pictures from FIRST Lego League

Pictures of the 2007 Western Cape FIRST Lego League have been uploaded at:

http://robotrix.bizland.com/WP-Champs%202007/index.html

Micro Maniacs win 2007 Cape FIRST Lego League

Michael Struwig, Jonathan Wotherspoon and Davis Todt kneel down with the team's yellow Lego-block trophies, victorious at the end of the hard-fought 2007 Western Cape robotic championships, backed by team-mates Daniel Stokell, Dylan Vorster, Allister Smith and Daniel Jacobs.

The boys will be keeping a close eye on Sebokeng/Vanderbijlpark region this Saturday, which will be crawling, buzzing and whirring with robots. Forty schools from across Gauteng, the northern Free State, North West Province, and Mpumalanga have entered the northern championships at the Mittal Steel Science Centre.

The Micro Maniacs team from Elkanah House, a school in Tableview, will be battling whichever robots win in the Sebokeng/Vanderbijlpark region at the nationals later this year.

The Micro Maniac's coach, teacher Melany Liebich, said her team has now won the Western Cape championships for two years in a row.

One of her team members, Michael Struwig, a grade nine student, said Elkanah House was the highest-ranked team out of all the 2006 regionals. Sadly, due to a design flaw - a tank-style tread which stripped off in the heat of battle - the Micro Maniacs finished eighth in the nationals last year.

''This year we hope to do better at the nationals,'' predicted Michael, noting pointedly that the students designed their 2007 robot to use four wheels rather than a tank tread. ''And better gearing,'' he added.

i-Robo team enjoys Lego League

Wandile Ganya, Vuyelwa Dlungane and Loyiso Matyumza pose with Tiro Motaung (their coach) peering over fellow team members Azola Hobongwana and Bulumko Matshoba.

They are members of the i-Robo team - grade 10 students from Centre of Science and Technology (COSAT) school in Khayelitsha - who fought bravely in the 2007 FIRST Lego League championships at the MTN Sciencentre on Saturday October 27.

The team suffered several setbacks this year.

Wandile Ganya was feverishly revising the design of their robots on Saturday morning after being told that the attachments did not meet the specifications required, which were buried in pages of data.

Later the students discovered that obstacles from previous missions were not cleared between events, forcing their robots to maneouvre around blockages on the field of battle.

Coach Tiro Motaung said he was more upset at the results than his students were, who enjoyed the competition regardless.

Next year, he suggested, a preliminary try-out might be a good idea a week or so beforehand so students can get their competition nerves and fluffs out of the way.

With many students not having English as a mother tongue, Mr Motaung noted, it was difficult for them to understand the written instructions unless there was a strong graphic element.

* Thanks to Steve Sherman from Living Maths, who sent these photos off at an ungodly hour on Sunday evening, going above and beyond the call of duty.

Belgravia High robotics team win best coach

The Live Wires from Belgravia High, above, won the prizes for best coach for Mr Reagen Ford as well as for the most innovative research at the FIRST Lego League, said teacher Ghairoe Jacobs.

The team members of the Live Wires group, as pictured, are: (sitting) Aghtiri Mohamed, Bashiera Allie, Raheema Enus and Ryan Adams. Standing: Mehtaab Khan, Fehraaz Petersen, a supporter (Tabasum Mohamed), Jasson Kloppers, Imraan Kaprey, Adrian Rudolph, Zubair Banderker, and another fan/spectator (Zaahira Allie).

''Mr Ford (below) is the best teacher ever, he really deserves it,'' said Bashiera Allie. ''I think Saturday was the best day of my life. It was the first time that I partook in an event like this. It was just awesome.''



''Hopefully we can join next year again. It was a really an experience of a life time,'' Bashiera, the Live Wires team leader, said. ''I wish we could turn back time: all the memories, all the fun and all the fights made this the best, something I wouldn’t exchange for anything. Life is all about having fun and we had the most fun that day.''

Sadly, the team placed sixth in the Western Cape round of robotics, held at the MTN Sciencentre, Mrs Jacobs said. Nonetheless, she said, the learners enjoyed the experience.

