Science Education-related stories from Guardian (UK)

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 28 Nov, 2008

Two Science Education stories in today's Guardian about an online competition run by the Royal Society of Chemistry.    Read here and here.  

"There has been a "catastrophic slippage" in standards of science taught in schools, leaving children with a superficial understanding of chemistry, biology and physics, according to the Royal Society of Chemistry." 

In a competition run by the society, pupils with "a keen interest in science" sat chemistry questions from O-level and GCSE papers set every decade since the 1960s.

Only 35% got questions from the most recent GCSE papers right, and it seemed to go downhill from there with pupils doing progressively worse, the older the questions. 

Here are some of the questions and answers. 


 

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Latest Issue of IIEP newsletter

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 27 Nov, 2008

Did you know that UCT Libraries is a deposit library for the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning?    The books are housed in the Chancellor Oppenheimer Library on the Humanities Terrace as a separate collection with the prefix WHU. 

Here is the latest quarterly IIEP newsletter. 

 

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Call for comment on School Infrastructure Policies

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 24 Nov, 2008

From BuaNews Online

The Department of Education has invited interested people and organisations to comment on the National Policy for School Infrastructure and National Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure.

The policies gazetted by the department recently aim to regulate and formalise the provision of school infrastructure.

In September 2007, Cabinet recommended that the department explore innovative ways of accelerating the provision of school infrastructure and eradicate school infrastructure backlogs.

The National Policy for School Infrastructure is published in terms of section 3(4) of the National Education Policy Act, 1996(Act No 27 of 1996).

The aim of the policy is to provide guidelines towards an equitable provision of an enabling physical teaching and learning environment for all learners in South Africa, indicate clear roles and responsibilities and unify accountability in the provision of school infrastructure.

The Policy outlines the eight policy areas which are:

* nationally established norms and standards for an enabling teaching and learning environment;

* systematised establishment and prioritisation of infrastructure needs;

* planned development of an enabling environment;

* standardised architectural designs;

* management and maintenance of immovable assets;

* diversification of funding sources;

* demonstrated delivery capacity, and

* systematised procurement management and procedures for the sector.

The National Minimum Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure are published in terms of section 5A of the South African School Act, 1996 (Act 84 of 1996).

The norms and standards provide a clear classification of schools and a minimum and optimum package that constitutes a functional and an effective school.

The proposed norms and standards cover the areas including classification of school types, capacity of a school, space norm per learner, classroom size, school site size and location, accommodation spaces required by school type, norms and standards for sports facilities as well as norms and standards for basic services.

On implementation, the department said the minimum norms and standards for infrastructure will ensure equity in the provision of the physical teaching and learning environment, facilitate quality of the teaching and learning environment and the consequent impact on learning outcomes and facilitate efficient use of resources.

Both documents are available from government printers as Gazette No 31616 and Department of Education web site www.education.gov.za from Monday.

It is also available via SABINET's South African Government Gazette and Archive (1994) on the UCT Libraries' electronic resources. 

 

 

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Why Kids use Technology ...

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 21 Nov, 2008

Spotted on my alerts:-

The Digital Youth Project, a MacArthur-funded three year, 22 case study, $3.3 million ethnographic study of what kids are doing online, has wound up and published its results. The project is the largest and most comprehensive study of young peoples' internet use ever undertaken in the US.

According to the posting on BoingBoing: "The conclusions are sane, compassionate, and compelling: in a nutshell, the "serious" stuff we all hope kids will do online (researching papers and so on) are only possible within a framework of "hanging out, messing around and geeking out." That is to say, all the "time-wasting" social stuff kids do online are key to their explorations and education online.

The reports (summary, white paper and online book) are available at the Digital Youth Research website. 

A 2006 article in the US News & World Report on MySpace and other social networking sites is also a useful  and sane read on the topic.

 

 

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Good web sites for children

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 14 Nov, 2008

Looking for good, trustworthy, commendable web sites for children?  Check out the American Libraries' Association Great Web Sites for Kids.   According to the site, "children" are defined as "persons up to the age of 14 years"

 

 

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UK Science Council Survey on teens' attitudes towards studying science

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 10 Nov, 2008

Spotted in the Education section of the Guardian (UK), is a report on a  Science Council survey of 1000 UK teenagers about their attitudes towards studying science.   

"The study said that students were unaware of the range of career options – including in sectors such as fashion and sport – that studying sciences could open up for them.   Many young people have preconceived ideas about science subjects leading solely to laboratory jobs and wearing a white coat, it said."

"The research coincides with the launch of Future Morph - a new online resource for students, teachers and parents aimed at changing perceptions of the careers open to students with science, technology, engineering and maths qualifications." 

 

 

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Vice-Chancellors' exorbitant salaries crackdown

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 5 Nov, 2008

Story in the Mail & Guardian

Education Minister Naledi Pandor is to crack down on exorbitant salaries earned by vice-chancellors after they failed to regulate themselves.

Pandor announced this to the Mail & Guardian after her department released a shocking breakdown of salaries earned by vice-chancellors at South Africa's 23 public universities, which totalled more than R40-million last year.

The data shows that some under-performing institutions, which rely heavily on state subsidies, pay more than those that rely on external funding and are top research producers.

Top of the pile is the Mangosuthu University of Technology's (MUT) suspended vice-chancellor, Aaron Ndlovu, who received a R3,68-million package last year - making him South Africa's highest-paid civil servant. Pandor earns R1,6-million.

Runner-up is Ihron Rensburg of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) with R2,77-million, followed by Unisa's Barney Pityana (R2,63-million), the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Malegapuru Makgoba (R2,3-million) and Errol Tyobeka of Tshwane University of Technology (R1,93-million).

Read the rest of the story here 

 

 

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Father of OBE says "ditch it"

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 3 Nov, 2008

According to a story on IOL,  leading academics including the self-proclaimed father of OBE,  Dr William Spady, says that it is time to ditch it.    Dr Spady is quoted as saying that South Africa had "completely missed the boat" in understanding the concept.  He said he had distanced himself from the South African version.

This follows calls by our former VC, Dr Mamphela Ramphele, to do away with OBE.

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We Are All Born Free - the Universal Declaration of Rights in Pictures

Posted by Ingrid Thomson | 1 Nov, 2008

Amnesty International has just produced a picture book aimed at younger readers (and their teachers and parents) about the Universal Declaration of Rights.  A slideshow of some of the illustrations is available.    Illustrators include John Burningham, Korky Paul, Polly Dunbar, Satoshi Kitamura, Jane Ray and Axel Scheffler.   South African names amongst the contributors include Niki Daly  and Piet Grobler.   Each artist offers a personal interpretation of one of the 30 Articles of the UDHR, making them easy to understand and accessible to young readers and their families.

A short film celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Rights is to be sent to all UK schools -  the film is available online  and is apparently being shown before the hit movie High School Musical (not sure if this is the case in South Africa).    The film features Green Wing actor Julian Rhind-Tutt – and voiced by stars including Emilia Fox, Jeremy Irons and Lindsay Duncan.

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