Best wishes for 2015

Best wishes to all for 2015.

May it be a good year for you! Keep on to fulfill a positive role and contribute in a positive way to improve our education system as a whole and physical science in particular.

Merry Christmas 2014

To all the readers of hwscience.blogspot.com - have a joyful, good and merry Christmas. May you and your families enjoy the best of this special time of the year!

The Christmas Gift of Knowing You

The Christmas season fills our hearts with joy;

Bright, happy days bring special kinds of pleasure.
We're wrapped in the excitement of it all,

The sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes we treasure.

Yet when we have some quiet time to think
About our finest blessings all year through,

We focus on our family and our friends,

And appreciate the gift of knowing you!

By Joanna Fuchs

American teachers get a tax benefit for buying educational material with their own money

How would you feel if you can claim back some of your money via SARS for buying material you need in your classroom? Sounds like a very good idea! A bill has just been passed making this possible for American teachers. Read more here.

In the past it was actually allowed in South Africa to claim expenses, within certain prescriptions, for your study at home. Everybody is supposed to know that teachers are supposed to prepare their work at home, mark books, etc. For that they need proper spaces and the guidelines allowed claiming for that from income tax. Unfortunately, it was stopped towards the end of the nineties.

Are cell phones and power lines harmful to us?

It seems as if cellphones and power lines do not harm us. Read more here ...

Drones are used for invigilation

New role for technology ... drones are doing the invigilation during examinations. Read more about it here. Other interesting articles, including this one, is available here.

Grade 12 marking: End in sight

The end is in sight! Don't "float" during the last few days (hours?); keep up the accuracy and pay special attention to concentration. Best luck!

One week of marking completed

One week completed for the senior teams at the 2014 grade 12 marking session, and the fifth day for the markers. Hope you are still fine colleagues. Keep up the energy, focus and best of luck.

Grade 12 marking: 2014

(C) imgkid.com

Best wishes to all colleagues who are going to mark the grade 12 scripts of 2014. The senior teams have already arrived yesterday, and the markers will DV arrive tomorrow. Stay focused, mark accurately and thanks for your input!

Einstein's documents

Thousands of Einstein's documents are now a click away. Read more about it here. A collection of the web addresses for the articles is available here.

The 33 digital skills every 21st century teacher should have

Read more here ...

Provincial winner in National Teaching Awards

On the 14th of November 2014, Mrs P M Motseki (second from the right) of Lekgarietse Secondary School in Welkom/Thabong was announced as the National Teaching Awards provincial winner in the category Excellence in Physical Science Teaching. We are very proud of Mrs Motseki and congratulations to her. Best wishes to her for the national competition. 

On the picture is from left to right: Mrs Z Alexander (Chief Director: Educational Development and Support), Prof. L C Jita (School of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Technology Education at the UFS), Mrs P M Motseki and The Honourable MEC for Education, Mr T Makgoe.