''Generally, they found the tournament exciting and a good learning experience,'' she said. ''During the preparation, relationships are normally riddled with torment but at the end of the day it brings them closer together and cements them in unity.''

The Live Wires are all in grade 11, with ages ranging from 15 to 17. The school is situated in Athlone, and in particular Belgravia Estate.

Most of the learners originate from the surrounding areas like Rylands, Lansdowne and Athlone.

Thanks to Steve Sherman from Living Maths, who supplied the photo. Belgravia school is on 021 6965118.

Julie Cleverdon

Science Centre ''World Cup'' organiser

The MTN Sciencentre has appointed Julie Cleverdon as director of the popular attraction, which dominates the west end of the Canal Walk shopping mall in Cape Town and gets over 150,000 visitors a year.

Earlier this year, Cleverdon was part of the bid team which flew to the European Conference for Science Centres and Museums (ECSITE) in Portugal to ensure that South Africa could be the first country on this continent to host the sixth Science Centre World Congress in June 2011.

Cleverdon now sits on the 2011 Congress organising committee for what is considered the science centre equivalent of the rugby world cup. The MTN Sciencentre will be the host venue.

Perhaps she's been influenced by Jake White, her classmate from Lord Milner primary school in Settlers outside Bela Bela (the former Warmbaths). When White was appointed to coach the South African rugby team, in a nostalgic interview with the Limpopo newspaper Die Pos, he singled out Cleverdon as one of the few classmates he could remember from those days.

Alfred Tsipa, president of the Southern African Association of Science and Technology Education Centres (SAASTEC), said Cleverdon was due to deliver a paper on mobile science centres at their tenth annual conference at Bayworld in Port Elizabeth at the end of November, which will also see the launch of government's new Youth Into Science strategy.

''She's running one of the flagship science centres in the country,'' Tsipa said from his base at the University of Zululand science centre in Richard's Bay in KwaZulu-Natal. ''The MTN Sciencentre is a viable and commercially successful effort, and it's also highly unusual because it's been located in a shopping mall for seven years. Even overseas, I don't know of a science centre in a shopping mall but it's really practical location, it's going strong because it brings the science to the people.''

Cleverdon has also been closely involved with outreach efforts initiated by the Department of Science and Technology, including National Science Week, the annual SciFest Africa festival in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, and branding every October as Astronomy Month.

Her adventures living in a private game park with a lesser bush baby are being worked into a children's book by The Witness journalist Sue Segar. An inveterate traveller, Cleverdon has just returned from India and has visited both Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania, Egypt, Uganda, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Cleverdon succeeds MTN Sciencentre founder, Professor Mike Bruton, who now works down the road in Century City at the MTE Studios, the designers of the Sultans of Science exhibit on Islamic inventors which is currently on display in the USA.

* For more information, please contact Julie Cleverdon at 083 276 9501 or 021 5298110 (switchboard 021 5298100) or email julie.cleverdon@mtnsciencentre.org.za

The Times newspaper, October 25

GOLD MEDALS: Sive Nunu, left, and Lungelwa Tyeda from Intlanganiso High School in Khayelitsha

Live wires tackle shack fires

Published:Oct 25, 2007

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EMPOWERING: The annual Eskom Expo For Young Scientists encourages teenagers to communicate their discoveries in way that is accessible to their peers



Two Grade 11 pupils from Khayelitsha walked away with gold medals for their work, writes Christina Scott.

The national Expo For Young Scientists finals in Pretoria were an electrifying experience for teenagers Lungelwa Tyeda and Sive Nunu.

It was not electrifying because Eskom sponsors the expo, or because the subject of their display was the prevention of electrical fires in Khayelitsha’s densely populated Site C, where they live.

It was electrifying because, as a judge walked towards their exhibit, the 16-year-olds from Intlanganiso High School were connecting their equipment using an unfamiliar system of wiring. The surge protector tripped the power supply. The entire row of displays was plunged into darkness.

“We have learnt something,” said Sive ruefully. “We mustn’t do things when we’re not sure!”

