The year, term by term
34 weeks across four South African terms.
Every grade follows the same four-term journey — looking and wondering, reasons and evidence, other eyes and hidden persuaders, then doing the right thinking — so families and teachers always know where they are. Lessons unlock one at a time.
Term 1 · 10 weeks
Looking & Wondering
Wake up attention in a world of numbers: what data is, where it comes from, how likelihood works, and how our own minds misjudge risk.
Hold onto this term: A number always came from somewhere and someone — notice the choices behind it before you trust it.
- Wk 1
Week 1: A World Made of Numbers
How many of today's claims are really claims about numbers?
- Wk 2
Week 2: Where Does a Number Come From?
Who counted this, and what did they decide to count?
- Wk 3
Week 3: Understanding Risk and Probability
Am I afraid of the right things, in the right amounts?
- Wk 4
Week 4: Likely, Unlikely, Certain
What does "probably" actually mean as a number?
- Wk 5
Week 5: Coincidence and the Gambler's Mistake
Is the coin "due" to land heads after five tails?
- Wk 6
Week 6: Big Numbers, Real Meaning
Is a million really a lot here, or is it tiny?
- Wk 7
Week 7: My Own Risk Blind Spots
Where does my gut misjudge how likely things are?
- Wk 8
Week 8: The Senior Thinking Journal, Year 2
How can my journal track the way I read numbers and claims?
- Wk 9
Week 9: A Data Question Worth Asking
What is a question about my world I could answer with data?
- Wk 10
Week 10: Looking & Wondering — Term Review
How is my number sense and risk judgement sharper now?
Term 2 · 9 weeks
Reasons & Evidence
The Grade 8 core: how statistics lie, graphs that mislead, sampling, and the correlation–causation trap — reading the data behind the claim.
Hold onto this term: A statistic is an argument in disguise — ask how it was made before you let it persuade you.
- Wk 11
Week 11: How Statistics Can Lie
Can two true statistics tell opposite stories?
- Wk 12
Week 12: Which Average?
Whose "average" is this, and who does it hide?
- Wk 13
Week 13: Graphs That Mislead
Can a graph be technically true and still deceive me?
- Wk 14
Week 14: Sampling: Who Got Asked?
Does this sample really stand in for everyone it claims to?
- Wk 15
Week 15: Correlation Is Not Causation
Did one really cause the other, or do they just move together?
- Wk 16
Week 16: The Survey Trick: Loaded Questions
Did the question already push the answer it got?
- Wk 17
Week 17: Percentages and Their Tricks
A "100% increase" of what, exactly?
- Wk 18
Week 18: Judging a Statistical Claim
Can I put a number-claim through a full check?
- Wk 19
Week 19: Reasons & Evidence — Term Review
How well can I read the numbers behind a claim now?
Term 3 · 9 weeks
Other Eyes & Hidden Persuaders
The heavy persuaders: how propaganda moves crowds, how persuasion exploits emotion and group identity — and seeing across deep difference.
Hold onto this term: The bigger the crowd being moved, the more it pays to know exactly how — name the tool and resist it.
- Wk 20
Week 20: Propaganda and Mass Persuasion
How do you move millions of minds at once?
- Wk 21
Week 21: Fear, Anger and the Easy Enemy
Why does pointing at an "enemy" persuade so easily?
- Wk 22
Week 22: The Power of Repetition
Does hearing something often make it feel true?
- Wk 23
Week 23: Belonging and the Pressure to Agree
How much does wanting to belong shape what I think?
- Wk 24
Week 24: Seeing Across Deep Difference
Can I understand someone whose whole world differs from mine?
- Wk 25
Week 25: Propaganda vs Honest Persuasion
Where is the line between fair persuasion and manipulation?
- Wk 26
Week 26: Images That Move Crowds
How do pictures and music persuade past my reasoning?
- Wk 27
Week 27: Resisting Manipulation
When I feel a message working on me, what do I do?
- Wk 28
Week 28: Other Eyes & Persuaders — Term Review
What mass persuasion did I see through this term?
Term 4 · 6 weeks
Doing the Right Thinking
Apply the year to real-world ethics: data and privacy, the fine print, environmental justice — then reflect on a year of growth.
Hold onto this term: When something is free, ask what you are really paying with — and who carries the cost.
- Wk 29
Week 29: Data Privacy and Surveillance
If the app is free, what am I really paying with?
- Wk 30
Week 30: Reading the Fine Print
What is the small print quietly taking away?
- Wk 31
Week 31: Environmental Justice
Who carries the cost of pollution, and is that fair?
- Wk 32
Week 32: My Changed-Mind Moment
When did data or another view change my mind this year?
- Wk 33
Week 33: Watching My Own Number Traps
Where does my own thinking get fooled by numbers and feelings?
- Wk 34
Week 34: A Year of Thinking — Review & Celebration
What kind of thinker am I becoming, ready for Grade 9?