Alberta · Grade 11 · 2026–27 · For parents

What your child learns in Grade 11 in Alberta

In Grade 11, Alberta students work through Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, French — 453 specific skills across 55 units, set by the province's official curriculum. This page lists them all in plain words, subject by subject, so you know exactly what "how was school?" is actually covering this year.

13Subjects
55Units
453Skills

Built from the official Alberta curriculum · free to start · web, iPhone & Android

How to read this page

Alberta publishes its curriculum as long official documents written for teachers. This page is the same content, translated for the fridge door: each subject below shows this year's units and the skills inside them. If a skill sounds unfamiliar, that's the point — now you know what to ask about at dinner.

Mathematics this year

Math builds in layers, and this year's layer matters — each unit below leans on the ones before it. In Alberta, that's Mathematics 20-1 — 3 units, 43 skills.

Algebra and Number

  • Absolute value as distance
  • Radicals with variable radicands
  • Solving radical equations
+ 10 more skills in this unit →

Trigonometry

  • Standard position
  • Ratios from a terminal-arm point
  • The sine law
+ 5 more skills in this unit →

Relations and Functions

  • Trinomials and differences of squares
  • Graphing y = |f(x)|
  • Reading y = a(x − p)² + q
+ 19 more skills in this unit →

See the full Mathematics 20-1 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Mathematics this year

Math builds in layers, and this year's layer matters — each unit below leans on the ones before it. In Alberta, that's Mathematics 20-2 — 6 units, 27 skills.

Measurement

  • Solving problems with rates
  • Scale factor and area of similar 2-D shapes
+ 2 more skills in this unit →

Geometry

  • Deriving proofs about angles
  • Solving problems with angle properties
  • The sine law
+ 3 more skills in this unit →

Number and Logic

  • Making conjectures by inductive reasoning
  • Strategies for spatial puzzles and games
  • Simplifying and combining radicals
+ 5 more skills in this unit →

Statistics

  • Standard deviation and the normal curve
  • Confidence intervals and confidence levels
+ 2 more skills in this unit →

Relations and Functions

  • Vertex and axis of symmetry
  • Solving quadratic equations by factoring
+ 2 more skills in this unit →

Mathematics Research Project

  • Researching and presenting a mathematics topic

See the full Mathematics 20-2 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Mathematics this year

Math builds in layers, and this year's layer matters — each unit below leans on the ones before it. In Alberta, that's Mathematics 20-3 — 5 units, 26 skills.

Measurement

  • Surface area in SI and imperial units
  • Volume in SI and imperial units
+ 2 more skills in this unit →

Geometry

  • Problems with two right triangles
  • Reading and using scale
  • Modelling and drawing 3-D views
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

Number

  • Strategies for numerical puzzles and games
  • Building a personal budget
  • Understanding compound interest
+ 5 more skills in this unit →

Algebra

  • Rearranging a formula for a variable
  • Slope as rise over run
+ 3 more skills in this unit →

Statistics

  • Creating the right graph for the data
+ 1 more skill in this unit →

See the full Mathematics 20-3 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

English Language Arts this year

Reading, writing, and speaking skills deepen this year — less "can they read it," more "what do they make of it." In Alberta, that's English Language Arts 20-1 — 4 units, 28 skills.

Exploring Ideas & Perspectives

  • Forming tentative understandings
  • Considering new perspectives
+ 3 more skills in this unit →

Comprehending Literature & Other Texts

  • Discerning and analyzing context
  • Relating form to purpose and content
  • Connecting self, text, culture and milieu
+ 6 more skills in this unit →

Managing Ideas & Information (Inquiry & Research)

  • Focusing purpose and form
  • Selecting, recording and organizing information
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

Creating Oral, Print & Multimedia Texts

  • Assessing the text-creation context
  • Enhancing thought, support and detail
+ 6 more skills in this unit →

See the full English Language Arts 20-1 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

English Language Arts this year

Reading, writing, and speaking skills deepen this year — less "can they read it," more "what do they make of it." In Alberta, that's English Language Arts 20-2 — 4 units, 28 skills.

