
• Aquatic pollution and eutrophication
• Combustion emissions and atmospheric spread

Unit 4: The Technological World

The EST-specific overlay on the Technological World: drawings with dimensional tolerances, degrees of freedom, heat treatments, precision manufacturing and measurement, and the biotechnology of cloning and wastewater biodegradation.

• Exploded and assembly drawings with tolerances
• Adhesion, friction and degrees of freedom
• Heat treatments of steel
• Manufacturing, machining and shaping
• Precision measurement

• Cloning and its applications
• Wastewater treatment and biodegradation