Report of Visit to Capetown Area Schools February 1-4, 1999 Julia A. Thompson As part of a trip to the WIN99 Neutrinos and Weak Interactions Conference in Capetown, South Africa, I visited several area schools. The visit was set up by Dr. Case Rijsdijk of the South African Observatory, through his continuing work with pre-college schools in the area. During the week I primarily accompanied Mr. Glenn von Harte, subject specialist for the Capetown area, in his rounds in visiting schools to discuss their plans for the year. The discussions were in the context of their effectiveness in the preceding year as indicated by the success of their 12th grade (standard 10) students on their exit (matriculation, or "matric") exam from the public school system. I brought with me some materials from teachers (and their classes) interested in some exchange of information with teachers and students in South Africa. A list of the participating institutions from the U.S. side and the schools and faculty visited in Capetown is included as Appendix A. Students in the O'Fallon school sent drawings and brief notes, and the teacher in the Southwest school sent a brief description of the class. Teachers in Edwardsville and E. St. Louis schools are also potentially interested, but collection of materials was difficult because of the ice storm and bad weather in the area early in 1999. Narrative In this section I give a narrative of the trips I took with Case Rijsdijk and Glenn von Harte. This is a preliminary account and may still contain factual errors, since it is based entirely on my notes. Monday. picked up by Case Rijsdijk. Brief orientation on our way to the teachers' center to meet Glenn von Harte. The notes which follow are overall notes gleaned from talking to various people along the way. Again, these are not yet checked with sources against the possibility of my misinterpretation of what I heard, saw, or was told. Under the old government, there were 3 separate education departments (white, colored, black). What is the budget per pupil? (R56k/1k pupils at Livinstone?) Now these are combined into one, but still a lot of "growing pains". One example is the redeployment or retirement of teachers, which is occurs in equalizing the student-teacher ratios throughout the area. At present this is done anew at the beginning of each year, but it is planned that this will be the last year for such rearrangements of faculty at the beginning of the school year. Schools are no longer separated by race by law, but remain substantially segregated by race, because of housing patterns. All students by law have the option of going to their neighborhood school even if it should be full or oversubscribed. But students also have the option by law to register at other schools which have free space. In practice, mobility is limited by cost of transport (borne by the student or the students' families.) At present registration of new students may continue for up to 2 weeks at the beginning of the year in schools which are mostly black, and up to a week in schools which are mostly colored. After this "rightsizing" is carried out, teachers are removed from schools which have an "excess". Such teachers may be offered a position in other schools but have the option to refuse any given position offered. Those who do not find a position on their own by the end of (?) March may then find a position through the state. Those who do not find a position by June may be offered a severance package. Schools are semiprivatized and many "previously white" or "ex-CD" schools use school fees and proceeds from sale of tracts of land which previously surrounded them with a buffer zone to retain, at the school's expense, such "excess" teachers. In addition to the difficulties in moving to a nominally integrated education system, the country is also moving toward the outcomes based education system advocated by William Spadey. In Capetown, which is controlled by the National Party (as opposed the most of the rest of the country where the African National Congress enjoys a majority) the redeployment of teachers has gone particularly badly. For some subjects, eg, religion, teachers were no longer required, but the province made a lucrative retirement package available to all teachers. As a result, many teachers opted for retirement, including a relatively large fraction in the critical area of physical sciences. Before the merger of the departments, the teacher to student ratio varied (as did the subjects taught) in the three departments. The ratio was approximately 1:25 in white schools, 1:30 in colored schools, and 1:45 in black schools. Therefore teachers in previously white schools were most likely to require redeployment, and many of these were reluctant to take new assignments in predominantly black schools. There appears to be no mechanism for assigning a teacher arbitrarily to a new school, but rather the teacher has a large choice, including the choice of taking a retirement package and starting a new career. In addition, in some cases, positions were temporarily unfilled, and there does not appear to be a workable substitute teacher