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An overview of practical work

Educators now have clarity regarding the role and assessment of practical work. This document specifies that practical work must be integrated with theory to strengthen the concepts being taught. Practical work can be: simple practical demonstrations; an experiment or practical investigation. In Section 3 practical activities are outlined alongside the content, concepts and skills column. The table below lists prescribed practical activities for formal assessment as well as recommended practical activities for informal assessment in Grade 10.

Term Prescribed Practical Activities for Formal Assessment Recommended Practical Activities for Informal Assessment
Term 1 Experiment 1 (Chemistry) :Heating and cooling curve of water. Practical Demonstration (Physics): Use a ripple tank to demonstrate constructive and destructive interference of two pulses or
Experiment (Chemistry): Flame tests to identify some metal cations and metals.
Term 2 Experiment 2 (Physics): Electric circuits with resistors in series and parallel – measuring potential difference and current. Investigation (Physics): Pattern and direction of the magneticfield around a bar magnet or
Experiment (Chemistry): Prove the conservation of matter experimentally.
Term 3 Project: Chemistry: Purification and quality of water. or Physics: Acceleration. Experiment (Physics): Roll a trolley down an inclined plane with a ticker tape attached to it, and use the data to plot a position vs. time graph or
Experiment (Chemistry):
Reaction types: precipitation, gas forming, acid-base and redox reactions.
Term 4 Experiment (Chemistry): Test water samples for carbonates, chlorides, nitrates, nitrites, pH, and look at water samples under the microscope.

Weighting of topics [40 week programme]:

Grade 10 Time
% Hours
Mechanics 18.75 30
Waves, Sound&Light 10.00 16
Electricity&Magnetism 8.75 14
Matter&Materials 17.50 28
Chemical Change 15.00 24
Chemical Systems 5.00 8
Teaching Time (Theory and Practical Work) 75.00 120
Time for Examinations and Control Tests 25 40

Total time = 40 hours/term x 4 terms = 160 hours per year

Physical sciences content (grade 10)

This section of the CAPS document provides a complete plan for: time, topics, content, concepts and skills, practical activities, resource material and guidelines for educators. You need to consult this section of the document regularly to check whether your classroom activities fall within the requirements and objectives of the prescribed curriculum. Use the condensed work schedule below which is aligned with Section 3 and the learner's book as a pacesetter to check your progress.

