Gr 12 PAT

A PAT is the way in which the work taught in CAT is ‘applied’. It brings together all the skills taught. It is an essential part of the subject.
I am so angry. I have just finished marking Phase 3 of the Gr 12 PAT. The poor marks are not my problem. I taught the PAT well, however many learners spoke through my classes, checked e-mail while I was explaining and just ignored me.
I am going to take the points below and incorporate them in the assessment of the Gr 10 and 11 PATS. And when I make MY Gr 10 and 11 EDITED rubric I will not give ANY marks for ANY things if they are meaningless, i.e. no being nice. I am irritated by stupidity and plain carelessness.
My Gr 10 and 11 PPTs which I am using for teaching are available here.

1. The graphs must be woven into the story/discussion. The graphs must NOT be in a section on their own. The graphs must help explain the discussion.
2. A caption of a graph is not a story, and should not pretend to be a story. A caption is a ‘heading’ for an image. You talk about the evidence of the graph in the body of the text as part of the story and not in the caption.
3. Pictures, if used, must be described or referred to in the text. They should not be in a page or section on their own.
4. Tables copied from a database or spreadsheets have no place in a report. The material must be synthesized or analysed so that it gains meaning.
5. There should be no need for any material in the report to come from any web site or copied from anywhere. The report is the result of an investigation into a problem. It is the ‘result’.
6. The report should look professional! I have seen too many spelling mistakes, and the font in a document should be the same for all sections, and a heading 3 is smaller than a heading 1! Body text should be left aligned.
7. The conclusion should draw all the findings together and is a summary of all the work, and end with a final sentence giving the verdict (slotsom).
8. The conclusion must be at the end, just before the bibliography.
9. Page numbers are required if you have a table of contents!
10. The rubric/checklist must be read as a guide as to what is expected.

Grade 12 PAT

The SABC weather man Simon Gear and his book Going green - 365 Ways to change the world - may give some ideas for the PAT, for those who are starting doing their PAT now (a bit late.) Buy it, browse it! Cape Town teachers - I know he will be at the Cape Town Book Fair over the long weekend (13 - 16 June 2009) and doing a number of presentations. www.kalahari.net are selling the book at R112 instead of the normal R140.
When I was in Sudan in the Naqa region I saw the effects of global warming - in this temple, built long before the birth of Christ, there are many pictures of cows, cows which must have lived in the area. Look at the area now, cows could not live in the area with that vegetation. Think about how the climate has changed.

Gr 12 PAT Phase 1

I have to help my learners move with their PAT! They need a plan if they are going to do something. They must know what they want to achieve else they will just go round in circles. The planning in phase 1 is so important.
So today I have calm music playing and the learners are calmly searching for statistical data to show that there is a problem in the focus area of their PAT.
They are struggling to create good questions. It is funny to think any person can just go and …

• search – search for what?
  
• collect data – on what?
• analyse data – on what?
• analyse data – for what?
• make graphs – for what?

Hopefully after this calm web/music time they will have statistics to prove there is a problem and improve their questions, and have their phase 1 ready to hand in to me next week.

Gr 12 PAT Phase 1

I introduced the PAT last week to my class. This week I am going to help them create their Phase 1 document based the following points.

1. I will ‘talk’ about what is a PAT.
   
2. I will talk about points 1 and 2 of page 2 of Learner Section of the PAT.
   
3. They will write down statistics to prove that there is a resource problem in their area.
   
4. We will look at Phase 1 on page 5 of the Learner Section of the PAT.
   
5. I will show them my Phase 1 PPT.
6. I will show them my main headings/topics on how to deal with the printer in my room.
   
7. I will give them the word template linked here, similar to the table in the Phase 1 PPT.
   
8. They will enter their headings/topics on the template.
   
9. They will create questions beginning with What? When? Where? Who? How many? Etc. to complete the table, to solve their problem, for ALL their headings/topics on the template.
   
10. They will create questions beginning with Why? How? Etc. to complete the table, to solve their problem, for ALL their headings/topics on the template.
    
11. They will create questions beginning with If, What if? Etc. to complete the table, to solve their problem, for ALL their headings/topics on the template.
    
12. They will create questions beginning with Would it be better if? What recommendation? How can I determine? What would be the best way? etc. to complete the table, to solve their problem, for ALL their headings/topics on the template.
    
