Predictors of learner performance in mathematics and science according to a large-scale study in Mpumalanga

Eight hundred and ninety-nine (431 male, 467 female and one missing value) Grade 8 and 9 (n = 184 and 713, respectively, with two missing values) learners from secondary schools in Mpumalanga completed a science and mathematics questionnaire. Student's t tests showed that male and female, as well as language groups' scores, differed significantly. Stepwise non-linear regression shows that a combination of factors contributes significantly to learner, science and mathematics performance (R2 = 25%, 20%, and 11%, respectively). South African Journal of Education Vol. 26(2) 2006: 229–25

Leachability of nitrided ilmenite in hydrochloric acid

Titanium nitride in upgraded nitrided ilmenite (bulk of iron removed) can selectively be chlorinated to produce titanium tetrachloride. Except for iron, most other components present during this low temperature (ca. 200°C) chlorination reaction will not react with chlorine. It is therefore necessary to remove as much iron as possible from the nitrided ilmenite. Hydrochloric acid leaching is a possible process route to remove metallic iron from nitrided ilmenite without excessive dissolution of species like titanium nitride and calcium oxide. Calcium oxide dissolution results in unrecoverable acid consumption. The leachability of nitrided ilmenite in hydrochloric acid was evaluated by determining the dissolution of species like aluminium, calcium, titanium and magnesium in a batch leach reactor for 60 minutes at 90°C under reflux conditions. The hydrochloric acid concentration (11%, 18% and 25%), initial acid-to-iron mole ratio (2:1, 2.5:1 and 3.3:1), and solid-to-liquid mass ratio (1:8.33 to 1:2.13) were varied. The results indicate that a hydrochloric acid concentration of 25 wt% supplied in a 2:1 acid-to-iron mole ratio would produce the most favourable upgraded nitrided ilmenite product. The dissolution of iron in this solution reached 97 per cent after only 60 minutes. The total dissolution of calcium and titanium species was 0.01 and 0.11 wt% respectively. Hydrochloric acid can therefore be used as lixiviant to remove metallic iron from nitrided ilmenite.http://www.saimm.co.za/ai201

Early detection of infant hearing loss in the private health care sector of South Africa

OBJECTIVE : A national survey of early hearing detection services was undertaken to describe the demographics, protocols and performance of early hearing detection, referral, follow-up and data management practices in the private health care sector of South Africa. METHODS : All private hospitals with obstetric units (n = 166) in South Africa were surveyed telephonically. This data was incorporated with data collected from self-administered questionnaires subsequently distributed nationally to audiology private practices providing hearing screening at the respective hospitals reporting hearing screening services (n = 87). Data was analyzed descriptively to yield national percentages and frequency distributions and possible statistical associations between variables were explored. RESULTS : Newborn hearing screening was available in 53% of private health care obstetric units in South Africa of which only 14% provided universal screening. Most (81%) of the healthy baby screening programs used only otoacoustic emission screening. Auditory brainstem response screening was employed by 24% of neonatal intensive care unit screening programs with only 16% repeating auditory brainstem response screening during the follow-up screen. Consequently 84% of neonatal intensive care unit hearing screening programs will not identify auditory neuropathy. A referral rate of less than 5% for diagnostic assessments was reported by 80% of universal programs. Follow-up return rates were reported to exceed 70% by only 28% of programs. Using multiple methods of reminding parents did not significantly increase reported follow-up return rates. Data management was mainly paper based with only 10% of programs using an electronic database primarily to manage screening data. CONCLUSIONS : A shortage of programs and suboptimal and variable protocols for early hearing detection, follow-up and data management in existing programs mean the majority of babies with hearing loss in the South African private health care sector will not be identified early. Newborn hearing screening must be integrated with hospital-based birthing services, ideally with centralized data management and quality control.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijporlnf201

The bii4africa dataset of faunal and floral population intactness estimates across Africa’s major land uses

Sub-Saharan Africa is under-represented in global biodiversity datasets, particularly regarding the impact of land use on species’ population abundances. Drawing on recent advances in expert elicitation to ensure data consistency, 200 experts were convened using a modified-Delphi process to estimate ‘intactness scores’: the remaining proportion of an ‘intact’ reference population of a species group in a particular land use, on a scale from 0 (no remaining individuals) to 1 (same abundance as the reference) and, in rare cases, to 2 (populations that thrive in human-modified landscapes). The resulting bii4africa dataset contains intactness scores representing terrestrial vertebrates (tetrapods: ±5,400 amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals) and vascular plants (±45,000 forbs, graminoids, trees, shrubs) in sub-Saharan Africa across the region’s major land uses (urban, cropland, rangeland, plantation, protected, etc.) and intensities (e.g., large-scale vs smallholder cropland). This dataset was co-produced as part of the Biodiversity Intactness Index for Africa Project. Additional uses include assessing ecosystem condition; rectifying geographic/ taxonomic biases in global biodiversity indicators and maps; and informing the Red List of Ecosystems