But at the end of the day, the two Grade 11 students walked away with gold medals for their project, which used interviews with residents of their township to highlight the role played by dangerous electricity practices in starting shack fires.

The winners say their project was inspired by the need to prevent the frequent electrical fires in their informal settlement, which often lead to severe injury.

“We wanted to look at the main causes of the fires: people not switching off their electricity, cable theft, children getting shocked by live electrical wires left exposed by cable thieves and incorrect electrical wiring,” said Lungelwa. “Houses are burning each and every day because of illegal connections.”

They spent weekends and hours after school distributing questionnaires to neighbours. Then their work appeared at the Khanyagula Expo, now funded by telecommunications company Tellumat and facilitated by the Medical Research Council.

Khanyagula was started in 1997 by a small group of school science teachers from Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Guguletu and Langa.

Khalipha Ramahlape, community liaison officer for the Medical Research Council said: “The recent gold medals, as well as the increase in participation by underprivileged communities at the expo, are a manifestation of our passion to develop the next generation.”

Appearances in the Cape Town finals of the Expo For Young Scientists, which were held at the MTN Sciencentre, helped the two gospel-loving girls develop faith in their own abilities.

Lungelwa, lives with her little brother and her father, who is an unemployed foreman. Her mother and two sisters live in Nqamakwe in the Eastern Cape.

Describing the national finals, Lungelwa said: “Everyone there is very competent, so you must fight for yourself. We learned that you have to make you own way to the gold medal.”

It was the duo’s first visit to Pretoria.


“We stayed in hotels, it was so fabulous. The rooms, they are so nice. Their showers!” Lungelwa exclaimed. “There are no showers in houses in Site C. We have a tap in the yard.”

Sive’s gold medal hangs on the bedroom wall of her father’s Site C home. Most of the homes in the neighbourhood are made of wood and zinc. Illegal electricity connections dangle from rooftops.

Her father and her mother were very supportive,” she said.

The support of Chris Diwu, a science teacher at Intlanganiso High School, was also critical.

“When we came back from Pretoria with the gold medals, they introduced us to the whole school at assembly,” said Sive.

“ Our teacher was so happy. When we got to class , everyone clapped and he took a photo.”

Sive’s research for the Expo has resulted in her falling in love with engineering. And, despite her family having little money , she’s determined to study further.

“I want to prove that anyone who trusts themself can become an engineer,” she said. “Even if you’re a girl.”

In the meantime, both girls are working on their singing skills. Their cellphone voicemail messages, which ask callers to speak after the beep, are delivered gospel- style — soprano for Sive, alto for Lungelwa.

But they’re practising their maths as well as their music.

“Most people don’t want to do maths,” said Sive. “I think practice makes perfect. If you really want to do something, you have to ask in order to know it. I enjoy it and I like to practise it.”

They’re already planning to enter the 2008 Expo, even though they will be writing their matric exams next year. “We need to start preparing for it next month — after exams,” said Lungelwa.

They’re also good ambassadors for the competition and go out of their way to encourage other students to participate in it.

“There are many opportunities if you enter. For junior scientists it’s really amazing,” Sive said.

“You can win scholarships, you can win a trip overseas and you can experience a lot,” Lungelwa said.

She also praised the sponsors and organisers of the Expo For Young Scientists: “They’re doing a lot for many children. We really appreciate what they have done for us. ”

Detlef Basel of the MTN Sciencentre, who is a director of the Eskom Expo For Young Scientists, said:

“It’s incredible that the Western Cape students received 11 gold awards out of 22. That was quite superb, a brilliant effort by the learners.”

Rustenburg Girls Junior School

Shahied van Nelson (above) and Siphosetu ''Dudu'' Dudumashe are bringing the MTN Sciencentre's mobile laboratory to the Rustenburg Girls' Junior School on Main Road in Rondebosch on Saturday October 27 for the school's annual fund-raising Morning Market.



Shahied (seen here demonstrating that he always keeps a fire extinguisher handy)and Dudu will be putting on two chemistry explosion shows as well as putting out the mobile discovery stations for kids and adults to play.



This is the mobile science van's first visit to the historic school, founded in 1894, although some of the buildings date back to Dutch colonial times.

