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91% of readers strongly agree that social media platforms could play a key role in attracting younger generations of South Africans to SET fields of study. |
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3% say they are not sure (too many learners still don’t have internet access). |
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6% disagree (the time and money could be better spent on outreach projects). |
It’s like a real-life movie ... Scientists plan to smash a spacecraft into an asteroid - so they are prepared for the possibility they will have to stop one hurtling towards Earth. The news came as Nasa moved to calm fears that a comet is on a collision course with our planet. Read more
IN THE NEWS
Why serious topics deserve a playful approach
What does it take to excite learners about astronomy? Nothing more than Prestik, a toilet roll, a bathroom scale and a few hoola hoops, it seems.
Guest speakers at a recent day-long teacher’s workshop at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) turned traditional teaching on its head when they whipped out a selection of unusual props to demonstrate a new way of educating learners about the solar system.
The teacher’s workshop was divided into two sessions, the first of which was conducted by Sivuyile Manxoyi, Collateral Benefits Programme Manager at the South African Large Telescope (SALT) project. Manxoyi used toilet rolls to build a scale model of the solar system and explored weight and age on other planets using a bathroom scale, hoola hoops and spinning tops.
Dr Rosa Maria Ros, Chairperson of IAU Commission 46 on Astronomy Education and Development, and an academic at a university in Barcelona, Spain who specialises in astronomy education, also made a strong impression. A veteran of astronomy education, Dr Ros used a simple ruler and Prestik-based model to demonstrate the motion of Earth and Moon, as well as simple circus masks to explain the solar and lunar eclipse.
“These hands-on new approaches will definitely excite our learners,” says Mrs Poswa, head of the science department of Vuyani Primary in Gugulethu. “SAAO must help educators to build these models”. Ms Nonkosi of St Mary’s Primary echoed this sentiment and urged the facilitators to extend their work to a larger number of teachers.
Dr Ros says that she intends to return to the continent in the near future to collaborate with astronomy educators.