November 2021 NSC Exam's Marking Guidelines

DBE has recently published the marking guidelines of the above-mentioned examination papers. Hence, it is also available on this website, or on the DBE website where other subjects are also available.

How Much Pi Do You Really Need? from Prof Rhett Allain

© https://www.freepik.com

Prof Rhett Allain from the Southeastern Louisiana University has written a wonderful article about "pi" with very interesting applications for physical science teachers. Click here for a pdf copy of the article, or click here for the original article in which further interesting links are found.

Drawing diagrams, circuit diagrams and chemical apparatus

I have updated this article on 26 October 2020. Scroll down for new information about Circuit Diagram.

Setting professionally-looking question papers are very important. Apart from the content and related issues, a good layout and neat, informative diagrams are necessary to have a professionally looking question paper.

The drawing facilities of MS Word are quite amazing and can take you a long way. The more you practise and using your imagination, the better you get at drawing diagrams. The downside is that it is time-consuming and one cannot always address all situations satisfactory. This post deals with a few hints to draw diagrams in your question papers.

Shapes in MS Word
Die following diagram was done by using MS Word and it gives a good idea of what is possible.

The rocket on the left was drawn by using different kinds of shapes, adding shadows and putting them together. The top and bottom halves were separated for the rocket on the right-hand side. You can actually draw fantastic diagrams with MS Word's drawing facilities; just use your imagination and go for it!

Graphs in MS Excel
When it comes to graphs where accurate readings are important, you cannot get better than MS Excel or perhaps Google Sheets. For this, I prefer Excel. Compile the necessary values with an applicable formula and use the spreadsheet's ability to draw a graph. Copy and paste as a picture into your question paper. Here is an example of something I have done for the vertical motion of two balls.

Chemsketch
During a visit to the Maryland State Department of Education in the USA in 2005, I was introduced to Chemsketch. Since then I have introduced numerous people to this. What an amazing piece of software! It can draw the structural formulae for organic compounds and it can even give you the IUPAC name of a structure. For learners, this is very useful to practise and name their structures. Using Chemsketch to draw the following structural formula takes a fraction of the time compared to what it takes by using MS Word.

Chemsketch is available free of charge on the internet; currently from
https://www.acdlabs.com/resources/freeware/chemsketch. You can also search for Chemsketch, download, install and there you go. It is distributed by ACD Labs. Chemsketch can also be used to draw chemical apparatus, etc. It has amazing pictures of apparatus.

TinyCAD
For years, I was searching for something (free) to draw electric circuits with. I can do it with MS Word, but it is time-consuming. A few years ago I found TinyCAD at https://sourceforge.net/ and this helps me to rather quickly draw something like this.

 

If there is something I cannot do with TinyCAD, I add it by using MSWord after I have pasted the diagram as a picture into MSWord. TinyCAD is also available free of charge.

Chemix
From the above, I was basically covered with diagrams although I wanted to have something else to draw chemistry equipment with too. Then I discovered Chemix at https://chemix.org/. It is an online drawing app to draw test-tubes, flasks, etc. You can save your drawings online or just copy and paste a drawing to your question paper (I like to use the snipping tool of Windows). Here is something I have put together as an example.

 

I am missing something here and there, but the speed and easiness getting a diagram done is a huge bonus. Anything that I need extra is done by MS Word; don't forget about the apparatus in Chemsketch as well. All these facilities can complement one another when you use them together. 

Circuit Diagram
Since I wrote this article in December 2018, I found another online app to draw electric circuit diagrams. It is called Circuit Diagram and is available at https://www.circuit-diagram.org/editor/. It is also easy to use. You can create a profile, save your diagrams for future use, and you can download them your circuits as png or svg images. As with TinyCAD, I draw certain parts of the diagram with this app, but I prefer to draw things like voltmeters and ammeters with MS Word in order to use more descriptive labels when needed. Here is something I have done with Circuit Diagram.

I trust you find this helpful. If you know of useful software to help us in our work as physical and technical science teachers, let me know. Send an email; look at the top left of the home page for detail.

Updated Info from Dr Angela Stott

Do not miss out on all the wonderful opportunities, activities, training and teaching offered by Dr Angela Stott.

Click here to access all the updated information, and follow the links from there (scroll down) to access all the other information.

Dr Stott - you are a star!

Thank you on behalf of all the teachers and learners!

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.