FIRST Lego League's Pyro Maniacs

Ian Swart, Kyle Johnson and Andre Schwartz designing the robot which will be in action today at the FIRST Lego League tournament, on the theme of ''power puzzle.''

Other members of the team: Thoriso Tsheole, Jonathan Kukard and Michael Hedenskog.

Candace Rennie, the coach, predicts great things!

Micro Maniacs return to FIRST Lego League

Daniel Stokell and Jonathan Wotherspoon working on the board game in preparation for today's FIRST Lego League robotics challenge, from 10 am to 3 pm at the MTN Sciencentre in Cape Town.

Daniel and Jonathan are part of the Micro Maniacs team from Elkanah House, according to ''coach'' and teacher Melany Liebich.



Other team members are Dylan Vorster, seen above programming the robot, as well as Davis Todt, Daniel Jacobs, Allister Smith and Michael Struwig, said Melany, who does technology, design, visual art and arts and culture at the Tableview school.

Fifteen-year-old Michael Struwig, from Blaauwberg, warned the other 17 teams competing in the Western Cape finals that the Elkanah House teams intended to retain their winning position from last year's event.

Michael, a grade nine student, said Elkanah House was the highest-ranked team out of all the 2006 regionals. Sadly, due to a design flaw - a tank-style tread which stripped off in the heat of battle - the Micro Maniacs finished eighth in the nationals last year.

''This year we hope to do better at the nationals,'' predicted Michael, noting pointedly that the students designed their 2007 robot to use four wheels rather than a tank tread. ''And better gearing,'' he added.

Teacher Melany Liebich can be reached by email on melanyl@elkanah.co.za.

Matjiesfontein

A belated thank you to Maryke (above) for stepping in at the last minute to guide the very enjoyable trip to Sutherland on the weekend of October 20.

Maryke replaced Michelle Hopley, who went down with hay fever, and was accompanied by John Crossland.

Maryke was the official photographer on the trip so she was involved in most pictures - but she was behind the camera, not in front!

This was taken at the antique car museum in the historic small town of Matjiesfontein on the way back from visiting the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), the single biggest telescope in our half of the planet, as part of national astronomy month in October.

FIRST Lego League returns

FIRST Lego League returns to the MTN Sciencentre on Saturday October 27 2007!

An international robotics competition (see above, with Western Cape education minister Cameron Dugmore monitoring proceedings) comes to Cape Town on the morning of Saturday October 27.

''Bring your ear plugs, or your vuvuzelas, for the First Lego League tournament,'' said the host, Julie Cleverdon, director of the MTN Sciencentre in Canal Walk shopping mall.

''It's noisy,'' happily admitted head judge Peter Pretorius, managing director of the non-profit science communication organisation ZelTech in Vanderbijlpark, who flies into the city on Thursday to prepare for the event.

''It's the only science event where children actually shout for science,'' he said. ''What is important for me is to make it so they can shout the same way they do in the rugby world cup final, to get the children really excited.''

17 teams are participating, with robots racing against the clock to perform tasks from 10 am until 3 pm, said Jani de Bruin of the MTN Sciencentre. She encouraged people to attend the competition, saying the centre was having a special R10 entry for the day.

14-year-old student Nanzi Siyo from the Science Education Resources Initiative (SERI) in Khayelitsha participated in the FIRST Lego League last year. ''The competition was tough, the other teams were brilliant and we did very badly,'' remembered the grade nine Luhlaza High School student.

''But then, we didn't have the experience. Now, we are confident about our project
and we expect to do very well.''

Nanzi described the robots as being shoe-sized: ''Size 7.''

Her colleague in the Dynamic Dynamos team, Sive Gladile, said the students built the robots under the guidance of coach (and teacher) Peter Oxenham and programmed them to perform missions. ''Ja, I'm a bit nervous, I haven't experienced this yet,'' she admitted.



Their team will be up against Belgrava High, Westerford, American International School of Cape Town, Bishops, SACS junior school, Elkanah House and Somerset College, as well as Kiddiwinks shop and the ORT-tech programme.

