Our website use cookies to improve and personalize your experience and to display advertisements (if any). Our website may also include cookies from third parties like Google Adsense, Google Analytics, and Youtube. By using the website, you consent to the use of cookies.

COVID left South African pupils far behind in maths and language skills

COVID left South African pupils far behind in maths and language skills

LEARNING to read, write, count and calculate forms the basis for all other learning in school and beyond. Pupils start to learn these basic skills in the first three years of schooling. Their learning continues throughout their time in school as the content becomes more complex. In 2020 and 2021, learners across South Africa missed at least a quarter of a school year due to COVID-related lockdowns and rotational timetabling. Many learners lost much more school time. Author URSULA HOADLEY, Professor, University of Cape Town Given these disruptions, how much learning was lost across the schooling system? The systemic tests…
Read More
COVID is no gamble: physics-inspired simulations predict waves in four countries

COVID is no gamble: physics-inspired simulations predict waves in four countries

AS a physicist, I am trained to look for patterns in data. For example, the motion of the tiniest particles may seem random, but it contains patterns and symmetries. The same can be said of human movements and interactions. Most humans move to and between familiar places (home and work, for instance), and may encounter the same individuals, like colleagues, most days. But, naturally, there are also random interactions in our complex modern world. There’s a good chance that we will bump into random strangers as we go from one place to another. Human motion consists of both “regular patterns…
Read More