arrangement. In these cases, students were simply sitting in classes with no teachers, waiting for things to be sorted out. Further, these temporary positions (eg, in some cases known to be temporarily vacant for a year) were not able to be filled by the "excess" teachers up for redeployment, since it would be a post with no permanent future. Glenn von Harte was grappling with these issues during the period I was there, and trying to find ways to adapt the system rules to the real educational requirements. The country is also struggling with changes in cultural perceptions. In previous years Education department personnel were not always viewed as helpful by teachers in black and colored schools, and the government was not perceived as being of the people. People are still adapting to the new role of the government. One change which should occur is learning not to steal the equipment from the schools (xerox machine, computers, even a refrigerator!), Another change is adjusting to the fact that education in all subjects is now open to all races, but that higher education is not free but must be paid for, at least by applying for government grants in cases of need. (I was told that at present there is an outstanding unpaid billion rand.. approximately $200M, student fee bill with which the Universities nationwide are struggling. The adjustment of teachers to schools and class sizes has occurred according to a procedure called "right-sizing", by means of which teachers may be transferred from their initial schools at the beginning of the year, depending on the number of students enrolled. The previously white schools, partly with the help of sales of the large tracts of land which previously surrounded them, and partly with the help of substantial student fees paid by parents, are subsidizing the previous levees of staff so that class sizes in these schools remains below the province average, and also extra facilities and support staff (eg, lab assistant who sets up experiments) are available. The white schools were typically off to a good start, with classes arranged since last year. The black schools were typically, two weeks into the term, still registering new students, who stand in queues outside the school in the heat while waiting, and could not begin real classes before the registration process was completed. The previously colored schools were somewhere in between. Private schools in the area have been blossoming since the change of government in 1994, though they are not now subsidized by the state. Fifteen new private schools opened in the Cape area in the past year as compared to the nationwide change in Zimbabwe of 12 total to approximately 50 total private schools before and after the move to independence. Some students from each color group are moving to schools in lighter color groups, with mixed results. In some cases there are severe language problems. The official languages of instruction are Afrikaans and English (not Xhosa? what about township schools?). If not all students know either Afrikaans or English, then the lesson must be given twice.. once in Afrikaans and once in English, which certainly cuts into instructional time. The non-English-speaking Xhosa students are at a severe disadvantage in these classes. It is allowed for students to register for any school (like a general open-enrollment policity), but the student must retain the possibility of going to the school closest to his or her home (according to law). After an initail orientation and rough setting of our schedule for the rest of the week, we agreed to meet again on Tuesday morning. Tuesday. After being picked up by Case Rijsdijk, I met Glenn von Harte at the Observatory, and we proceeded to Langa Township Ikamvolethu (Massebamisami?) school. This is a school for students who have failed the first try at the matriculation exam, and are now trying to make up educational deficiencies in order to pass the examination at the end of this year on a second attempt. This school charges 100 Rand (About $20.) per student per year. Other schools may charge up to 6 times that amount. The school is located in the Langa Township, the oldest black township in the area. Its age was immediately apparent from the presence of trees, generally absent in other townships. During Apartheid, many black professionals lived in this township, and most have now moved into other areas of Capetown. The average pass rate at 12th grade level is 37% passing. This school has 342 physical science students, the biggest in a single school in the province. Last year was the first year they saw a substantial pass rate (70%). The exams are multiple choice and cover basic chemist chemistry and physics. The chemistry-physics course is a two year course, so probably about equivalent to one year each of physics and chemistry. The grading scale runs from A to H. with H being 0-19%, G 20-25%, F 25-30%, and so on... Students less than F fail (is this right?), unless there is some other redeeming feature so that they are converted?