The i-Robo team is composed of grade 10 students Izola Hobongwana, Loyiso Matyumza, Bulumko Matshoba, Wandile Ganya and Vuyelwa Dlungane from Centre of Science and Technology (COSAT) school in Khayelitsha.

''I'm hoping they'll be in the top five,'' predicted coach Tiro Motaung from
Rondebosch. ''The Lego League competitions are a fun activity to see and
participate in but I think the students have already had the most fun when
they got the kits for the first time. They were overwhelmed by the small
Lego pieces. The process of building the machines and trying to understand
what they do caused a lot of laughter.''

The Cape Town students form a fraction of the international total: 100,000
children from 50 countries participate in the FIRST Lego League each year.
Only South Africa and Egypt participate from the African continent.

''For me, to watch the children performing on the playing field, seeing the
passion with which they approach science and engineering and technology, is
absolutely fabulous,'' head judge Peter Pretorius said.

''I love robots,'' Pretorius said. ''I started with computers and it was
just a natural advancement into robots, they're just computers that move
around.''

The Cape Town event kicks of a nationwide series of FIRST Lego League
events, including a tournament in Gauteng the following weekend (November
3), a special tournament for Jewish schools in Sandton and an Eastern Cape
competition on December 1 at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in
Port Elizabeth.

Saturday morning's event is being underwritten by the Canal Walk Foundation,
the first corporate social investment programme to have been created by a
South African shopping centre, said Vanessa Herbst. ''We support education, so naturally we support what the FIRST Lego League is doing.''


Note to eds: fabulous photos available from earlier FIRST Lego Leagues on
request from Jani de Bruin on 021 5298128 or 0823 276 9509 or email
jani.debruin@mtnsciencentre.org.za

Team contacts:

Elkanah House: Melany Liebich T: 021 554 8139 C: 083 928 8732 Email:
melanyl@elkanah.co.za

Somerset College: Tony Shuttleworth T: 021 856 3843 Email:
tshuttleworth@worldonline.co.za

SACS Junior: Eloise Baker T: 021 689 4110 Email: bakerma@iafrica.com

American International School of Cape Town: Rick Briggs T: 021 713 2220
rbriggs@aisct.org.za

Bishops: Mervin Walsh C: 084 658 9599 H: 021 658 6587 mwalsh@bishops.org.za

Belgravia High: Ghairoe Jacobs C: 084 584 1898 geejacobs@yahoo.com

Westerford High: Andre Engel T: 021 689 9154 F: 021 685 5675
AE@whs.wcape.school.za

Kiddiwinks: Kevin Poulter C: 082 882 6164 info@kiddiwinks.co.za

Centre of Science and Technology (COSAT): Tiro Motaung T: 084 899 2754
Tiro.motaung@gmail.com

Science Education Resources Initiative (SERI) Peter Oxenham C: 076 171 6208
peter@seri.org.za

ORT Tech: Kevin Valensky T: 021 529 8168 kevin@ortsa.org.za

Peter Pretorius is available for interviews in English and Afrikaans on 082
479 2714. His website is http://www.zeltech.org/

For more information on the First Lego League, their website is
www.FirstLegoLeague.org

Pebbles Project

The following was posted on 22 October 2007 by Pebbles Project for special-needs children, an organisation which is a fan of the MTN Sciencentre's activities.

The project organisers traveled to London to partake in the Wines of South Africa Mega Tasting. Pebbles had a stand at the show with application forms for Sponsor a Child and the first ever Pebbles Christmas cards, featuring three of the children Pebbles supports in their red Christmas hats.

Pebbles raised a total of R200,000 over the week they were there. The money raised from this London tour will enable Pebbles to implement weekly educational trips for the crèche and afterschool children. These trips mean almost 80 children a week can visit places such as the MTN Science centre, the Spier Cheetah outreach programme, the Nature Reserve and have fun yet educational days out.

For more information email sophia@pebblesproject.co.za or visit www.pebblesproject.co.za.

Adrian Tiplady

This is a reminder that Dr Adrian Tiplady from the team bidding for South Africa to host the astonishing Square Kilometre Array telescope will be speaking at the MTN Sciencentre tonight, October 17 2007, as part of national astronomy month.

