Concerns over matric 2012 physics paper
2013-01-10 14:07
Cape Town – A Stellenbosch University first year
physical sciences lecturer has highlighted omissions in the senior certificate
physical sciences paper of 2012.
Dr Lee Boonzaaier, who has almost ten years experience in
teaching first year students, had reservations about the omission of
essential physics topics dealing with electricity and magnetism.
These included conceptually challenging parts which include
Coulomb’s law, electrostatic potential, and electric fields. “The formula sheet
includes Coulomb’s law, but no questions were asked,” he told News24.
According to Boonzaaier’s teaching curricula half of the
second semester at University is spent going through the omitted material.
Boonzaaier also expressed reservation about random,
non-sensical questions and highlighted “two questions, representing 13% of the
paper, which was a waste of time”.
Despite his damning assessment Boonzaaier admitted that it
was not a substandard paper and that “that which was tested is fair”.
The recent 2012 matric results saw a dramatic increase in
the pass rate in the physical sciences. Between 2009 and 2011 the pass rate
increased from 36.8% to 53.4%. In 2012 the Department of Basic Education
boasted with a 61.3% pass rate.
In recent years there has been a steady increase in the
introduction at tertiary institutions of extended academic programmes. These
courses aim to fill in the knowledge and conceptual gaps left by the secondary
education system.
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