( what is this???) Of the students at this high school, only a few got as high as C. (3 got C in the physical sciences, one got B in math.. but was always present, the teacher noted). There are substantial non-academic problems.. the housing is largely, even in Langa, of the "informal" sort, typically wooden shacks with tarp roofs, no electricity, communal water supplies and toilets. Occasional first burn down shacks, and a relatively large fraction of the students ( quantitatively?) are involved in fires destroying their homes, serious diseases, or gang war, leading to a high student mortality rate. (quantitatively?) The topics taught in the syllabus are : vectors, but only 2 dimensional, graphs, equations of motion, gravitation, work, energy, power, momentum, electrical fields and circuits. in chemistry subjects include both inorganic and organic chemistry, gases, molecular theory, acids, bases, electro chemistry, o, equilibrium, reactions. I received both chemistry and physics sample examinations. A new system of continuous assessment is being instituted, in order to give more information than just the final examinations. Each terms should have a continuous assessment mark on the basis of 100, as well as a school examination in June (the matriculation exams are in October). These continuous assessment marks then are total of 500 points, but are to be reduced to a maximum scale of 45, for each in standard interpretation of students' records. This school talked about things they had done last year to improve student grades. Glenn von Harte had taught some Saturday classes. The chemistry teachers had had the students doing small experiments every day, with the possibility set up for the students to return to previous experiments later in the term if they wished. She had no lab assistant, and had herself to arrange these experimental setups by coming early, staying late each day. Perhaps not surprisingly, the performance in Chemistry was better than in physics, where they were not yet doing many experiments. The teachers pointed out that in many cases the teachers themselves did not know how to do the experiments, since in previous times physics instruction was mostly reserved for white students. Therefore in many cases the teachers were also learning. Ms. Mavulo, the head, had come from the Siskei, where weeklong retreats were made for teachers, where they brought equipment, made up experiments, (which had to be developed to be used in the absence of electricity), which they could then take home to use with their students. They had some equipment which they had not yet used, and wanted me to look at it with them. I looked briefly, and we figured out how to use a transformer kit. We could not bring it to full operation, since the electricity in the lab appeared to be inoperational that morning. I saw ingenious "microchemistry" and "microphysics" kits packaged nominally for individual student use but typically being used by 5-10 students per group. The physics one had a variety of resistive metal strips, some spring clips for attaching things, batteries, and a light to indicate continuity. From the brightness one could make qualitative statements about resistances. These teachers teach about 6 groups in one day, with 45-50 students/class. some experiments they mentioned were ticker timer experiments, pulleys, force tables. Tuesday afternoon, Sue Hesse and Case R. meeting with Glenn v. H. Sue and Case had developed, among other things, a Maritime Bus which visited schools, did telescope projects, etc. Their question to Glenn v. H. was how to integrate their activities best in support of his. At this point they decided not to try to do cross-disciplinary work but to focus on "continuous assessment activities" within the physical sciences. The continuous assessment activities are intended to emphasize skills such as communication, critical thinking, collecting data, analysing, measuring, hypothesizing. Each skill is supposed to be covered in two separate activities. Suggestions such as "Looking at the moon", as a theme combining such activities were made. They all emphasized the importance of supporting, not substituting for teacher involvement. At 15:30 pm, met with Mitchell's Plains teachers' group. They represent 26 high schools, of which 15 are primarily black. The aim of the meeting was to coordinate their present activities, both in terms of use of supporting activities such as Sue and CAse's project (also a CSIR "mind walk", TRAC (transportation and computers) and "Across S. AFrica?". also to do fund raising to give more resources, and enhance public interest. They were hoping to have an exposition of physical science (funded by industr or government?) in August.. They are planning to meet soon with a potential sponsor, and at this meeting were working on formalizing themselves with a name, mission and vision statement, and concrete plans. They settled on the name CAST (Capetown Association of Science Teachers), and set their next meeting time, when they planned to work on their upcoming presentation. Wednesday. BeauVallon. This school is now relieved to have only one controlling gang (Colin Smith?) in the area, and find little conflict between the religious elements and the gangs, as in some other