South Africa Grade 11 Civil Technology Syllabus

This syllabus outlines the content for Grade 11 Civil Technology, based on the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) document.

Term 1

• Safety & PAT: Safety practices and regulations for construction machinery, site and workshop, including excavations, scaffolding, handling materials, and working with heights. Fire prevention and response, including types of fires, extinguishers, and systems.
• Materials: Properties and uses of blocks (concrete and landscape), ferrous metals (cast iron, steel, galvanized sheet metal), non-ferrous metals (aluminum, lead, zinc, copper, tin), and glass (sheet and safety). Properties and uses of putty, silicone, and other glass securing methods.
• Equipment: Use, care, safe handling, and maintenance of hand tools for bricklaying, woodwork, plastering, and plumbing. Use, care, and maintenance of power tools (circular saw, angle grinder, electric plane, router) and construction machinery (concrete vibrator, mixer, jackhammer, generator).
• Graphics and Communication: Freehand and instrument drawings of tools and equipment. Orthographic projections with sections of building fittings, labeled and dimensioned to SANS specifications. Isometric view drawings. Application of CAD in basic floor plan design.
• Applied Mechanics: Calculation of moments with a maximum of 3-point loads. Graphical solutions for force diagrams using Bow's notation. Calculation of stress and strain. Calculation of center of gravity for combined regular shapes.

Term 2

• Construction: Retaining walls: purpose, reasons, materials, sketches. Concrete beams and columns: types and uses. Formwork for beams and columns: purpose of oils and emulsions, and potential defects. Reinforcement: function, materials, fixing methods, minimum cover, positioning. Plaster: mixing proportions, application, wall preparation, purpose of skimming. Cavity walls: purpose, construction, advantages, disadvantages, construction details, purpose and position of wall ties. Brickwork: drawings of alternate plan courses of T-junctions and corners in English bond. Building-in frames: methods for setting up, securing, and building door and window frames into walls. Lintels: purpose, use, types, sizes, sectional detail, construction of pre-stressed lintels. Wall plates: material, purpose, positioning, securing methods. Waterproofing: materials, properties, positioning, and installation of DPC in windows, doors, and walls. Formwork: materials and equipment for columns, stairs, and arches; erection methods; types and uses of props and scaffolding. Excavations: purpose and reasons for using raking and flying shores, construction details. Woodworking: location, purpose, installation method, and sketching sections of profiles for wooden building components (skirting, quarter round, cornices, architraves). Ceiling layout, construction, finishing methods, material calculation, drawings of elevation, horizontal and vertical sections of doors. Selection of doors and windows from schedules and catalogs. Developing cutting lists for small projects. Purpose, need, materials, and application methods for timber preservatives.

Term 3

• Construction: Steel: properties, uses, and profile sketches of steel sections (I-beam, H-beam, U-channel, lip channel, angle iron). Purpose, advantages, and installation of cladding. Advantages, disadvantages, and uses of steel doors and windows. Finishing: Plastering (preparation, application of rough cast, steel troweled and wooden floated finishes). Tiling (planning, preparation, installation, finishing). Painting (surface preparation, application methods for interior and exterior). Concealing conduits: methods for chasing walls and floors, precautions. Cabinet making: manufacturing process considering material choice, cutting list, construction, and finishing. Technical advances: properties and uses of new materials and construction techniques.
• Civil Services: Water supply: basic house plumbing, including fitments, distribution, and pipe placement. Hot water systems: types of pipe materials, introduction to hot water systems (boilers, pressure geysers, gravity geysers), working principles of geysers (horizontal and vertical installation), purpose, type, and regulations of pressure reducing valves. Sewerage: line diagram layout of a drainage plan for a single-story dwelling, calculation of invert levels, regulations, color coding, sectional view identification, reasons for installing, advantages, disadvantages, purpose, and function of conservancy tanks, septic tanks, and French drains. Storm-water: regulations and methods for disposal. Electrical system: installation and location of meter box, distribution box, card supply box, and conduits.
• Quantities: Material quantity extraction for a simple structure (garage) and wall and finishes, using basic mathematical formulas.

Term 4

• Joining: Steel: methods for joining steel sections (flanges, gusset plates). Brickwork: materials and methods for joining brickwork to steel, wooden, and aluminum doors and windows. Wood: sketches and uses of joints for cupboard construction (mortise and tenon, butt joint, dowel joint, biscuit joint, mitre, housing). Plumbing pipes: joining methods for capillary and compression joints. Materials and installation of underground cold water supply pipes.

This information is intended as a summary and should be used in conjunction with the official CAPS document for a complete understanding of the curriculum.