To read a comprehensive blog post about the creation of these Natural Sciences and Technology workbooks in 2012, please visit our Siyavula blog here.

The books have been completed, laid out, translated and shared with the Department of Basic Education (DBE). The books are going through the official channels for endorsement, but they have not yet been endorsed. We hope to have a positive response from them soon i.e. that they will endorse the books and make use of the freedom of the open copyright license to print them. We will only know this once an official statement has been made by DBE, but at this stage even though the books are CAPS aligned, they are not yet DBE endorsed.

Free and open digital copies
These books have been released under an open copyright license which grants educators the freedom to copy and distribute them freely. You are welcome to use them in their digital version for free. They also have accompanying teachers guides and graphical storybook companions under the same open copyright licence.

Samples and free digital books
Below are links to samples of the content of the English learners’ books, and a Science Adventures companion for Grade 4. Please note that these are still in draft format, and the workbook samples are not the print quality versions (the images will look grainy). The actual high resolution PDF files are all well over 100 MB in size because of all the images. We’re working on optimizing the size without losing print quality.

The final digital files for use will be released in the next week, with a link posted for you to download them. You can view the sample versions here:

Grade 4-6 Natural Sciences and Technology (CAPS) English learners’ books: 

• Grade 4A (CAPS) English (Term 1 and 2) –  http://goo.gl/8Vsan
• Grade 4B (CAPS) English (Term 3 and 4) – http://goo.gl/o6IfU
• Grade 5A (CAPS) English (Term1 and 2) – http://goo.gl/MHJG7
• Grade 5B (CAPS) English (Term 3 and 4) – http://goo.gl/mx4oR
• Grade 6A (CAPS) English (Term1 and 2) – http://goo.gl/pq7tx
• Grade 6B (CAPS) English (Term 3 and 4) – http://goo.gl/Ukn05

Science adventures companion books: 

• Grade 4 Science Adventures – http://goo.gl/cgCj8

Ordering copies of the workbooks
We request that government schools wait until we hear if DBE will be printing them. Independent schools who do not get the regular workbooks from the DBE are welcome to add their print order to the print-run we are organising for the private schools. Anybody is free to print the files for themselves, but the greater the combined print-run is, the lower average price everybody can get.

We are doing a combined print run for a number of schools and expect the prices to be:

• R95 per volume – thus R190 per learner for the two volumes of +-220 pages each.
• The optional companion science adventures storybooks are also R95 per volume.

To place an order for printed copies and to participate in the print-run please e-mail:

• Carine Grobbelaar (<carine at siyavula dot com>) or call us on 021 469 4749.

Day 1

The first objective was to look at what authors had managed to do in the interim between the first and second workshop. There was a “Checklist” to go through and assess the quality of one’s work and then report back to the group about where each author was at and highlight any troubles they may have been having.

The writing then commenced very swiftly as the volunteers were now familiar with the tools we were using and the process.

We introduced the teachers to the “Thunderbolt Kids”. We are planning to use these characters as the guides throughout the workbooks, as well as incorporate some comics where the Thunderbolt Kids discuss, explain and learn about different Analytical Thinking Skills, which are necessary in Science and should be developed from an early age. These characters had already been developed for a previous Shuttleworth Foundation project called Kusasa. Kusasa aims to develop analytical and creative thinking in learners, and more effective teaching practices in educators.

Day 2
The second day of the workshop focused on Assessment. Megan did a brief presentation on how to set assessment items throughout the workbooks and how to ensure that there are questions at aimed varying cognitive levels according to Bloom’s Taxonomy. The teachers really enjoyed a short video on Bloom’s Taxonomy which used scenes from “The Pirates of the Caribbean” to explain the concepts.

The teachers then broke up into groups to actively engage with setting assessment items and completed two different activities. Once again, there was much discussion and sharing of ideas which was very useful for when everyone started to author again and go back and start implementing the assessment items throughout the content.

Day 3

The start of the third day was dedicated to Technology, the subject, and its integration into the new curriculum. Megan, along with two Technology specialists, Dawn Crawford and Busisiwe Mosiuoa facilitated a discussion about how to teach Technology, the design Process, the skills a pupil can gain from the subject, and how we wanted to integrate the subject into the Natural Sciences curriculum. The teachers found this extremely useful as most had never taught the subject before.

Throughout Gr 4-6, there are 5 specified Technology Design Processes and these are outlined below.

By the end of the morning, the volunteers had contributed a lot more content as well as refined their activities, started to add assessment items and identified all the Technology sections for the specialists to review.

In the interim between Workshop 2 and 3

During this period, the volunteers are still busy authoring the content. The sections are variable in terms of completion, ranging from 60%-90% finished. The teachers have been working from home since the last workshop and have until Friday, 20 April to finish their contribution to the content.

Thereafter, Megan, along with 2 editors will be reviewing the content and editing to ensure a consistency in style, CAPS alignment and possibly adding to sections to ensure a high standard of work.

Concurrently, we are busy with the graphic design of the books and identifying the layout and formatting style. Over and above this, there is consultation with an illustrator to draw images and scientific diagrams for the workbooks. These have been identified by the teachers and will be inserted into the content in May once they have been illustrated.