Exploring Ideas & Perspectives

  • Forming tentative understandings
  • Considering new perspectives
+ 3 more skills in this unit →

Comprehending Everyday & Workplace Texts

  • Discerning and analyzing context
  • Relating form to purpose
  • Connecting self, text, culture and milieu
+ 6 more skills in this unit →

Managing Ideas & Information (Inquiry & Research)

  • Focusing purpose and form
  • Selecting, recording and organizing information
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

Creating Texts

  • Assessing the text-creation context
  • Enhancing thought, support and detail
+ 6 more skills in this unit →

See the full English Language Arts 20-2 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Science this year

Science gets more structured this year — real investigations, real explanations, real vocabulary. In Alberta, that's Biology 20 — 4 units, 46 skills.

Energy & Matter Exchange in the Biosphere

  • One-way flow of energy
  • Biogeochemical cycles
  • Gas exchange and atmospheric composition
+ 6 more skills in this unit →

Ecosystems & Population Change

  • Species, population, community, ecosystem
  • Taxonomy and binomial nomenclature
  • Variability from mutation
+ 8 more skills in this unit →

Photosynthesis & Cellular Respiration

  • Photosynthesis and energy storage
  • Chemiosmosis and ATP synthesis
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

Human Systems

  • Digestive & respiratory structures
  • Processing matter into the blood
  • Structures of the heart
+ 17 more skills in this unit →

See the full Biology 20 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Science this year

Science gets more structured this year — real investigations, real explanations, real vocabulary. In Alberta, that's Chemistry 20 — 4 units, 54 skills.

Diversity of Matter & Chemical Bonding

  • Naming ionic compounds
  • Periodic table and electron dot diagrams for ionic bonding
  • Naming molecular substances
+ 13 more skills in this unit →

Forms of Matter: Gases

  • Real and ideal gases
+ 3 more skills in this unit →

Matter as Solutions, Acids & Bases

  • Pure substances, mixtures and homogeneous mixtures
  • Ways of expressing concentration
  • Solubility and its factors
+ 19 more skills in this unit →

Quantitative Relationships in Chemical Changes

  • Predicting reaction products by type
  • Gravimetric, solution and gas stoichiometry
  • Theoretical and actual yields
+ 9 more skills in this unit →

See the full Chemistry 20 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Science this year

Science gets more structured this year — real investigations, real explanations, real vocabulary. In Alberta, that's Physics 20 — 4 units, 45 skills.

Kinematics

  • Displacement, velocity and acceleration
  • Relative motion
+ 3 more skills in this unit →

Dynamics

  • Net force changes velocity
  • Static and kinetic friction
  • Gravity as a fundamental force
+ 10 more skills in this unit →

Circular Motion, Work & Energy

  • Circular motion as 2-D motion
  • Satellite and planetary motion
  • Mechanical energy
+ 10 more skills in this unit →

Oscillatory Motion & Mechanical Waves

  • Period and frequency
  • Waves as particles in SHM
  • Reflection of waves
+ 11 more skills in this unit →

See the full Physics 20 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Science this year

Science gets more structured this year — real investigations, real explanations, real vocabulary. In Alberta, that's Science 20 — 4 units, 58 skills.

Chemical Changes

  • Dissolving as a prerequisite for reactions
  • Balancing single-replacement equations
  • Materials from the petrochemical industry
+ 13 more skills in this unit →

Changes in Motion

  • Scalars and vectors
  • Defining momentum
+ 8 more skills in this unit →

The Changing Earth

  • Challenges of studying deep time
  • Seismic waves and earthquake energy
  • Radioisotopes and dating
+ 14 more skills in this unit →

Changes in Living Systems

  • Analyzing a local ecosystem
  • The biogeochemical cycles
  • Variation and the forces of evolution
+ 12 more skills in this unit →

See the full Science 20 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Science this year

Science gets more structured this year — real investigations, real explanations, real vocabulary. In Alberta, that's Science 24 — 4 units, 26 skills.

