Group items tagged

The Department of Basic Education has pleasure in releasing the series called Mind the Gap study guides for Grade 12 learners. The first subjects in the series include Life Sciences, Accounting, Economics and Geography. These study guides are another innovative and committed attempt by the Department of Basic Education to improve the academic performance of Grade 12 candidates in the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination.   The Mind the Gap study guide series is produced in both English and Afrikaans to assist those learners that have been underperforming due to a lack of exposure to the content requirements of the curriculum. The series aims to mind-the-gap between failing and passing, by bridging-the-gap in learners' understanding of commonly tested concepts so candidates can pass.   Each of the Mind the Gap study guides provides explanations of key terminology, simple explanations and examples of the types of questions that learners can expect to be asked in an exam. Model answers are included to assist learners in building their understanding. Learners are also referred to specific questions in past national exam papers and exam memos that are available on the Department's website.

"The Low Achievement Trap is an empirical study of student mathematics learning in Grade 6 classrooms that is unique in its focus on two school systems shaped by different political histories on either side of the Botswana-South Africa border. The study provides a detailed examination of the capacity of teachers - how they teach, how much they teach, and what they teach. Because of this wealth of detail, The Low Achievement Trap gives us much greater insight than previous research into why students seem to be making larger gains in the classrooms of South Eastern Botswana than in those of North West Province, South Africa. Rather than identifying a single major factor to explain this difference, the study finds that a composite of inter-related variables revolving around teachers' mathematics knowledge and their capacity to teach mathematics are crucial to improving education in both regions. The message is a hopeful one: good teachers can make a difference in student learning."

Internationally and locally, there is growing emphasis on the importance of effective school management and leadership in contributing to good student achievement outcomes. 'Instructional leadership' has become a key concept in the research literature, reflecting an attempt to better understand the relationship between school leadership, curriculum and instructional matters, and student achievement. Managing to Learn is the first study of its kind in South Africa, considering these issues. The research reported in this monograph provides an extensive review of the literature around the management of curriculum and instruction, a framework and methodology for the research, and the empirical findings from the study. Through a series of regression analyses, the study presents those management factors identified across a wide range of schools as most crucial to improved performance of students. It brings greater clarity to the somewhat undifferentiated view of school management currently, and a sharper focus on its importance in relation to how students learn.

New Study Identifies Key Factors for Strategic Workforce Planning

A study to investigate changes in attitudes towards methods of disciplining school pupils among South Africans aged 16 years and older, by Mbithi wa Kivilu and Muchiri Wandai, was drawn from the annual SASAS between 2003 and 2006. The study also included other influences, such as religion, gender, and race on these attitudes.

The Bursary Programme provides financial assistance to academically deserving and financially needy undergraduate students in any field of study, and any year of study, for a first tertiary qualification.

"Sweet Search is a search engine that searches only the sites that have been reviewed and approved by a team of librarians, teachers, and research experts. In all there are 35,000 websites that have been reviewed and approved by Sweet Search. In addition to the general search engine, Sweet Search offers five niche search engines. The niche search engines are for Social Studies, Biographies, SweetSites (organized by grade and subject area), School Librarians, and Sweet Search 4 Me (for elementary school students)."

"Great presentation about social software in education! With case-study and data form students opinons! "

This exploratory study explores girls' use of cellphones in Cape Town, South Africa, with a particular focus on their use of the popular cellphone based instant messaging software, MXit. Through qualitative interviews and focus group discussions with Grade 11 and Grade 12 teenagers, three main themes emerged: 1) the use of MXit in the development of personal relationships via social networking, 2) the use of MXit and the cellphone in the construction of personal identity, and 3) the potential use of MXit for education.

The following UK self study units are adapted from the Guide for professional development for primary school teachers: Using ICT to support mathematics in primary schools.

key members of staff. Each of the learning areas need to be represented including computer studies and the teacher librarian should be a significant member of the team. The object of this exercise is for a school to create a policy which is embraced by all educators as information literacy falls across the curriculum and is the responsibility of all. Once a policy has been created an implementation plan should be formulated and introduced with clearly defined time frames.

This free online diploma-level course from ALISON is a comprehensive review of project management. Project management involves the planning, organizing, securing and managing of resources to achieve the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. This course covers project management methodology, toolsets and documentation, and the project life cycle including analysis, planning, design and evaluation. The course also includes a project management case study. Qualifications in Project Management are in great demand internationally and this Diploma course will greatly enhance your career prospects.

In education, it should not be about technology, but rather about how we can expand access to study and how we can improve support to our students in a way that will at least give them a fair opportunity at success.

This study aims to bridge a crucial gap in our knowledge of the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in Africa.

How can distance learning become more student-centred? Dr Mpine Elizabeth Makoe, University of South Africa (UNISA), has been preoccupied with this question for several years. In a long-term study she conducted, she found that isolated students have a need for informal support that is often neglected in distance education. This has led her to investigate on how MXit, a popular South African instant messaging system, can help to fill the gap and drive collaborative eLearning in an attractive, age-appropriate manner.

Double the amount of students ar studying to be teachers than last year exept for african languages in grt 1-3

"Our investigations have shown that social software tools support a variety of ways of learning: sharing of resources (eg bookmarks, photographs), collaborative learning, problem-based and inquiry-based learning, reflective learning, and peer-to-peer learning. Students gain transferable skills of team working, online collaboration, negotiation, and communication, individual and group reflection, and managing digital identities."