Adrian will be talking from 7 to 8, followed by night-sky viewing on the roof of the science centre.

Kite Festival

The 2007 Kite Festival takes place at Zandvlei in Muizenberg this weekend, October 20 and 21. Charles Phillips and two other members of the MTN Sciencentre team will be there with the mobile science van and portable exhibitions for kids big and small to play with in between making and flying kites.

SALT

Michelle Hopley and John Crossland are taking a busload of visitors to overnight in Sutherland this weekend, to view the Southern Africa Large Telescope (SALT). The trip is completely sold out. And they get to stop off in Matjiesfontein on their way up to the Northern Cape, leaving Saturday morning and returning Sunday afternoon.

Michelle, age 22, hails from Glenhaven in Bellville. The MTN Sciencentre is her first job, and she's been here for a year. And this will be her first visit to Sutherland. She says she's 'very excited.'

The trip is being sponsored by SAASTA.

Rooibos Tea Party

ROOIBOS REFRESHMENTS AT 09:30
SCIENCE CAFÉ AT 10:00 - 11:30

Can Rooibos reduce the risk of heart disease?
Can Rooibos combat cancer?
What happens to Rooibos in the body?
Announcement of Rooibos clinical trials

Hear about the latest frontiers in Rooibos research from this panel of researchers:

Dr Jeanine Marnewick, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Professor Wentzel Gelderblom and Dr Kareemah Gamieldien, Medical Research Council
Professor Lizette Joubert, Agricultural Research Council
Debora van der Merwe, Stellenbosch University
RSVP 5 November 2007; marina@southernscience.co.za
Enquiries: Marina Joubert; 083 409 4254

Haroon Moolla

Haroon Moolla, a grade 11 student at Rondebosch Boys High School, is clearly a team-player of note. When this picture was taken, the results were coming through from the 2007 Pan African Mathematics Olympiad (PAMO) earlier this year in Abuja, Nigeria in April 2005. Team South Africa took first place, so here we see members Haroon Moolla, Kylie Fenner (holding the team mascot Chebyshev), team leader Koos van Zyl, and members Francois Conradie and Nicky van der Mey.

Haroon shared sixth place with Kylie Fenner of Reddam House Atlantic Seaboard to take silver.

Move forward a few months: now Haroon Moolla has collaborated with Rondebosch Boys High School classmate Nassir Bassier to produce an exhibit on Water purification and distribution in rural areas, which wins them a gold at the MTN Sciencentre-hosted citywide finals.

And then fast forward to the national finals of the Eskom Expo For Young Scientists. Harron and Nassir have won silver. A national and an international competition, same year, different specialities, and winning medal in both: that's impressive.

Want to know more about the Pan African Mathematics Olympiad?

A total of 32 contestants from nine African countries took part, writing two tough problem-solving papers over two days.

South Africa finished first with 104 points, followed by Nigeria and Cameroon, on 74 points each. The other countries’ scores were Benin (71), Mali (32), Zimbabwe (31), Burkina Faso (30), Swaziland (22) and Ghana (7).

Abigail Gotlieb

We expect to see more of the Gotlieb family - Abigail, left, younger sister Jessica, and their doctor dad - here at the science centre.

Why? Because Abigail Gotlieb, from Herzlia Senior School, won a gold medal at the Eskom Expo For Young Scientists 2007 national competitions for her investigation into the relationship between breast cancer and Hormone Replace Therapy (HRT).

HRT, according to Wikipedia (today, at any rate) is a system of medical treatment for menopausal women, based on the assumption that it may prevent discomfort and health problems caused by diminished hormones.

The treatment involves a series of drugs designed to artificially boost hormone levels. The main types of hormones involved are estrogens and sometimes testosterone

Sarah Mason

"Pack-a-shack" was the brainchild of grade nine student Sarah Mason from Herschel high school in Claremont - and it's won her a gold medal at the national Expo finals.

Sarah couldn't ignore the dire circumstances of those living in informal settlements off the N2 near Cape Town International Airport. She decided to take action – and came up with an idea that awarded her the first prize in the school's in-house competition. This in turn brought her to the Cape Town finals, when we met her, at the MTN Sciencentre.



