A project aimed at boosting academic throughput and students’ understanding of difficult subjects like physics has graduated one of its first classes.

This week first year Emergency Medical Care students showcased their projects at the inaugural Physics Concepts Exhibition.   

The event encourages students to select a pure physics concept and then prove it through a working model in an effort to comprehend the theory.

The programme was administered by the Fundani unit and made possible by a multi-million rand Teaching and Development grant that CPUT received for the first time.

The grant is issued in an attempt to boost throughput rates of otherwise capable students struggling only with complicated subjects like maths and physics.

The success of programmes like this has seen CPUT receive a cash injection of R12 million to replicate it across more courses.

Some of the ideas exhibited included ballistics, hydraulics and magnetic acceleration and physics lecturer Dr Mark Marais congratulated the students on embracing the challenge.

“Emergency Medical Care needs a special kind of person and I hope what we did here in terms of physics will be useful in your future careers,” he told the audience.

Students Ronnie Kellerman and Fabio Moreira were awarded first prize for their detailed model on rope rescue which examined the role of mechanical advantages in hoisting a load.

Ronnie says the project helped simplify complicated theories like Newton’s law of motion and the fact that the exhibition replaced an exam meant they truly understood their chosen concepts.

Written by Lauren Kansley

Tel: +27 21 953 8646
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Liaises with the media and writes press releases about interesting developments at CPUT.

A willingness to tackle difficult topics and include creative influences in his lectures have earned a CPUT lecturer a top teaching award.

Siddique Motala, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying, was recently announced as a National Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award winner for 2017 and will formally receive the award at a gala ceremony in November.

The award is made on behalf of the Council of Higher Education (CHE) and the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of South Africa (Heltasa) and recognises the unique contributions winners make to their classrooms.

Motala was also awarded the CPUT Faculty of Engineering’s Teaching and Learning Award in 2016 and credits his achievements to an interest in exploring more than just quantitative teaching methods.

“In Engineering there can be a split between the hard sciences and the soft, which is the part that would be more interested in aspects like ethics. This could translate into a situation where ethical considerations are simply a box to tick. Ultimately to me a surveyor doing their job ethically is doing their job properly,” he says.

In an effort to encourage his students to explore more creative solutions Motala doesn’t shy away from discussions about race, religion, class and even the Fees Must Fall debate. Additionally creative avenues like history, art and a deliberate focus on Africa makes his students relate to one another in completely innovative ways.

“It is unfortunate that our local students will often be able to point out New York or London but not Benin or other African countries, this has presented an opportunity for foreign African students to take the lead in class,” he says.

Motala, along with two other winners, Drs Mark Marais and Muhammed Nakhooda, will also be recognised at an Institutional Teaching and Learning Awards ceremony event next week.

Written by Lauren Kansley
Tel: +27 21 953 8646
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Liaises with the media and writes press releases about interesting developments at CPUT.