areas. The school was 200 students short so would be losing 5 teachers. The teachers had only small classes because of lack of interest in the subject among attending students. The enrollment was 18:12:6 for 10th, 11th, and 12th grades respectively. However, the school was committed to keeping physics and chemistry at the school. In the previous year they had 25 matric. students, 12 passed, 2 with C grade. The teachers said in fact this was a good outcome, given the severe difficulties in language with their 15 Xhosa speaking students, as well as absenteeism problems with these students, many of whom registered here but then did not attend classes or else came systematically late to school. There was some system by means of which students (all of them??) (maybe only for this one year?) with FF (30-33%) or G (25-29%) grades were "converted" into passes, even though they would nominally be failing the courses. Books were a serious problem. Students only had access to books during classes, though occasionally special arrangements for students who requested books to study close to an exam could be made. Gangsterism appeared to be a problem primarily outside of the school and on weekends but not in the school itself. They lived in a close knit community and many students came from the community. The students were not socially integrated. In 1997 the Xhosa students who attended needed police escorts. Police only come late or not at all (in large part due to manpower) to requests for help. Students are, however, integrated in some outside activities. This school had fielded two 4-person teams in a previous year's competition in an engineering like competitions.. (making a car from a piece of elastic as the motor...). the school had taken 3rd place, and had also done well in informal competitions at the exhibition on how to build strong structures using straws. there had also been other activities, and the students had been in racially mixed groups during the day. also a problem for the teachers (how to boil an egg with a piece of aluminum foil and a candle), as well as some other academic activities. These teachers had not known of the CSIR (Council of Science and Industrial Research) board "mindwalk project.. which had been 3 years in operation. it was previously state run, now funded 40% by the state, and 60% by industrial concerns.. featured among other things water conservation and other topics projects. They asked if it were possible at least for the teachers to have a few current textbooks, They were hand-making summaries of chapters for the students, and asked for paper so that they could give the students written summaries, not just on the board. Livinstone. Here we met with the teacher Johnathan Fry. the black students there come from a nearby(?) feeder school, Rozme (sp?). They do comparably well compared to the other students. They now have fewer students from the townships, since the schools there are now more stable, due in large part to the NGO (Non-governmental-organization) work there. Fifty of 180 students in grade 8 (entry) were from Rozme, and their subsequent dropout rate is not different from the overall school dropout rate. They now have very few students from the local neighborhood and are trying to reach out to other areas (Landsdowne, Mitchells' Plains, etc). (There (?) two schools, Mannenberg High and Phenix High Schools, no longer give physics). This is to be contrasted for example to the "finishing" school Ikamvoletu we visited on Monday, where there are 343 physics students. Part of the problem of the natural sciences in the black schools is that under apartheid the blacks were denied access to these subjects. We sat in the garden in the center of the school because of space constraints. One of Livingston's projects is making kits as support for other schools. This is part of the Science Education Project. Livingstone is not seen as a disadvantaged school and therefore pays for their own equipment and pays a fee for participation in the workshops. Mr. Fry teaches 4 physics classes and 2 design and technology classes, the latter a new initiative which he started this year. The school emphasizes physics and chemistry (grouped together in the S. African schools as physical science). 134/190 students (in the senior year?) were taking physical science. The school requires students to take 2 languages, math, biology, and strongly recommends physics and chemistry. This is true even for art and music students. It is notable that the physics staff here has stayed stable, since the school (though not having any large surrounding tracts of land to sell off) has raised extra money to retain teachers through student entry fees. A side comment on finances is that the school fees have just been raised substantially here (will be about 600 r/student/year next year, up from 300R/student this year). The school has about 950 students, and receives 500kR from the state, or about 50R/student/year, exclusive of salaries and building maintenance. (is this right?) The Rondebosch boys' school, BishopsCourt, for example, has a fee of order 34kR/year per student and recently spent 800kR to refurbish the school buildings. It is only through the assessment of these fees that the school has managed to maintain its library, art, music, and physical education classes. They have no woodworking but have added this year design and technology. Despite having the substantial fee (average salary for those working is about $4kR/year, and there is aprox. 