Applications of Matter & Chemical Change

  • Technology behind everyday materials and energy
  • Conservation of mass and balancing reactions
+ 3 more skills in this unit →

Understanding Common Energy Conversions

  • Energy transforming from one form to another
  • Energy conversions in electrical devices
  • Energy conversions in chemical and biological systems
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

Disease Defence & Human Health

  • Societal and environmental factors in health
  • Natural defences against pathogens
+ 5 more skills in this unit →

Motion, Change & Transportation Safety

  • Scientific evidence versus personal opinion
  • Position and speed with numbers
  • Force and mass in a collision
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

See the full Science 24 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Social Studies this year

Social studies widens the lens this year — history, geography, and how communities and governments work. In Alberta, that's Social Studies 20-1 — 4 units, 25 skills.

Nation, Nationalism & Identity

  • Expressions of nationalism
  • Nationalism as identity
+ 5 more skills in this unit →

The Pursuit of National Interest

  • Nationalism and the pursuit of national interest
  • Ultranationalism in times of conflict
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

Nationalism & Internationalism

  • Motives for involvement in world affairs
  • Organizations that promote internationalism
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

Contemporary & Future Canadian Identity

  • Perspectives on national identity in Canada
  • Challenges and opportunities of national unity
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

See the full Social Studies 20-1 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Social Studies this year

Social studies widens the lens this year — history, geography, and how communities and governments work. In Alberta, that's Social Studies 20-2 — 4 units, 26 skills.

Nation, Nationalism & Identity

  • Expressions of nationalism
  • Nationalism as identity
+ 5 more skills in this unit →

National Interest & Ultranationalism

  • The concept of national interest
  • Ultranationalism in times of conflict
+ 5 more skills in this unit →

Nationalism & Internationalism

  • Motives for involvement in world affairs
  • Organizations that promote internationalism
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

Contemporary & Future Canadian Identity

  • Perspectives on national identity in Canada
  • Challenges and opportunities of national unity
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

See the full Social Studies 20-2 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

French this year

French builds through listening, speaking, and simple reading — confidence first, grammar second. In Alberta, that's French Language Arts 20-2 (immersion) — 5 units, 21 skills.

Valorisation du français

  • Valoriser son apprentissage du français

Compréhension orale

  • Comprendre des discours oraux pour s'informer
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

Compréhension écrite

  • Comprendre des textes écrits pour s'informer
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

Production orale

  • Parler pour transmettre de l'information
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

Production écrite

  • Rédiger des textes pour transmettre de l'information
+ 4 more skills in this unit →

See the full French Language Arts 20-2 (immersion) curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Three ways parents use this list

At report-card timeMatch the teacher's comments to the units above — "working on number sense" stops being a mystery phrase.
At parent-teacher nightPick one unit per subject and ask "how is my child doing with this?" — specific questions get specific answers.
When they're stuckFind the exact skill on this page, open it in MapleMind, and the tutor teaches just that — step by step, as many times as it takes.

Common questions

What does my child learn in Grade 11 in Alberta?

Alberta's official curriculum sets out Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, French for Grade 11 — 453 specific skills in total. The big themes: Mathematics covers algebra and number and trigonometry; Mathematics covers measurement and geometry; Mathematics covers measurement and geometry. The full list is on this page.

Is this the official Alberta curriculum?

It's built from Alberta's official program of studies, reorganized into plain language — and each subject links to a course page that quotes the ministry's own wording and links to the government source, so you can check our work. One honest caveat: we're not the ministry, curricula do change, and we can't guarantee this reflects the very latest revision, so confirm anything important against the live provincial curriculum data.

My child is finding one of these skills hard. What can I do?

That's normal — every skill on this page is one most kids wobble on at first. MapleMind teaches any of them one-on-one: a short lesson in plain words, a worked example, then solving together. It's free to start, on any device, in 14 languages.

Keep exploring

Knowing the list is half the job

The other half is the teaching — and that's what MapleMind does. Pick any skill on this page and see it taught properly, free, in under a minute.

MapleMind isn't affiliated with any ministry of education. We build these guides from each province's official program of studies and refresh them from time to time — but curricula change, and we can't guarantee this page reflects the very latest revision. Always confirm against the live provincial curriculum data. Last updated 2026-08-15.