Free State Physical Science Convention: Overview

A highlight of the Free State's physical science events! This year held with the support of North-West University and the industries in Sasolburg.

Our learners from Lejweleputswa.

Our learners and teachers from Rearabetswe, Harmony,
JC Motumi, Lebogang and Lephola.

Our learners from Welkom-Gimnasium with Pukki!

Dancers entertain us during the gala dinner!

Visits to industries, NWU Science Centre,

academic departments, displays and amazing lectures

An enjoyable event - we are going again in 2017!

Free State Physical Science Convention

Congratulations to all the learners and their teachers in Lejweleputswa who have attended the Free State Physical Science Convention. Learners were invited to attend based on their achievement in the grade 11 and 12 Free State Physical Science Olympiads that were written on 25 July 2016, and by entering projects.

Based on the olympiads, the following learners were invited:

Grade 11
Thapelo Mahloko (Harmony)
Kabelo Kelane (Lebogang)
Megan Papp (St Andrew's Welkom)
Elizabeth de Vries (St Dominic's College)
Jared Tavares (St Dominic's College)
Sybrand van Sittert (Welkom-Gimnasium)
Magriet van Sittert (Welkom-Gimnasium)

Grade 12
Michaela de Caires (Bothaville High)
Xolisa Monye (Harmony)
Lihle Mvana (JC Motumi)
Lehlohonolo Makhetha (Lebogang)
Tlotliso Skalk (Lephola)
Teboho Setebe (Rearabetswe)
Hallelujah Shketa (Welkom-Gimnasium)

Projects
The following learners have qualified to present their projects (Title of project in brackets):

• Connie Kele of Welkom-Gimnasium (Power Chair)
• Sebastian van Blommenstein of Welkom-Gimnasium (How temperature affects the strength of a magnet)
• Robert Bristow of Welkom-Gimnasium (Candles and rocket fuel)
• Cherise Basson of Welkom-Gimnasium (Safe, effective, alternative glue)
• Megan Papp of St Andrews, Welkom (Pump you way to cleaner water)
• Hanli Vorstman of Welkom-Gimnasium (Electroplating at home)
• Zani Benson of Riebeeckstad High (Voorkoming van hitte-uitputting kan lewens red)

The convention took place in Potchefstroom and Sasolburg and a very exciting programme was arranged for all.

Be careful teachers: You can face legal action for liking or sharing a Facebook post

An interesting article by mybroadband.co.za about this issue is available here.

Are you interested in a bursary from Harmony Gold?

Applications are open for bursaries from Harmony Gold for 2017. Closing date is 31 August 2016.


The advertisement is available here.
The application form is available here.

You’ve been charging your smartphone the wrong way

How you charge your smartphone can affect its battery life – here’s how you should be doing it.



Charging your smartphone’s lithium-ion battery in short bursts can improve its lifespan, while leaving your phone plugged in once it is 100% charged is bad for the power source.

Mybroadband.co.za has a nice article on this. Read it here.

World's fastest jet crew reunites with SR-71 spy plane

Read this interesting article about the two crew members who reunited after 40 years with the once super-secret spy plane, number 17958 Blackbird SR-71, that put them in the history books.

What amazing achievement it was! All possible through physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering, etc. The article has a nice video as well. In case the article becomes unavailable, you can download the text here as a pdf file (1,6MB).

On the 4th of June 2005, I was fortunate to see a Blackbird SR-71 (picture on the left) in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. In the distant background, behind the Blackbird, one of Nasa's space shuttles, is visible. If you are interested to see more about this Blackbird, click this link.

GEC Expo Physical Science Quiz - 2016

Physical science teachers are invited to enter a team of two grade 12 learners to participate in this year’s GEC EXPO Physical Science Quiz at CUT on the 27th August.

The quiz starts at 09:00 sharp and will end approximately at 12:00.

The quiz consists of different rounds namely:

• A written quiz of 20 multiple choice questions;
• oral quizzes;
• a practical activity; and
• brain teasers.

The content of these rounds will mainly be based on the physical science school syllabus with some mathematics questions and riddles.

Entries close on Monday 22nd of August. Please complete the entry form (download here) and fax to Adele Smit at 057 352 9606. No late entries will be accepted.

Presentation on beams

Videos in which beams, shear forces and bending moments are discussed are available for our grade 10 technical science teachers. They will be informed how to get hold of the videos.