Day 1
The Fred England Media Centre at St John’s Prep buzzed with activity from start to finish. Educators arrived promptly at 14h00, and we began with a group introduction and facilitation session, to learn more about each other, and find out about everyone’s expectations about the workshops and bring any concerns to light. This is very important as it opens the floor to discuss these concerns, and assists in allaying any fears that individuals may have about the weekend. We also learned that everyone has an “edge”. This is someone’s own personal limit, the end of their comfort zone. It is important to be reminded that everyone has an edge, and that we must each be mindful of this and tolerant towards each other. Some of the anxieties that came up were “am I good enough? – am I tech savvy enough? – what if I don’t know which programmes to use? – will the books be aimed at the right level for my school?”. Each of these were dealt with upfront, and it set most people at ease as they discovered that many of these anxieties were shared by the group.

Following this we did a few different activities. Educators were given the task of critiquing a sample chapter of the workbooks, which really got the creative juices flowing and helped everyone understand what makes a good workbook. We also discussed and established guidelines for writing the workbooks – by the end we had 54 points written up, ranging from evidence of logical progression to the importance of consistency of scientific method, avoiding using unnecessary or difficult words, to including activities that maximise learning. This was a very important activity as these are guidelines that need to be adhered to throughout the process, to ensure a high standard of work and consistency in the workbooks.

We then broke everyone up into their preallocated strand groups. They were given the task of identifying key concepts and activities/investigations for each heading/topic. This was facilitated by concept maps for each strand (spanning Gr4 to Gr12) and large frameworks that we had prepared. It was an amazing experience to be part of – so much knowledge was shared around the tables, and the educators really got into the subject matter and brainstormed the activities.

This saw day one of the workshop come to an end, and everyone relaxed over dinner with a glass of wine and good conversation.

Day two
Day two commenced at 08h00, with the return of all our volunteers. It was wonderful seeing smiles and positive attitudes all round as everyone arrived and got straight to work. The first task was to finish off from the day before – unpacking the key concepts for each strand and grade.
We had a slight change in plan from our side with regards to how the writing would happen. We had planned on using templates prepared in Word, but then decided that Google Docs would be a better option for the authoring process. Using Google Docs meant there wouldn’t be a number of documents emailed back and forth and we wouldn’t have to worry about version control, as by simply sharing the documents with everyone, multiple people could work on one document at the same time, and see the changes being made as they went along. Megan quickly created the templates in Google Docs, and we helped everyone set up Gmail accounts and shared the documents with them. This turned out to be a fantastic decision on our part, and Google Docs worked really well as an authoring platform for the weekend. The best part of this experience came at tea time, when educators realised that by using Google Docs they could all work on their document at the same time, without having to be in the same place!

Following this, the authoring really started happening, as one by one the educators got up and running on their computers, and started adding content to the framework in the Google Docs. Some assistance was needed with certain functionality – such as how to (find!) and use the drawing tool, or how to insert images into the document. The level of computer literacy ranged too, with some educators being quite comfortable with using the internet and their Google Doc, while others needed more help to get them going. This sharing of skills and knowledge is what education is all about, and it certainly added to the “feel good” aspect of the workshop, as we helped empower educators in this regard.

Educators were given a helpsheet with information on where to search for open content that could be used in their documents. This included the websites Connexions, OER Commons, CK12 Flexbooks, WikiEducator, Wikiversity, Curriki, PhET Simulations, Slideshare and TeacherTube, as well as how to search on Flickr for Creative Commons open copyright images. Introducing educators to these resources means that they can legally copy and reuse content (according to the copyright licence), without the fear of traditional copyright law and the publishers taking action against them.

The remainder of the day was spent authoring content, and we closed off with Sir Ken Robinson‘s talk – Changing Education Paradigms, illustrated by RSA Animate.

Day three
Sunday morning saw the return of the majority of our educators, and once again everyone got straight back to work. Before long we had a quick check in with everyone as a group, to see how the content was coming along and how everyone was feeling about their work. Most educators were worried about working “too slowly”, but Helene soon pointed out that perhaps no one was too slow – that this speed was actually the norm and this was the pace that we could expect everyone to work at. On that note the work resumed, for the final push to the end of the workshop.

Overview
Overall this was our best workshop yet. The processes we designed ran really well, the enthusiasm and dedication of the educators was infectious, and the determination with which they all worked to persevere and learn was inspiring. A real community of practice started to form, as the group shared their ideas and experiences and learned from each other.

There is still a long way to go in terms of creating content, but we know that by Workshop 2 more progress will have been made, and we’ll be that much closer to our goal: free and open, top quality workbooks for South African primary school learners. A huge thank you to everyone involved, and we look forward to the next workshop from 23 – 25 March 2012!

If you put a bunch of intelligent, motivated, insightful people, who are passionate about making a difference in education in South Africa, into a room for the day, the outcome is sure to be explosive! The workshops turned into “think tanks” and rapid debates and ideas ensued. Consequently, we came away with a much bigger project than we initially anticipated! But we were not to be discouraged. Rather we were more hopeful and excited about the possibilities of the project. And that we could really use this opportunity to start making a difference in science education from the foundation phase, where it is most needed.

Outcomes of the workshops were:

1) A provisional Table of Contents for Grades 4 to 6 Natural Science and Technology

2) A strong agreement to produce Concept Maps for each strand showing the progression in concepts from Grade 4 through to Grade 12, which can act as a resource for teachers and learners, as well as inform the authors of the book in the way content is structured

3) Provisional sections and chapters had been drawn up, and the consensus was to take into all discussions from the 2 workshops about style, layout, font, colour, etc, and compose an “ideal” chapter to then obtain professional opinions and input