More Generous Grading in the 2022 Examinations

An interesting article about more generous grading of the 2022 examinations in the UK has appeared on https://www.bbc.com/news/education-60241364.

The similarities between the UK Covid problems and what we have experienced locally is nice reading material. Note the fact that marks awarded by teachers at the end of 2020 and 2021 were substantially higher than the normal results obtained in the case of examinations. 

The fact that learners wrote the usual national examinations in South Africa in grade 12 was actually a good decision to avoid large statistical discrepancies between the marks of different years.

This shows how important it is to make learners aware that SBA marks are very important to help them. Even tasks such as informal tests, that do not count for SBA, are important to prepare them for those tasks that DO count for the SBA. The value of practical work is very high. Therefore, it should NEVER be neglected.

A pdf copy of the article is available here.

Diagnostic Report of the November 2021 NSC Examination

The above-mentioned report has appeared on the DBE website.

 
Parts one and three deal with Physical Science and Technical Science respectively. Teachers are invited to download and scrutinise these reports. A few sets of additional and alternative information will be available that compliments the information of the Free State marking reports. The latter refers specifically to data that has been obtained from Free State learners. The Diagnostic Report refers to data obtained nationally. Click here to go to the page where you can download them.

Part two (languages) of the Diagnostic Report can be downloaded from the DBE Website. Currently, it is available under "Resources" and then "Reports".

Study Guides of DBE

Remember that DBE has developed a set of study guides for Physical and Technical Sciences (and other subjects). They are available on the DBE website at

https://www.education.gov.za/SelfStudyGuidesGrade10-12.aspx

Some of these documents have already been loaded on the hard drives distributed to schools. Others can be downloaded with the above-mentioned link.

Join an International Exchange Programme

A great opportunity for school learners to participate in an international exchange programme. Click here to get more information and put yourself into the opportunity! Teachers, please guide your learners to get all the information.

Marking Reports, Free State Assessment Guidelines and Examination Guidelines

Teachers, remember to download your documents as requested at start-up meetings.

Grade 12 Marking Reports for November 2021 and Examination Guidelines are available under "Pages" and then "Examinations (TEACHERS) ...", or you can click here to go there.

The 2022 editions of the Free State Assessment Guidelines are available under "Pages" and then "Free State Assessment Guidelines", or you can click here to go there.

Matric Results of 2021

Well done teachers, learners, and everybody

involved with the good results

of the Free State.

Reports of the NSC Examination of 2021

Diagnostic Reports (Internal Moderators' Reports) for Physical and Technical Sciences can be found here.

General reports can be found here.

Welcome Back to All Teachers: 2022

Welcome back to schools, Colleagues.

On behalf of the whole team of subject advisers, I want to wish you well for 2022. May it be a good year, and one thing I hope will happen, is that we return to as normal a year as possible.

Our best wishes to you!

Best Wishes for 2022

An Extraordinary Husband-Wife Combination

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Sauer

I have posted a few stories of extraordinary people that we can use for motivation in our daily lives as teachers. It is perhaps time to do so again, and this time around, I thought that we must highlight the life of Joachim Sauer, one of the world's most prominent quantum and computational chemistry researchers, who received his first doctorate in chemistry (Dr. rer. nat.) from Humboldt University in Berlin at the age of 25 in 1974.

Who is Joachim Sauer? He is the husband of Angela Merkel, of whom we have heard a lot recently when she stepped down as the first female chancellor of Germany. She served as chancellor from 2005 until recently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Merkel#Education_and_scientific_career

Everybody knows her as a formidable politician. However, you might find it interesting, in case you do not know it, that she speaks Russian fluently, and that she also holds a doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) in quantum chemistry, which she received in 1986, a few years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Before entering politics, she worked as a researcher and published several papers.

Back to Joachim Sauer. In 2019, the American Chemical Society (ACS) published an article about this extraordinary man. This article highlights a few things that we as teachers can use to make sure we do the best in our Physical Science classes. Please read the article of the ACS (I have highlighted a few sentences for you) and notice how Prof. Sauer referred to the role of "teachers" in his life:

• Somebody that exposed him to practical work. 
• Somebody that made sure he took part in Chemistry Olympiads.
• The role of an inspiring teacher.
• A teacher that was interesting.

Scoop up these noble qualities and become such a teacher in 2022. Inspire your learners, teach them to develop their abilities as much as possible, do practical work, and expose them to the best possible opportunities.

The link to the original article of the ACS is here. The pdf copy in which I have underlined a few sentences is available here. Apart from that, work through some of the Chemistry info to develop an appreciation for the talents some people have. There is a lot of further information available on the internet.

I trust this means something to my readers!

A Jewel from Einstein

I discovered this jewel on the Facebook page of Wonderful Engineering. What a lesson! 

