Selection test for the ICHO: Lebogang Seseane

Today is a great day for Lebogang Seseane, a grade 11 learner of Akademia Secondary School in Brandfort. 

Lebogang has done well enough in last year's National Science Olympiad that he was shortlisted to take part in the selection test for the 51st International Chemistry Olympiad (ICHO). Those who qualify will DV take part in the ICHO that takes place in Paris (France) from 21 to 30 July 2019.

The selection test takes place today and we want to wish Lebogang all of the best. Thank you to Mr M Sello, Lebogang's physical science teacher, for the effort put in with preparations, organisation and other related matters. We are very proud of Mr Sello and Lebogang!

Mr M Sello and Lebogang Sesiane

PAT for Technical Sciences: Grade 12 for 2019

DBE has released this year's PAT for technical sciences. Please note it is for 2019.

Click here to download the Afrikaans version (Not available anymore).
Click here to download the English version (Not available anymore).

National diagnostic reports: NSC examination November 2018

The national diagnostic reports of the NSC examination of Nov 2018 are available on the NDBE website. 

You can also download the report in which physical science is addressed by clicking here; then follow further links.

Examination guidelines for teachers

No assessment requirements have changed. Hence, the previous versions of the examination guidelines for teachers are still in use. They are as follows:

• For physical science grade 12; the 2014 version
• For physical science grades 11 and 10; the 2015 versions
• For technical science grade 12; the 2018 version
• For technical science grades 11 and 10; nothing released by NDBE

To download the above-mentioned examination guidelines, go to this page and follow links from there.

Concerning the learner content documents (Examinable content/Eksamineerbare inhoud), the following:

• The documents are Free State documents.
• It is just an extract of the applicable content sections of the examination guidelines.
• They are not available on this website.
• It will DV be distributed in hard copy format to schools.
• An e-version will in due course be available via the teachers' private cloud space. Get the link from your subject adviser.

Take pride in your work and make a REAL difference

(C) https://pixabay.com/en/tiger-happy-euphoric-cat-nature-160601/

Look at this amazing video (see link below). It shows with great effect how one person can distinguish himself/herself from others by doing things slightly different; something small but with great results. Teachers, take this as an example and find things you can do differently to make you great in the eyes of your learners! Take them somewhere! Click here for the video.

(C) https://pixabay.com/en/leader-leadership-manager-team-2206099/

Physical Sciences: Start as soon as possible

Due to the huge volume of content in each of grades 10, 11 and 12, it is very important to start with the work as early as possible. 

The sequence of topics in these grades is the same as last year, as well as the duration per topic. Hence, use last year's work schedule to guide you for the first week or two, but do not print it. We are going to distribute a 2019 edition of the Free State Assessment Guidelines for physical sciences, with minor modifications from the 2018 edition. 

In due course, the 2019 edition will be available on this website (2018 edition is still available) and one hard copy will be distributed per school during the upcoming start-up meetings.

Congratulations from Premier and MEC: Matric resuls of 2018

Matric results of 2018

Congratulations to everybody who has done well in the final grade 12 examination of 2018.

NDBE has published four reports so far. It is available at the NDBE website, but you can also download it from here. Click each of the following links:

Technical report (4,3MB)
Examination report (21,5MB)
School performance report (26,0MB)
School subject report (7,1MB)

New Year 2019

Message for 2019: Please listen to science

Merry Christmas

The last newsletter of the year, number 2 of 2018, is available. It gives an interesting overview of the past year's activities. Click here to access it.

More than 200 000 pageviews

Thank you to all the readers of this website! 

It was a good feeling to observe that the number of pageviews exceeded 200 000 recently. Today it stood at 200 589.

Another interesting phenomenon is to see who the audience is. This picture shows where our readers are.

Best wishes and continue to enjoy hwscience.blogspot.com.

The amazing influence of drones and robots in Amazon's distribution centre

The future of deliveries will change completely when robots and drones are used more and more. The Wall Street Journal has recently published a very interesting article about Amazon's distribution centre in Baltimore, USA. 

The impact of human labour is getting less and less due to the amazing abilities of robots, drones, coding and computers. Is there a lesson in this for us in South Africa? We struggle so much with service delivery in general. Think water, electricity, delivery of your parcels and other mail, etc. Click here to go the page with interesting articles and follow the links from there. Alternatively, go straight from here to the article. You can read the original version here. In case it is not available, here is a printout of the article.

DBE, Siyavula and Sasol Inzalo Online Diagnostic Assessments

DBE, in partnership with Siyavula and the Sasol Inzalo Foundation, has developed an online platform for teacher diagnostic assessments in physical sciences (grades 10 to 12).

We have previously invited Free State teachers to take part in this, but now there is another opportunity to take part. Click here to read the circular from the DG of DBE, Mr H M Mweli, and click here to read the circular from the FSDE.

From these circulars you will see that:

• The assessments are focused on grade 10, 11 and 12 teachers.
• No data is needed for Vodacom and MTN subscribers.
• You can earn SACE professional development points (PDPs).
• The Free State has a target to reach until end of March 2019 and again for the end of March 2020.

What to do now? 

• Siyavula has asked for the contact details of all grade 10 to 12 physical science teachers.
• They will contact you by sms to enrol in the programme.
• Please use this opportunity for self-development as soon as you hear from Siyavula; it might even happen during the holidays. Best wishes and enjoy the experience!

