Technology and the Skilled Trades

This unit builds the foundation for everything you do in Ontario's Grade 9 technology course, Technology and the Skilled Trades (TAS1O). You will explore the ten broad-based technology areas, from construction and manufacturing to health care, hospitality and hairstyling, and learn the fundamental technological concepts (function, structure, material, aesthetics, ergonomics, safety, mechanism, power and energy, control, systems, fabrication, innovation and environmental sustainability) that people in every area use to develop products and services.

Next you will learn to work safely: Ontario's health and safety law and your rights and duties, how to spot hazards and control risk, how to use tools, personal protective equipment and safety devices with a safety mindset, how to protect your physical and mental well-being, and how to handle, store and dispose of materials using WHMIS and Canada's consumer hazard symbols.

Finally, you will connect technology to people and the planet: how needs and social, economic and environmental factors drive technology; the legal, ethical, social, economic and environmental considerations that shape it; contributions by Canadian innovators, including women, diverse communities, and First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples; the impacts of technology on everyday life, the environment, the economy and jobs; how impacts shape emerging technologies; and the careers, transferable skills, programs and pathways that lead into technology and the skilled trades.

The design process and hands-on projects of the course are in the companion unit on technological skills and design. All activities here use safe household materials, with clear notes for when a grown-up must supervise.

In this unit you will learn the core skills of technology and the skilled trades: how professionals turn a need into a product or service that really works. You will explore the technological concepts every designer uses (function, structure, materials, ergonomics, safety, sustainability and more) and the engineering design process, applying science, technology, engineering and mathematics as you go.

You will research real users, including their accessibility needs, and gather information from diverse sources, including First Nations, Métis and Inuit knowledge, respectfully. You will set qualitative and quantitative criteria, communicate ideas with sketches and orthographic technical drawings, and measure accurately in metric and imperial units. You will plan with project management tools (Gantt charts, critical paths, budgets, risk plans), choose materials with life-cycle thinking, select and maintain tools, and use industry documents such as bills of materials, cut lists, procedures and standardized recipes.

Finally, you will build and document a prototype (or deliver a service), test it with fair, repeated trials, troubleshoot problems, refine it using data, and communicate your results to a real audience. Two running examples connect the lessons: Amira's tablet stand for her grandfather, and a class hot chocolate booth at the Winter Carnival.

Remember from Grade 8: in Science and Technology you used the engineering design process, fair tests, systems thinking, mechanical advantage and efficiency, and in math the Pythagorean theorem. This unit builds on all of them across many technology areas.

Working at home: this course is usually taught in a school shop. Every activity here uses safe household materials, and any cutting, hot glue or tool use needs an adult to do it or supervise closely. Health and safety in depth, and technology's impacts and careers, are covered in this course's other unit.

Curriculum expectations covered: A1.1 to A1.7, A2.1 to A2.7 and A3.1 to A3.4, with safe tool use (A4.3) reinforced (Ontario Technological Education, Technology and the Skilled Trades, Grade 9, Open, TAS1O, 2024).