13. They will then indicate where to find the answers for all their problems – they will look in many sources! - electronic encyclopedia such as Encarta, printed media such as magazines, brochures, newspapers, books, etc., opinion polls/surveys, interviews, e-mails, SMSs, telephone calls, etc.
14. They will then indicate how that question will help solve the problem!
    
15. Someone will then check their work.
16. The learners will check the rubric making sure that they get full marks.
    
17. They will submit their individual work.

Gr 12 PAT

The PAT is based on the Research Cycle http://fno.org/oct97/researchcycle.html or the Big 6 Information Management Model http://www.big6.com/
The students doing the Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) in CAT at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology have created some PPTs to shortly explain the Research Cycle or the Big 6. Please have a look and possibly use them with a class to introduce the PAT. If you use them perhaps you can thank the creator – their email is in the Slide 1 notes page. Please email me PRIVATELY telling me which is the best PPT and why – Thanks.
Barbara Anyster, Johan Barkhuizen, Sandra Botha, Patricia Carelse, Andile Desha, Pumza Dinga, Oscar Lang, Thabisa Matwa, Beauty Mxuma-Nongogo, Nomasomi Nongoko, Tertia Shah, Lindsay Van der Berg, Alexander Van Stade, Dawood Wakefield, Russel Williams

Gr 12 Survey or any other Survey - Evidence

As part of Information Management we must teach learners to make statements based on EVIDENCE collected and processed, not on gut feelings. Their opinion must be able to stand up in a court of law - the evidence for each statement must be there. In their Conclusion or Summary slide for their Survey many learners have made statements that have no relation to what was asked in the survey.

Gr 12 PAT

Have a look at the free monthly glossy magazine called Full Circle. Each month from about June 2008 there has been an article on Sustainable Living. A number of these would provide useful starting resources for getting the learners to start thinking about their projects. The URL is http://www.fullcirclemagazine.co.za/magazine.html. The following URL has an interesting contribution about electricity shortages: http://www.fullcirclemagazine.co.za/sustainable0806.php

Thank you Peter Davidson for this contribution.

Gr 12 PAT

Please read this message aloud!
How do we do a PAT? First we read the instructions aloud to ourselves, once, twice, three and even four times. We underline problematic words. We talk to ourselves – what could it mean? We phone / visit and talk to other CAT teachers. All the words in the PAT are important and clear – perhaps we just need to learn to read.
We ignore the words in the English PAT of ‘problem’. (Ek weet nie wat in die Afrikaans staan nie.) Where ever we see the word ‘problem’ in the PAT we change it to plain English (plat Engels) of ‘what must we show or do’. We are going to show the management of the school how the Office suite can be used to organise / administer something!
To help the learners, look in the Gr 12 textbook, Pages 185-189. Let the learners do Activity 1 and 2. Activity 1 wants the learners to Read and rewrite the PAT instructions, and then add questions. You have a look at Activity 2. It should be better now.
Hope you read this message aloud! You did? Okay, now read it again! Now go and read the PAT instructions and rubric again. Phase 1 is simple if you read it aloud again and again and again.

Gr 12 PAT

The formatting of the PAT document caused me problems when photocopying it for my learners. The shading in the formatting of the tables helps the understanding of the tables BUT when it is photocopied it is difficult to read. I tried to take the formatting out but the document was in PDF format (as it is an official document) which means it cannot be changed. So I asked for a Word copy of the document.
I managed to get a Draft copy of the document and then took the shading out. I printed it and gave it to my learners. I told them it was a Draft document – I put the official document on the data projector and the network and the learners shaded the important areas with a highlighter themselves. I told them it was a draft document and it is their responsibility to compare it with the official document. Use this Draft document with care – the shading has been removed. Here is the Official document.

Gr 12 PAT Introduction

I introduced the Gr 12 PAT to my learners this week. I used the PowerPoint available here to illustrate my introduction. The learners found the presentation most useful. They now have this weekend to think of their topic and then we will start on Phase 1 due in February. They discussed topics in class. I told them that the topics had to be ones which I understood, i.e. they could not do anything about organising the irrigation system to the sports fields. The topics they will probably select are about dances, tours, elections, managing discipline and detention, field trips, etc. They are most excited and after Omewa really feel confident about doing it.