iggles filled the classroom de-spite Ms. Marriott standing with arched eyebrows in the front of

the class. Then she broke into a smile as the photo she had just taken on her iPad morphed into her ancestral Homo habilis form, complete with full facial hair. The students in her grade 12 Life Science class had just witnessed their own personal devolution. After the initial shock, the students were able to walk through each stage of evolutionary development and witness the physiological changes in human form. Both humans, and educa-tion at DCS were evolving.

In 2012, MINI and BMW South Africa opened the door to tablet-based learning at Dominican with the donation of 60 iPads to be used from grade 0–12. After

“Evolution exists! Using the iPad I could see the astonishing way we evolved” BASETSANA TSOTETSI

months of training, teachers have begun the new year leveraging the devices to deliver lesson content in innovative new ways: students have created superheroes, built molecules, witnessed the escalation of the Cold War, devolved themselves, researched artistic movements, and explored lexical fields in Henry V. Basic

skills of reading, writing, and arithme-tic have also been reinforced through applications that monitor individual student progress. Together with dynamic teaching, iPads are acting as catalysts for learner-centred inquiry, a skill critical for success in tertiary education. What lies ahead? Online group work, paperless homework, and real-time assessment.

Cnr Marshall and Boom, Belgravia, Johannesburg [t] (011) 614 6943 • [f ] (011) 614 8780 or (011) 624 3124 head@dominican.co.za

www.dominican.co.za dominicanconventschool dcsbelgravia

veritas

Evolution [of] Education

VOL 15 NUM 4 8 FEBRUARY 2013

p ENCOUNTERING OUR HUMAN ANCESTORS G12 students use iPads to discover how geological change influenced evolution

9 February | 9–11:00 amExtraordinary Parents' Meeting

DCS School Hall

ACADEMICS

WATCH ONLINE: http://bit.ly/ipadsuperhero

vs St. John's College 12|0U11

POINTS DCS vs SandringhamGIRLS | POINTS DCS

OPEN 20|16vs Bishop Bavin American International

School Tournament

Saying “please” and “thank you” are good manners which we learn at an early age. As we get older, we soon learn that showing gratitude for what we receive is essential to build lasting relationships. We should always see gifts before we see faults, and give thanks: thanks for a person, an organisation, or a moment of happiness. With many things at Dominican to be thankful for, let us seek gratitude before fault. There are always areas we can improve, individually and as learners, teachers and parents within the school, but in remembering to say thank you for what we have, we will build our personal and communal strength to sort out our weaknesses.

Mike Thiel | Headmaster

Mr Mike Thiel, Headmaster ¡ Ms Marina Burger, Head of High School ¡ Mrs Dalene Rostovsky, Head of Primary SchoolMrs Rosalia Motha, HS RE Co-ordinator ¡ Mr Sidrick Moore, Director of Boarding ¡ Mrs Kathleen Whitaker, Director of AdminMr Tshepo Mogase, Chairperson of Parent Council ¡ Parent Council queries to: parentcouncil@dominican.co.za

See gifts, not faults

veritas VOL 15 NUM 4 8 FEBRUARY 2013

D9 Athletes Shine

Saturday, 9 FebruaryBoarders @ Gillooly's Farm

07:00 PS U11 @ St. John's07:00 PS U12 @ DCS07:00 PS U13 @ St. Peter's 09:00 Extraordinary Parents General Meeting

09:00 CSO Bursars' Forum Workshop

Monday, 11 February14:00 PS Maths Cluster Meeting @ St. Mary's PTA

Tuesday, 12 FebruaryCSO Principals' Meeting

10:25 Shrove Tuesday Tea and Pancakes

Wednesday, 13 FebruaryGDE Principals' Meeting

07:40 Ash Wednesday Mass (Readings: 11P)

14:00 SP English Cluster Meeting @ St. John's

14:30 PS @ St. Benedict's

Thursday, 14 FebruaryValentines Civvies (R5)

11:00 HS Mid-Term Marks DueRE Coordinators' Workshop

14:00 HS Boys @ Sacred Heart14:00 HS Girls v. Bishop Bavin

Friday, 15 February07:00 U16 Boys @ St. John's Tourney (Until 17.02)

12:00 PS Inter-Catholic Swimming Gala G10 M&E Camp (Until 17.02)

Upcoming Events

PRIMARY SCHOOL SPORT

1 iPads in the classroom 2 Grade 8 EMS class 3 Taking the shot vs. Bishop Bavin 4 Speeding to the next lesson 5 Coach Speakman sets the pace

VALENTINES CIVVIES DAY FEBRUARY 14 R5 | PROCEEDS BENEFIT MATRIC DANCE

NEED TEXTBOOKS? PHONE MS MARIKA 01 1 8 73 3 6 47 R5478CHARITY

TERM 1 TOTAL

CAMPUS COMMUNITY

1

2

3 4

FROM THE HEADMASTER'S DESK

5

2

4|3U12 8|24U13

Mbuso Dhlamini 1st 80mClaudio Fransisca 3rd 80mJames Kalala 3rd 100mChelsea Rose McKenzie 3rd Shot

"We braved the weather and competed against nine other schools. Competition was keen and we gave it our best!"

—BOTSHELO EZEIFE, 7P

BOYS | POINTS DCS 16|0U14 20|3U19 1stU14