47% unemployement, for example, in Guguleto), the school still sees itself as reaching out to those unable to pay. Parents who feel they cannot pay the fees arrange a conference with the administration. Generally an agreement is reached, and parents pay what they can afford. Four to 5 teachers are paid directly by the school, and the school hopes that they will not lose state money because of it. Glenn thought he might be able to look into that problem, hoped it would not occur. Another problem which occurs is that when the school pays teachers directly they must pay tax, register as an employer, etc. They started classes here the 2nd day of school, and, again because of the stability of the population both student and faculty, had classes mostly set up from last year. They have very little problem with attendance here.. as many as 15 students absent would be unusual. The students had an average of 53-percentile rank in the matriculation exam last year. Mr. Fry had expected a little better, perhaps 55%. Only 8 of the 131 students had failed, and they were all converted (close to borderline and so allowed to pass in this interim period? ) I was not sure, but it may be that some students are discouraged by some principals... (did not think it happened here) from taking the phsical science classes, since they tend to pull down the overall matriculation exam scores. Mr. Fry had run Saturday preparation sessions before the exam. We talked also to two studnets, Zahira Kariel and Tasneem Khan. One was studying accounting, and one business. They both liked chemistry better than physics, at least after they had had the exam and felt they understood the chemistry one better. Herschel. Our next stop was Herschel, a private girls' school in Rondebosch. This school is the partner to Bishop's Court, the private boys' school mentioned earlier. Student fees here are about 47kR/year per student. The grounds were beautiful, with large trees, stone statues, and students walking and studying on the lawn. The physical science teacher here was a retired headmaster from Muizenberg, Don Gibbon. Their average on the physical science matriculation exam was 77% (60-odd students), with 3 A's. In the aggregate matriculation exam results about half the students received A's. The lab seemed well equipped, and the students also had access to computers, probably even e-mail, or at least that might soon be available to them. (In the nation generally, there is a hope to have at least one computer per school installed by the end of this year). (or was this just a cape province goal?) Vista. This school is in the Bokaap region, (top of the cape). It is the oldest colored quarter and the part of the city where the Asian slaves lived with the overseer, and from which they came down to work in the city or on the waterfront during the day. This school received an offer for their site (so the story I was told goes) from a prominent hotel chain. This was under the apartheid government. The school refused the offer, to the chagrin of the government and subsequently funds for maintenance, repair, etc, were not given to the school. The view is truly striking, and in contrast to the physical plant which showed holes in the porch roofs, some broken windows, and only a borrowed photocopier. There is however a beautiful mural painted by the students during the South African soccer pennant competition in 1994 (?) 1995?) The mural contest was sponsored by a paint company, which gave paints to the schools. The tone of the school would improve markedly if such a simple step as removing the dump from the front of the school were taken. Despite having such poor equipment, there is 24 hour security watch and they felt that they would retain equipment if they were given it. This school had been selected as one of the schools to receive special help this year. The purpose of our trip to this school was to discuss this program with them, to see if the school and teachers would accept to participate. There was substantial suspicion that the offer was a political ploy, intended to be window-dressing for the conservative National Party in the upcoming spring elections, and that help would evaporate soon after the elections. However, at the end of the discussion they decided to go ahead and participate. Part of the program is to be sure that previously excluded schools and staff are aware of resources previously reserved for all-white schools. An example is Edu-Mod, through which teachers can search for needed materials and books for special projects and ask to have them delivered to the school. Ten teachers, the principal, the "circuit manager" (whose job is to look after non-academic concerns in the schools, including, eg, staff redeployment), and Glenn von Harte as subject advisor for