Sweden Mellanstadiet School Syllabus - Chemistry

Course Overview

The Chemistry curriculum for Mellanstadiet (years 4-6) in Sweden aims to cultivate students' curiosity about the world around them. The curriculum encourages students to inquire about chemical processes and the properties and structure of matter, based on their own experiences and current events. The curriculum emphasizes developing students' ability to differentiate between scientific and other ways of describing and explaining the world.

Learning Objectives

By the end of Mellanstadiet, students should be able to:

• Understand basic chemical concepts and explanatory models to describe and explain relationships in nature, society, and the human body.
• Use chemistry to analyze information, communicate, and take a stance on issues related to the environment and health.
• Conduct systematic investigations in chemistry.

Core Content (Years 4-6)

• Chemistry in Nature, Society, and the Human Body:
• The structure of matter, visualized using simple particle models.
• Classification of substances and materials based on properties such as solubility, conductivity, acidity, and basicity.
• Properties and cycle of water.
• Properties and composition of air.
• Photosynthesis and combustion as examples of chemical reactions in nature.
• Fossil and renewable fuels and their impact on the climate.
• Food content and the importance of nutrients for health.
• Common chemicals in the home, their use and impact on the environment and humans, and how they are labeled and should be handled.
• Processing of raw materials into products (e.g., metals, paper, and plastic) and how these products can be reused or recycled.
• Systematic Investigations and Information Analysis:
• Observations and experiments using both analog and digital tools, including planning, execution, evaluation of results, and documentation with words, images, and tables.
• Discoveries in chemistry and their significance for human living conditions and perspectives on nature.
• Critical review and use of information related to chemistry.