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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). |
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OUT AND ABOUT
Science programme is electric
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Grade 4 to 7 natural science educators who attended SAASTA’s Primary School Science Intervention workshop at Tshilidzini Special School in Venda. Physics lecturer Makonde Netsianda, who arranged the workshop, is in the back row on the far right. |
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Enthusiasm for SAASTA’s Primary School Science Intervention (PSSI) programme is spreading like wildfire, with a number of projects being run in the Western and Eastern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga and Venda.
The current theme of the PSSI programme is electricity. The PSSI provides educators with information and resources to run a workshop with fun, interactive science content for learners in grades 6 and 7. Educators must first attend workshops where educator science kits and resource materials are distributed. They are then given background information on electricity; they attend training on how to build simple circuits; and they receive information on safety and how to save electricity.
The educators are required to use the kits in the classroom together with learner activity books and worksheets to achieve the best results. Schools compete against each other by using the kits to make products that best serve their communities, and participate in quizzes based on the content of the learner manuals.
Western Cape
In the Western Cape, SAASTA funded a collaborative intervention between the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), iThemba Laboratory for Accelerator Based Science (LABS) and the Western Cape Education Department (WCED). The South African National Space Agency in Hermanus and AcelorMittal in Saldhana supported the project.
Ambrose Yaga (iThemba LABS), Sivuyile Manxoyi (SAAO), Eva Monare (CPUT) and Suanne Rampou (WCED) facilitated three workshops for 144 intermediate phase teachers from both the metros and rural areas.
“The support of the education department and Suanne Rampou’s willingness to collaborate and help with organisation and implementation of this programme proved to be invaluable,” says Manxoyi. “Elisa Fraser provided support in Hermanus and postgraduate students Pierre van Heerden, Eli Kasai, Getachew Mekonen and Rajin Ramphul, contributed immensely to the successful implementation of this truly collaborative programme.”
Two more teacher-training workshops as well as a competition for learners are in the pipeline. “If we can inspire and excite our teachers about science, we will change classroom practice in schools,” says Manxoyi. “This project is an example of what we can achieve when working collaboratively.”
A lecturer’s initiative
A physics lecturer at the University of Limpopo, Makonde Netsianda, saw the PSSI electricity kits at the university’s science centre and immediately thought of the learners in his home village in Venda, who do not have access to many of the learning materials that others take for granted.
He arranged a successful training workshop for educators from 24 schools - one being a school for physically disabled and blind children - and SAASTA provided science kits and manuals.
“In line with university policy, as an academic I am expected to be involved with community engagement. By participating in this project, I had the opportunity to give time and input to my community,” says Netsianda. Since all the schools are from one circuit, he has already arranged that a competition be held at circuit level to select the top 10 learner electricity projects. The final competition between these 10 schools will take place early next year.
Netsianda has since presented similar teacher workshops in Mpumalanga, Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth.
Clearly, one man’s enthusiasm can make a difference in the lives of many learners.