physical sciences, attended the meeting. There was discussion about how to involve parents. One idea was to ask the help of the Golden Arrow bus company which had offered to give some un-defined assistance to the school district generally. The meeting ended with plans to have some of the teachers (English and physical science) away from the school for a full day workshop on Feb. 22. However, at this point we were informed that in fact, because one teacher has taken a leave, the person who normally teaches physics is now teaching math. The physics position cannot be filled by a redeployable person, since it is nominally temporary. In any case not clear that a redeployable teacher would agree to teach here. The students now simply come to the class and sit during their period. Glenn von Harte agreed to try as a high priority to find a teacher willing to teach in the school and to try to break through the red tape to get the teacher there promptly. Yizo-Yizo. In the evening I watched the premier of the educational program Yizo-Yizo. At least it is intended as a mixture of entertainment and education, according to the discussion I had heard on television in the morning. The initial segment showed problems with gangsterism outside the school, a mix of concerned and frivolous teachers in the school, a principal still committed to corporal punishment even though it is no longer legal, at least one older returning student, and student intimidation (not clear to me if it was just gratuitous or with respect to the student's no longer agreeing to be in some subservient role to "Papa Action" (drug dealer?). It is a serial, and we will see how the gangsters and students fare. Thursday. Khayelitsha is a township settlement which passed to regular from "informal" status only recently. This passage means that in principle people are allowed to live there, permanent structures can be built, and roads, water,sewage, electricity, waste disposal, can all be planned. The schools tend to be newer, some only a few years old. The one we will visit today is about 6years old. In discussing problems preparatory to arriving at this school we came to one which finally I was unable to say I had experienced in the US. There is now an "education mafia" in some of the townships, and many teachers feel they are failures if they have not moved through dep.t head to principle within about 8 years. This leads to keen competition for the relatively few principal-ships. In some cases applicants are phoned and told to withdraw their applications. Five teachers by the account I heard had been murdered when they disregarded this instruction. Eboutcheine, now renamed Chris Hani high school, in Khayelitsha. Chris Hani was a (middle class)(government offical? ANC official,...?) who was assasinated outside his home shortly before the transition to the elections which brough the current government to power. The assassination was found to have been planned by a white parliamentarian, and carried out by a Polish national. It galvanized the country, according to some accounts, to actually go ahead with the elections. It was also unusual in that the murderer(s) were reasonably quickly exposed and brought to justice, unlike many cases in which the putative "third arm" of the government appeared to carry out political assassinations unchecked. At this school we met Mrs. Nomsa Booysen, the head of the department. [note: generally in the country only about 10% of students finish. 9 years of education has recently become compulsory, but there are no enforcement mechanisms, and there is a flourishing business in false diplomas; there is also a large dropout rate between first and second grades.] The school address is: Chris Hani High School, P.O. B. 35015 Lingelethu, W. Khayelitsha , Capetown, 7784, South Africa. This school should have 1816 students from last year's projections, but were close to 2000 students. The physics class I visited had about 49 students, several older students. Their scores last year had been quite good... only 5 of their 48 students taking the physical sciences exam had failed. Part of their success was because they were informally streaming students starting in 8th grade... both to prepare them for the exam in 12th grade, and also to suggest to those they felt were severely unqualified to find other areas in which they would be better able to succeed. However, the streaming was only a small part of the effort. The teachers were brimming with pleasure and enthusiasm over the success of their efforts which included after school classes in which they again went over class material to be sure students understood the day's lesson. Also, was it here that Glenn had taught some special Saturday classes? In addition, since there is still no electricity in most of this 3M person settlement, they arranged for the night custodian to allow the students to come in the evenings to study. In addition to the success in the standard physical science exam, 4 students had taken the "higher grade" advanced exam, and had all passed... 