Vacancy: Expo Provincial Coordinator (Northern Cape)

Somebody involved in Expo sent this to me. A vacancy exists for an Expo coordinator in the Northern Cape. Closing date is 19 December (I guess the 2017 is a typing error). Click here for more detail.

The kilogram is dead; long live the kilogram

16 November 2018 was an important day for science. A meeting was held in Versailles to take a final decision on the International Prototype Kilogram (IPK). What is this all about? Click here to read a fascinating article about the history of the kilogram and other metric units and how standardisation will take place in future. 

This is awesome material for teachers and learners. Three more articles are available here, here and here from The Washington Post and The New York Times.

The International Space Station (ISS)

How is life onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and what does it look like on the inside? Here is a pretty amazing and informative video of 28 minutes (60 MB) of what it is like. With this type of video, it is so easy to understand Newton's laws of motion for example. Just imagine how learners in a previous dispensation had to rely only on their imagination to understand aspects of the first law for example. Now they can "see" it happens. My thanks to the Facebook page of Boyden Observatory and the Naval Hill Planetarium for the video. Click here for the video and click here for more information about the ISS.

Provincial Finals of the Free State Physical Science Quiz for Grade 10: 2018

The final round of the Free State physical science quiz for grade 10 learners took place on 12 and 13 October 2018 in Bloemfontein. In this post, more information is available about the district finals in which the participants were selected for the final round.

The winning team in category A was Senakangwedi and the order of merit of teams in category A was as follows:
1. Senakangwedi
2. Rantsane
3. Dr Reginald Cingo
4. Leseding & Tsoseletso
5. Setjaba se Maketse, Phephetso, Kgola-Thuto, Clubview & Springfontein
6. Sekgutlong & Mookodi
7. Relekile, HTS Louis Botha & Thabo Vuyo
8. Lefikeng
9. Morena Mokopela
10. Kgolagano
11. Mamello
12. Winburg

The winning team in category B and overall winner was Grey College. The order of merit of teams in category B was as follows:
1. Grey
2. Witteberg
3. Goudveld
4. Sasol High & St Andrews
5. Voortrekker
6. Ficksburg & Eunice
7. Hennenman
8. Landboudal
9. Welkom-Gimnasium
10. Afrikaans High Kroonstad

Pictures of all the prize winners are available here.

Learners participated in the quiz at the STEM auditorium of the Central University of Technology. Click here for pictures of Friday. Friday evening was spent at Boyden Observatory, but the weather was unfortunately not good enough to see planets and stars. The Saturday programme was held at Naval Hill. Learners visited the Mandela statue while the rest of the events took place in the Environmental Hall and Digital Planetarium of the University of the Free State.

Congratulations to all the grade 10 learners and teachers of the Free State for a project well done! We hope you have enjoyed it! 

Thank you to everybody who contributed to make this a huge success! 

Provincial Finals of the Physical Science Quiz Grade 10: Prize-giving

Grey College: Overall winners with their teachers Mesdames
L Pretorius and M Stoltz!!

Senakangwedi Secondary School: Category A 1st place.
Mr TZ Tshabangu, his team and Mrs Andy Magadla, CES
of Motheo. 

Grey College: Category B 1st place.
The team with their teachers Mesdames M Stoltz
and L Pretorius and Mrs Andy Magadla, CES of Motheo.

Rantsane Secondary School: Category A 2nd place.
Mr SP Mabina, his team and Mrs Andy Magadla, CES
of Motheo.

Witteberg High School: Category B 2nd place.
Mrs EVisagie, her team and Mrs Andy Magadla, CES
of Motheo.

Dr Reginald Cingo: Category A 3rd place.
Mr R Lebohang and his team. 

Goudveld High School: Category B 3rd place.
 Mrs Andy Magadla, CES of Motheo, with the team and
Mrs L van Waltsleben.

The teacher, Mr TZ Tshabangu, from Senakangwedi 
Secondary School received science apparatus for his
school as category A winner from Miss Lizanne
Boshoff of Lasec Laboratories.

The teacher, Mrs M Stoltz, from Grey College
received science apparatus for her
school as category B winner from Miss Lizanne
Boshoff of Lasec Laboratories.

Provincial Finals of the Physical Science Quiz Grade 10: Saturday Programme

Teams of Fezile Dabi received their gifts
from Mrs N Nthontho 

Each team member and the teacher received a book titled "How do you explain that?" and learners also received certificates of participation.

Teams of Fezile Dabi received their gifts
from Mrs N Nthontho

Teams of Lewjeleputswa received their
gifts from Mrs B Manchu

Teams of Lewjeleputswa received their
gifts from Mrs B Manchu

Teams of Lewjeleputswa received their
gifts from Mrs B Manchu

Teams of Motheo received their
gifts from Mrs E Malahlela

Teams of Motheo received their
gifts from Mrs E Malahlela

Teams of Motheo received their
gifts from Mrs E Malahlela

Teams of Thabo Mofutsanyana received
their gifts from Mrs M Zapi

Teams of Thabo Mofutsanyana received
their gifts from Mrs M Zapi

Teams of Thabo Mofutsanyana received
their gifts from Mrs M Zapi

Teams of Xhariep received
their gifts from Mr M Lethena

Mrs Andy Magadla, CES of Motheo, received her

book from Mr Henry Welman, Dr Angela Stott

received her book from Miss Janetta Nel, while

Dr Nicolaas Luwes received a book from

Mrs B Manchu.

Each team received a mechanics kit from the
FSDE.