These course specifications are based on and are an update of the 1981 Alberta Social Studies Curriculum. They are intended to: (1) identify the core content and objectives for the Grade 9 Social Studies Curriculum; and (2) present the core content and objectives in a form that helps to develop test items. Three major course objectives are covered: values, knowledge, and skills. The specific weighting of course objectives is: values, a total of 20%, including 5% for understandings, 5% for competencies, and 10% for attitudes; knowledge, a total of 40% distributed evenly between 3 topics: (1) industrialization in the 18th and 19th centuries, (2) central planning in the USSR, and (3) industrialization in Canada; and skills objectives, weighted 40% with specific weighting distributed among 3 areas: inquiry skills, participation, and the inquiry process. (RSL)