3 with E's. This year they want to give the syllabus to the students before hand, so that they can be prepared. They have one controlled test per month for each grade, in each of grades 11 and 12. They also have small class tests. They use previous matriculation exams as models. Last year they finished before September and were able to use September to review. They have very little problem with absenteeism here, and encourage the students to come to school even if there are problems, so that the teachers and staff can help the students resolve the problems. An example of a problem was when the wood fire heating arrangments cause fires, often resulting in severe burns to students or family members. Sometimes disease (TB) or gang war casualties also claim lives. The school did have a copier, although it seemed to work only intermittently. They copied the informaiton about exchange students, though, even double-sided. They proposed to use the exchange as part of their continuous assessment work for the students. In labs, the class of 49 students will be divided into about 5 groups, so of order 10 in each group. They use "micro" chemistry and physics kits. The physics one looked like a good basic electricity exploration kit, with a light and battery playing the part of a meter. Because of the increase in students this year, some classes in 9th grade had as many as 70 students at this point. I was picked up from this school by Sue Hesse, Case van Rijsdijk's assistant. She had worked before in the Joe Slovo high school, with the principal, Eric Magodoa. His background was natural science. This school was the only school where the principal had a serious conversation with us about the physical science classes. Mr. Magodoa emphasized the importance of working with earlier grades, not just emphasizing the last year in which the students would take the exam. It is notable that Saturday programs at this school had been funded by German government (?) money, and were now being continued by the British. College of Good Hope, Centre of Science and Technology. This is a special accelerated school, with selected students, funded by TELCOM (South African communications company) and the French government for one year. They hope to continue through school fees and fund raising. We spoke here with Peter Oxenham (peter@barefoot.co.za). The school is located in a former teachers college. The same building also houses sewing and other trade classes as well as a 1-year "finishing" or "recovery" program. In the standard 8 classes (10th grade) they were already doing first year university physics and college introductory work. THere were 20 or fewer students per class. There were about 500 students altogether in the school. The school was well equipped with computers (Pentiums) and they expected to have internet and other technology instruction. They pay about 400R/student for rent to the College of Good Hope and charge 300R/student for fees. There is a beautiful wood, plastic, metalwork shop. Mr. Oxenham noted that the education system is university driven and presently many students not university bound fall through the cracks. He emphasized that one of their problems is general knowledge of the world beyond the immediate surroundings. Many students although living close to Cape Town have never been to the city and are consequently unaware of many things teachers might take for granted. There is an emphasis in this program on practical work, including graph interpretation and plotting, math modelling, uncertainty. The students will write the matric exam in standard 9 (grade 11), and spend the last year really getting ready for university work. They hope to introduce paritcipation in the Science Olympiad as a part of the course work. At both this school and Chris Hani I spoke to a physics class. There was more time with the students at this school, and the fact that they had been selected for their interest in technical subjects led to a discussion of what I actually did in my work, how hard I worked, and other topics as well as some general ideas of scattering and even composition of the nucleus. Largely because of lack of time, the discussion at Chris Hani stopped at the scattering ideas. Ulunta Center, Primary Science Project in Gugulethu. This was a "mass planning meeting", at which interested teachers came to see what community resources might be available to them. Case Rijsdijk and Sue Hesse were making a presentation at this forum on their sky charts and various activities surrounding the Observatory and relevant topics. The South AFrican Museum in Capetown and other organizations also made presentations. We left after a brief presentation, as the teachers broke to go to their individiual workshops. Sue Rijsdijk. Sue Rijsdijk teaches in a teacher training center for primary teachers. I left the names of the primary students and pictures of their letters and art with her. She thought other teachers would be interested in the work, and expected to get copies from Glenn von Harte, who had the originals at the Teachers' Center. note: this goes with Chris Hani high school,.. The teachers at this school had been part of the special attention cadre last year and were pleased at the improvement in their pass