The aim of Sarah's "Pack-a-shack" project was to design and package a marketable, affordable, durable and comfortable shack with suitable materials.

During her research, Sarah did all sorts of tests on "mini" shacks, which she manufactured herself.

These tests included making a fire in the shacks to test their flammability, placing them in direct sunlight to test their heat resistance, and submerging them in water to check for water resistance.

"She put in a tremendous amount of work," says teacher Don Gibbon, who was most impressed by her project.

The long hours paid off. Sarah found that the best materials for building a shack were corrugated zinc and Nutech board. These materials were reasonably water and fire resistant, and they provided sufficient insulation against both high and low temperatures.

Sive Nunu and Lungelwa Tyeda

Sive Nunu and Lungelwa Tyeda (see photo) won golds at the recent Eskom Expo nationals, after doing well at the MTN Sciencentre-hosted Cape Town leg of the annual competition.

Two Cape Flats learners form part of the Medical Research Council/Tellumat school science programme

The Grade 11 pupils, both from Intlanganiso High School in Site C in Khayelitsha undertook an “investigation into the causes of electrical fires in informal settlements” in their surrounding area.

The sixteen year-old winners say their project was inspired by the need to prevent electrical fires in squatter camps and informal settlements, which happen everyday and often lead to severe injury.

“We wanted to look at the main causes of the fires, such as people not switching off their electricity; cable-theft; children getting shocked by live electrical wires lying around (mostly caused by cable-thieves) and incorrect electrical wiring," says Lungelwa Tyeda.

These learners (who formed the first entry on this blog) would not have achieved such outstanding results had it not been for the Khanyagula Expo which acts as a stepping stone to the regional competition.

The Khanyagula Expo, now funded by telecommunications company Tellumat and facilitated by the Medical Research Council, was initiated in 1997 by a small group of school science teachers from Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Guguletu and Langa to encourage learners to participate in national science exhibitions.

“We are very passionate about the contribution we are making towards building capacity among the future scientists of South Africa and the recent gold medals as well as the increase in participation by underprivileged communities at expo are a manifestation of this passion,” says MRC community liaison Officer Khalipha Ramahlape,

Co-winner Sive Nunu says she hopes that winning the gold medal will inspire other learners to take science seriously at school so that they can be exposed to the expo and be able to compete with other learners from South Africa.

“There are many opportunities you get when you enter the Science Expo for Junior Scientists and it's really amazing," Sive said.

Ramahlaphe says she has been involved with Khanyagula for the past ten years and finds it very encouraging to see that they can finally bear the fruit of all the hard work.

“Had it not been for the excellent partnership between the MRC and Tellumat, these learners would have gone unnoticed in these kinds of activities,” Khalipha says.

Simone Abramson

Simone Abramson, a grade ten student from the United Herzlia High School in Cape Town, built on her success earlier this year at the city-wide Eskom Expo at the MTN Sciencentre, recently winning not one but three distinctions:

Simone went away with a national gold medal for her exhibit on a new method for identifying people.

She also won the Eskom Best Female Award at the nationals in Pretoria.

And perhaps best of all, Simone was selected to be a delegate to the Expo Sciences Europe (ESE) in in 2008.

Her teacher, Ron Jones, must be very proud of her. Herzlia, a private Jewish school, is online at www.herzlia.com.

Nanzi Siyo

One of the Cape Town students who did well at the city's Expo For Young Scientists when it was held at the MTN Sciencentre early this year has come back from the national competition in Pretoria with recognition and respect from her peers.

The learners whose creativity and hard work saw them reach the finals selected a committe of six students who went around the entire exhibit to see who they thought was the most impressive.

After trawling through 470 exhibits from 26 regions, the youths selected Nanzi Siyo, a grade 9 learner from Cape Town's Luhlaza High School, online at www.luhlaza.co.za. Nanzi Siyo is a member of SERI, the Science Education Resources Initiative which kicked off in Khayelitsha three years ago. (More on SERI: http://www.seri.org.za/)

Nanzi, who attends SERI's two-year-long Fun’ulwazi, ('Be Curious' in isiXhosa) Saturday morning enrichment programme, was awarded a gold medal at the Eskom Science Expo at the MTN Sciencentre in August.