One day Albert Einstein wrote on the board:
 9 x 1  = 9
 9 x  2 = 18
 9 x  3 = 27
 9 x  4 = 36
 9 x  5 = 45
 9 x  6 = 54
 9 x  7 = 63
 9 x  8 = 72
 9 x  9 = 81
 9 x 10 = 91

The chaos started suddenly in the hall because Einstein made a mistake.  Correct answer 9 × 10 = 90. And all his students ridiculed him.

Einstein waited for everyone to be silent and said: "Despite the fact that I analyzed nine problems correctly, no one congratulated me. But when I made one mistake, everyone started laughing. This means that even if a person is successful, society will notice his slightest mistake. And they'll like that. So don't let criticism destroy your dreams. The only person who never makes a mistake is someone who does nothing."

Best Wishes: Grade 12

On behalf of the Free State Department of Education and the full team of subject advisers, we want to wish our grade 12 learners and their teachers all of the best with their final preparations for their examinations tomorrow, 12 November, and Monday, 15 November 2021.

Stay calm, prepare well, and do your utmost best!

Exerce Perfectioni

Broadcasts with Exam Tips for Grade 12

© Gerd Altmann of 
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/success-profit-successful-aspiring-617130/

This week, on 9 & 12 November, there will be broadcasts with examinations tips for our grade 12 learners. It goes out via the community radio stations, but also via the Free State Digital Learning Facebook channel in which video/presentations will be available.

We want to motivate our learners to use these last support sessions to pick up as many as possible good tips.

Here are the time slots for the 9th:




Here are the time slots for the 12th:

Vacancy Lists for Office-based and Institution-based Posts

Vacancy lists in the Free State Department of Education have recently been published.

Click here for office-based posts.

Click here for institution-based posts (schools).

Cancellation of IBP broadcasts (Update)

 All IBP broadcasts for the rest of 2021 are unfortunately cancelled.

Virtual memo discussions for grades 11 and 10 are now planned for Physical Sciences. The same time slots will be used as those that have been arranged for the IBP memo discussions. 

Virtual memo discussions were arranged for Technical Sciences from scratch. 

See the calendar for detail.

Cancellation of IBP broadcasts

The IBP broadcasts of this week have unfortunately been cancelled for some reason. Please note that it affects our broadcasts for Physical and Technical Sciences on 3 and 5 November. Teachers must please inform their grade 12 learners.

We will keep you updated about the broadcasts from next week onwards.    

FutureMe Resources

Here is a short invitation from Jodee Sylvester from FutureMe.

Good day Educator(s) ✨

Hope you are well.

For the next 2 months we’ll be shining a light on the world of science, tech, and design. Your learners can join @futuremeza on Instagram Live every Thursday at 5 o’clock, when we’ll be exploring career paths and tackling workplace skills with industry experts.

Attached is a schedule (click here to access it) of all the upcoming IG Live events, please share with your learners if possible.

Learners can also participate in the Journey of Self-Discovery (Free personality & MB10 Interest assessments and they will get a custom STEAM career booklet each)…Link on the flyer!

We are aware that it’s examination time, and we want to wish you and your learners all the best! 🌟

Kind Regards,
Jodee Sylvester

Dr Angela is helping!

Do not miss this opportunity! Dr Angela Stott can help you. 

Here is her message.

Matric Physical Sciences: 😵‍💫 Remember last year's difficult Work, Energy, Power question? 😖

👩🏻‍🏫 Explained here for you and used as an opportunity to clarify concepts about Force, Work, Energy and Power, the Work-energy theorem, and the 🔄 relationships between these concepts.🧩

1️⃣: Types of force, Kinetic energy, Work done by non-conservative forces: https://youtu.be/2oiHSzSsPzE

 2️⃣: Power calculation with Force focus: https://youtu.be/YLG46X2R6OY

 3️⃣: Power calculation with Energy focus: https://youtu.be/2zGQXH7ILrs

Full P1 PS matric exam prep playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWQ2SVe978FxRCqBZ2now_HHXBIWfUr7W

Full P2 matric P2 PS matric exam prep playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWQ2SVe978Fx8t8IRU3D27tSaNGA6DbQD

Thank you for helping our learners, Dr Stott.
Click here to read another post about support by Dr Stott.

IBP Broadcasts for Term Four

The final IBP broadcast schedule for term four is available by clicking here to download a PDF file. The dates on which Physical Sciences and Technical Sciences will take place are highlighted in yellow.

Except for memo discussions, these broadcasts are focused on helping learners. So learners, check which topics will be available and scoop up the gold to capacitate yourself. After the live broadcasts, the videos are available on the YouTube channel of FS-IBP Online.

Woza Matrics and Tswelopele: Don't Forget to Use

Learners in grades 10 to 12 should not forget about these resources to help them with their preparation for examinations.

Tswelopele

Tswelopele has resources for grades 10 to 12
(in fact from grade R).


Click here to download this flyer. In the flyer are links to click to go further.

Woza Matrics

Click here to download this flyer. In the flyer are links to click to go further.


A previous post about Woza Matrics is available here. From there follow links to older posts for more information.

*** Enjoy and all our best wishes! ***