rates. Nr. Gqyna also teaches the matric classes, and Mrs. Sabuke (sp?) teaches grade 11. Appendix A: Initial US Participants 1. Southwest Area High School Physics Class, Ms. Julie Breden, teacher. This is a rural high school. The students are 11,12th grades, 16-18 years old. Trignometry is a pre- or co-requisite. The class to date has studied velocity, acceleration, force, and Newton's laws. The class consists of 18 students, 12 girls, 6 boys. There is one Japanese exchange students.. The high school includes 583 students in the 4 high school grades 8-12. There is one japanese exchange students. The students are: Leah Anderson, Marie Beilsmith, Angela Bonebrake, Jong Cambron, Ryan Clasby, Carrie Delassus, Shannon Dixon, laura Fedrick, Brooke Geising, Brandy Holder, Neil Hanlon, Shannon Herring, Lisa Krause, Shuji Ota, Ethan Prough, Marissa Roderfeld, Jorden Stanley, and DAwn Thornton. 2. O'Fallon Central School. This includes students from gardes 1-8. It is between Southwest and St. Louis, next door to E. St. Louis. Some of its students come from a nearby military base. The participating teacheres are Mrs Shelton, Mrs. Nolte, and Mrs. Carole DAvison. Mrs. Davison teaches several classes for special needs students. a. Mrs. Shelton's and Mrs. Nolte's class 8th grade class, 9 students. Andy Ford, 14; Josh Hardy, 14; Mike Henry, 15; Bradley, 13; Kevin, 14; Crystal Martin, 14. b. Mrs. Davison's 5th grade reading class: Christie Clilne, 11; BRittany Holik, 10 1/2; Christie Stevenson, 10; Michelle Bass, 12; Tabitha WEbb, 11; Julie Powell, 11. c. Mrs. DAvison's 4th grade class: Randy Wilson, 12; DAvid Box; Travis Rennen, 10; Frank Vgaa, 10; Jasmine Lockhart 8 1/2 d. Mrs. Davison's 3rd grade class: Timothy Powell, Criflyn, 9; Jamie, 8; Alex Sforza, 8; Ribbian Thomas, 8; Jonathan, 8. e. Mrs. Davison's 2nd grade class: Savannah, 7; Brandi Rayborn, 7; Cyndi, 8; Lindsey, 7; Steven Wallace, 8; Ronnie Arpin, 7; Michael, 7; Kirsten Dewey, 7; Lee Anna Knight, 7; Darriora, 7; Lauren Brewer, 7. f. Mrs. DAvison's 1st grade class: Rebecca, CAthryn, Brianna, Rama, Dominic, Chris Diep, Bryan, Tyler, STefanie. (all approx. age 6.) Appendix B: Places and People visited in Capetown. The list is organized chronologically. The trip ws was arranged by Dr, Case Rijsdijk, of the South AFrican Observatory. He put me in contact with Glenn von Harte, subject specialist for the Capetown area schools in physics and chemistry. My activities were primarily to follow with von Harte on his visited to the schools he was visiting, planning the school year particularly th respect to the last year results of the exit (matriculation or "matric")examinations taken by 12th grade (graduating ) students. Sue Hesse, previously a subject specialist in geography and social sciences, arranged to take me to the College of Good Hope and the the Primary School Project. A preliminary visit, taken through eh conference I was attending, took place on Friday, January 19. On this day I visited St. Gabriels Church in Gugoletu, which runs an after school and academic support program. There I visited with eh parish assistant, Wally Mngidi, E Roma Church (St. Gabriels), P.O. B. 29, Guguletu, South Africa, 7751 Tuesday: visited Langa Township "finishing school" (for students who failed the previous year's matric exam). The school is called Ikamvolethu (means? ), but another name also.. Massibami...? Teachers: Ms. Mavula (head), Ms. Mpofu (chemistry ), and Ms. Sepumla (temporary). b. At the Teacher's Center, met Vivian, Marllene (Art sepcialists), Jill (??) Moira, Glenn von Harte's assistant, Joe McDonald (Head of the Center), ???(grades 1-3), and ...Vaidily (biology specialist). c. Sat in on formative meeting of CAST (Capetown Associationf or Science TEaching), being started by a group of teachers from Mitchells'' Plains schools. Teachers: Trevor Daniels (Rocklands school), about to ake a 2 year leave of absence to wrok on a computer project in Stellenbosch); Ronald S. Englebrecht Glendale ; Akeda Isaacs, Spine Road High; Vincent Paramore, Aloe High. Wednesday: BEau Vallon school . Teachers VAnessa September, Adnaan Behardrier. Livinstone school, Athlone. TEacher: Jonathan Fry, students: Zahira Kariel, Tasneem Khan Herschel (private school for girls in Rondebosch). teacher Dan Gibbon, students, Pippa Carter, Julie Moodie, Myfanwy Lehr. Vista. meeting with principal and teachers to clarify terms of participation in special program for schools with large fraction of students at risk. Thursday. a. Chris Hani School (previously Ebouscheine (meaning nnew place). teacheres: Mrs. Nomsa Booysen, Mr. S.T. Gquma, Mr. C. Mathe ((?)... principa: Eric Magodoa. address: Chris Hani High School, P.O.B. 35015 Lingelethu, West Khayelitsha, Capetown, 7784. b. College of Good Hope, Centre of Science and Technology. . special experimental school funded by TELCOM (commerical communications company) and the French government. Teacher: Peter Oxenham, peter@barefoot.co.za. c. Primary Science Project: consortium of groups offering support in curricular materials to local steachers. The meeting was held (and the project seems to be housed in) the Uluntu Center in Gugoletu.