Factors affecting the career choice of first-year student teachers

The lack of appropriately qualified teachers in South Africa is growing rapidly and frequency of debates about the decline in teacher numbers in South Africa is increasing. In this study, the results of an investigation into possible factors that impact on the career choice of student teachers are reported. The reasons why first-year student teachers at the University of Pretoria chose teaching as a career were studied by using a non-experimental design (survey design; administering a non-standardised questionnaire). The results revealed inter alia that a number of factors influence the career choice of first-year student teachers. Trends that emerged from the current study include the following: many more women than men enter the teaching profession; relatively few students who speak an African language choose education as a field of study and the role of parents in helping their children to choose a career cannot be underestimated.This article is an adapted version of an article that appeared recently in a local, Afrikaans-only journal (Suid-Afrikaanse Tydskrif vir Natuurwetenskap en Tegnologie), which is totally different from the readership of the International Journal for Adolescence and Youth (IJAY). The editorial staff of the journal granted the authors permission to publish the article in IJAY or any other journal with a different, English readership.nf201

Factors influencing the choice of profession of first-year teaching students

Daar is ’n groeiende tekort aan toepaslik opgeleide onderwysers in Suid-Afrika. Debatte oor die afname in onderwysergetalle in Suid-Afrika is tewens aan die orde van die dag. In hierdie studie word die resultate van ’n ondersoek na moontlike faktore wat die beroepskeuse van onderwysstudente beïnvloed, gerapporteer. Eerstejaaronderwysstudente aan die Universiteit van Pretoria se beweegredes vir die keuse van onderwys as beroep is bestudeer deur gebruik te maak van ’n nie-eksperimentele ontwerp (opname-ontwerp; inskakeling van ’n nie-gestandaardiseerde vraelys). Dit blyk uit die analises onder meer dat verskeie faktore die beroepskeuse van eerstejaaronderwysstudente beïnvloed. Tendense wat uit die onderhawige studie blyk, sluit dit in dat baie meer vroue as mans onderwys as beroep betree, dat relatief min Afrikataalsprekende studente onderwys as beroep kies en dat die rol van ouers in hul kinders se beroepskeusemaking nooit geringgeskat kan word nie.The lack of appropriately qualified teachers in South Africa is growing rapidly and debates about the decline in teacher numbers in South Africa are increasing. In this study, the results of an investigation into possible factors that impact on the career choice of teaching students are reported. The reasons why first-year teaching students at the University of Pretoria chose teaching as a career were studied by using a non-experimental design (survey design; administering a non-standardised questionnaire). The results revealed, inter alia, that a number of factors influence the career choice of first-year teaching students. Trends that emerged from the current study include the following: many more women than men enter the teaching profession; relatively few African language speaking students choose education as a field of study and the role of parents in helping their children to choose a career cannot be underestimated

Predictors of learner performance in mathematics and science according to a large-scale study in Mpumalanga

Eight hundred and ninety-nine (431 male, 467 female and one missing value) Grade 8 and 9 (n = 184 and 713, respectively, with two missing values) learners from secondary schools in Mpumalanga completed a science and mathematics questionnaire. Students tests showed that male and female, as well as language groups' scores, differed significantly. Stepwise non-linear regression shows that a combination of factors contributes significantly to learner, science and mathematics performance (R2 = 25%, 20%, and 11%, respectively)

A wake-up call : equity, inequality and Covid-19 emergency remote teaching and learning

CITATION: Czerniewicz, L. et al. 2020. A wake-up call : equity, inequality and Covid-19 emergency remote teaching and learning. Postdigital Science and Education, 2:946–967, doi:10.1007/s42438-020-00187-4.The original publication is available at https://www.springer.com/journal/42438Produced from experiences at the outset of the intense times when Covid-19 lockdown restrictions began in March 2020, this collaborative paper offers the collective reflections and analysis of a group of teaching and learning and Higher Education (HE) scholars from a diverse 15 of the 26 South African public universities. In the form of a theorised narrative insistent on foregrounding personal voices, it presents a snapshot of the pandemic addressing the following question: what does the ‘pivot online’ to Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning (ERTL), forced into urgent existence by the Covid-19 pandemic, mean for equity considerations in teaching and learning in HE? Drawing on the work of Therborn (2009: 20– 32; 2012: 579–589; 2013; 2020) the reflections consider the forms of inequality - vital, resource and existential - exposed in higher education. Drawing on the work of Tronto (1993; 2015; White and Tronto 2004) the paper shows the networks of care which were formed as a counter to the systemic failures of the sector at the onset of the pandemic.Publisher's versio