Work schedule

Term 1: 36 Hours or 9 Weeks
Chemistry (Matter&Materials)
Weeks Topics Practical Activities Assessment
Week 1 (4h) Revise matter&classification (from Grade 9).The material(s) of which an object is composed.
Mixtures: heterogeneous and homogeneous, pure substances: elements and compounds, names and formulae of substances. Metals, metalloids and non-metals, electrical conductors, semiconductors and insulators, thermal conductors and insulators, magnetic and non magnetic materials.States of matter and the kinetic molecular theory.Three states of matter, Kinetic Molecular Theory.
Prescribed experiment for formal assessment: Start with ice in a glass beaker and use a thermometer to read the temperature every 10 seconds when you determine the heating curve of water. Do the same with the cooling curve of water starting at the boiling point. Give your results on a graph. Recommended Formal Assessment:
1. Control Test
Recommended Informal Assessment:
1. At least two problem-solving exercises as homework and/or class work (every day, if possible cover all cognitive levels).
2. One practical activity per term.
3. At least one informal test per term.
Week 2 (4h) The atom: basic building block of all matter (atomic structure).Models of the atom, atomic mass and diameter, structure of the atom: protons, neutrons and electrons, isotopes, electron configuration.
Week 3 (4h) Periodic table (position of the elements; similarities in electron configuration and chemical properties amongst elements in groups 1, 2, 17 and 18). Recommended experiment for informal assessment: Flame tests to identify some metalcations and metals.
Week 4&5 (8h) Chemical bonding (covalent bonding; ionic bonding; metallic bonding).
Week 6 (4h) Transverse pulses on a string or spring (pulse, amplitude superposition of pulses). Recommended experiment for informal assessment: Use a ripple tank to demonstrate constructive and destructive interference of two pulses.
Week 7 (2h) Transverse waves (wavelength, frequency, amplitude, period, wave speed).
Week 7 (cont.)(2h) Longitudinal waves (on a spring, wavelength, frequency, amplitude, period, wave speed, sound waves).
Week 8 (2h)(2h) Longitudinal waves (continue).Sound (pitch, loudness, quality (tone), ultrasound).
Week 9 (4h) Electromagnetic radiation (dual (particle/wave), nature of electromagnetic (EM) radiation, nature of EM radiation, EM spectrum, nature of EM as particle – energy of a photon related to frequency and wavelength).
Term 2: 30 Hours or 7,5 Weeks
Chemistry (Matter&Materials)
Weeks Topics Practical Activities Assessment
Week 1&2 (8h) Particles substances are made of (atoms and compounds; molecular substances and ionic substance form due to bonding).
Chemistry (Chemical Change)
Week 3 (4h) Physical and chemical change (separation by physical means; separation by chemical means; conservation of atoms and mass; law of constant composition; conservation of energy). Recommended experiment for informal assessment:Prove the law of conservation of matter by
  • reacting lead(II) nitrate with sodium iodide;
  • reacting sodium hydroxide with hydrochloric acid;
  • reacting Cal-C-Vita tablet with water.
Week 4 (4h) Representing chemical change (balanced chemical equations).
Physics (Electricity&Magnetism)
Week 5 (2h) Magnetism (magnetic field of permanent magnets, poles of permanent magnets, attraction and repulsion, magnetic field lines, earth’s magnetic field, compass). Recommended Practical Activities
Informal Assessment Investigation (Physics): Pattern and direction of the magneticfield around a bar magnet.
Formal Assessment
1. Prescribed experiment in Physics on electric circuits.
2. Mid-year examinationsRecommended Informal Assessment:
1. At least two problem-solving exercises as homework and/or class work (every day, if possible cover all cognitive levels).
2. One practical activity per term.
3. At least one informal test per term.
Week 5 (cont.)2h)Week 6 (2h) Electrostatics (two kinds of charge, force exerted by charges on each other (descriptive), attraction between charged and uncharged objects (polarisation), charge conservation, charge quantization).
Week 6(cont.) (2h) Week 7 (4h) Week 8 (2h) Electric circuits (emf, potential difference (pd), current, measurement of voltage (pd) and current, resistance, resistors in parallel). Prescribed experiment for formal assessment (Physics):Electric circuits with resistors in series and parallel – measuring potential difference and current.
Week 8&9 Mid year examination.
Term 3: 36 hours or 9 weeks
Chemistry (Chemical Change)
Weeks Topics Practical Activities Assessment
Week 1&2 (8h) Reactions in aqueous solutions (ions in aqueous solutions; ion interaction; electrolytes; conductivity; precipitation; chemical reaction types). Recommended experiment for informal assessment:
Test water samples for carbonates, chlorides, nitrates, nitrites, pH and look at water samples under the microscope.
Formal Assessment:Recommended Project For Chemistry:
1. Purification and quality of waterorRecommended projectPhysics:
1. Acceleration.
Week 3&4 (8h) Stoichiometry (mole concept).
Physics (Mechanics)
Week 5 (4h) Introduction to vectors&scalars. 2. Control test
Informal Assessment:
1. At least two problem-solving exercises as homework and/or class work (every day, if possible cover all cognitive levels).
2. One practical activity per term.
3. At least one informal test per term.
Week 6&7 (8h) Motion in one dimension (reference frame, position, displacement and distance, average speed, average velocity, acceleration.
Week 8&9 (8h) Instantaneous speed and velocity and the equations of motion. Recommended experiment for informal assessment:
Roll a trolley down an inclined plane with a ticker tape attached to it and use the data to plot a position vs. time graph.
Term 4: 16 hours or 4 weeks
Physics (Mechanics)
Weeks Topics Practical Activities Assessment
Week 1&2 (8h) Energy (gravitational potential energy, kinetic energy, mechanical energy, conservation of mechanical energy (in the absence of dissipative forces)). Formal Assessment: Final examinations.
Chemistry (Chemical Systems)
Week 3&4 (8h) The hydrosphere . Informal Assessment:
1. At least two problem-solving exercises as homework and/or class work (every day, if possible cover all cognitive levels).
2. One practical activity per term.
3. At least one informal test per term.
Week 5 up to end of term Revision and formal assessment.

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Source:  OpenStax, Physical science grade 10 teachers' guide - siyavula webbook. OpenStax CNX. Aug 10, 2011 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11342/1.1
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