The presentation used in the videos is available here and the questions (plus one extra) are available here. Feedback is welcome; either as comments below this post or send me an email. Look at the left side of the home page, near the top, for the email address.

Free State Physical Science Olympiad

The Free State physical science olympiad will DV be written on Monday, 25 July 2016. More than a thousand grade 11 and 12 learners will take part in the olympiad and a hundred can qualify to attend the Free State Science Convention.

The convention is scheduled for 22 and 23 August 2016.

Best wishes to every learner!!

Welcome back!

Welcome back in term three! Enjoy the opportunity to make a difference and best wishes!

We as teachers should make children believe in themselves

I stumbled across this story about Thomas Edison on a blog called All things beautiful. The moral of the story is to make children believe in themselves; that is what we as teachers should do! Here is the story.

One day, Thomas Edison came home and gave a paper to his mother. He told her, "My teacher gave this paper to me and told me to only give it to my mother."

His mother’s eyes were tearful as she read the letter out loud to her child: "Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn't have enough good teachers for training him. Please teach him yourself."

After many, many years, Edison's mother died, and he had become one of the greatest inventors of the century. One day he began looking through old family things. Suddenly he saw a folded paper in the corner of a drawer in a desk. He took it and opened it up. On the paper was written: "Your son is addled [mentally ill]. We won't let him come to school any more."

Edison cried for hours and then he wrote in his diary: "Thomas Alva Edison was an addled child that, by a hero mother, became the genius of the century."

Changing these bad perceptions is crucial!

The bad perceptions about the state of our science education: We have to change it! Here are four articles dealing with the perceptions:

• South Africa finishes last in WEF’s 2016 mathematics and science education ranking (7 July 2016)
• South African mathematics, science education ranked worst in the world (15 April 2015)
• South Africa stone last in Mathematics, Science education ranking (3 September 2014)
• Truth about SA’s mathematics, science education quality (5 June 2014)

Submission of mark sheets and error analyses for June

Thank you to the large number of teachers who have already submitted their spreadsheets with marks (grades 12 to 10) and the quantitative error analyses (grade 12).

Great news! Juno is in orbit around Jupiter

The Juno satellite, which left Earth five years ago, is in orbit around Jupiter. What an achievement!

More information here:
BBC News
Juno NASA
Twitter

Nice tips for your exam preparation

Read this article in today's Netwerk24 news service. If you cannot read Afrikaans, just copy and paste into a translation service. Useful hints are given by Mr Cronjé Oosthuizen, HOD of Alexander Road High School in Port Elizabeth. You will also find very useful addresses of further websites in the above-mentioned article. Thanks for all of this to Mr Oosthuizen.

Future of flash drives

What are we going to use after flash drives? Look at this article about a tiny quarts disc that will be able to store an enormous amount of data for an enourmous long time.

Gr 11 June physical science exam: Comments

You are welcome to post comments, questions, suggestions, alternatives, etc. about today's paper and memorandum in this space. I will ask the examiners to respond to it.

***  New information  ***
Q.10.3
The missing mark should be for plotting co-ordinates three and four.

***  Previous information  ***

Q5.4
Correct alternative for the reason:

• According to n = c/v (mark)
• the speed of light is inversely proportional
• to the refractive index, (mark)
• because c (speed of light) is constant. (mark)

IBP holiday broadcast: Change in date

Some time ago the broadcast timetable for memo discussions and the revision programme during the holidays was released (see this post). However, the slots for physical sciences and life sciences will swap. Hence, the physical science broadcast will take place on 1 July at 08:00 to 10:00 and 10:30 to 12:30.

Please make your learners aware of it. The June exam papers are going to be discussed for revision purposes and it might help them in their preparation for the end of the year.

Official NDBE examination guidelines for grades 10 and 11 are available

The official examination guidelines from the National Department of Basic Education for grades 10 and 11 for physical sciences are available now. Free State teachers are familiar with these documents, but please discard all previous and other copies you may have. Go to this page to download your personal copies.

CAPS training: Technical Sciences Grade 11

The CAPS training for technical sciences (grade 11) will DV take place from 26 to 30 September 2016 (last week of term three).

Circular LTA 10 of 2016 dealing with this is available here. This circular has the details for training of technical mathematics and all the technical subjects as well.