Nanzi's project was entitled A Study of Electricity Usage in Informal Homes in Khayelitsha. Nanzi's project revealed that electricity is not king: a mix of energy sources (including electricity, gas and paraffin) was being used in 90% of the homes she surveyed.

Also, she found, recent increases in the costs of paraffin and gas mean that a high percentage of household income is spent on energy . Moreover, the government's exchange of electric stoves for free gas cookers did not appear to benefit the Khayelitsha community.

Not only was Nanzi competing in the Eskom Expo nationals, she also presented her project at the local South African Association of Science and Technology Educators (SAASTE) in September at the Cape Academy of Mathematics, Science and Technology, whose headmaster is Greg van Schalkwyk.

Nanzi's school, Luhlaza, is an interesting one. Health-e reporter Anso Thom profiled the school in an article entitled From Dustbowl to Oasis. We repeat it here:



Entering the gates of Luhlaza High School, the oasis of green spinach and buffalo grass bordering the entrance is in stark contrast to dusty and windswept Khayelitsha on the far side of the fence.

Encouraged by her love for the environment, science and biology teacher Elizabeth Le Tape started the Luhlaza Environmental Club last year.

Within less than a year her hard work and that of the learners has won them the prestigious Eskom Eduplant Award in the emerging category.

"The benefits are endless," said Le Tape, who receives very little support in terms of funding.

"Instead of disrupting the whole school and taking learners to Kirstenbosch, they have their own indigenous garden where they can experience it all. They can learn, practically, about food webs and chains, nutrition, ag man, it's endless," said Le Tape.

Luhlaza is being supported by the Kommetjie Environmental Action Group (Keag), which trained Le Tape and other local teachers on incorporating the gardening projects into outcomes based education.

Schools are encouraged to follow permaculture principles when working the gardens and to share their experiences with their community.

Permaculture has various definitions, but one is the design and implementation of productive living systems that cater for human needs in an environmentally responsible way.

It is basically about reducing waste: energy and materials, human and environmental.

It aims to design and create systems that imitate nature, contain and digest any by-products and turn the problems into solutions. No two systems will look the same as each is in harmony with its natural surroundings, different climates and aspects, and people's needs.

"It would be great if the teachers could start sharing their experiences and skills. This is a tool that they can use and integrate into outcomes based education," said Fulvio Grandin of Keag.

Le Tape said parents were starting to get involved with the vegetable and indigenous gardens, taking turns to water and work in the gardens.

"There is an increasing general awareness around healthy eating habits, rain patterns and the environment in general," said Le Tape.

"You never rest, it is hard work, but I love it," she says.

Sonwabile Notywala (15) is one of the learners that spends all his free time, including weekends, in the gardens.

"I have been doing it for two years and something is wrong if I don't get to come here over a weekend. My friends are also starting to help me," said the youngster, who has aspirations of becoming the Minister for Water Affairs.

Thandiwe Dubase is a volunteer mother who helps to water and weed the gardens.

"I love doing it. I now grow vegetables at my house as well. I have planted cabbage, cauliflower, onions, beetroot.," she says.

"Doing this instills a sense of pride in the children, the teachers, the parents and the community. It is a difficult environment to try and grow things in. There is no rain, it is hot and it is windy, but we have learnt and we have grown," Le Tape said.

Luhlaza started out with one wheelbarrow and a spade, but has since managed to buy a few more implements with the help of the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden.

They urgently need to install an irrigation system and another tap. A borehole is another luxury they are hoping to install if they can find the funds.

Anyone wishing to contact the school or Keag can get hold of Grandin at (021) 7833433. - Health-e News Service

Eid ul Fitr عيد الفطر ‘

Eid Mubarak to MTN Sciencentre's Anwar Goolam and all Muslim volunteers, staff and visitors to the MTN Sciencentre!

The Times, Thursday, October 11 2007

The national daily 'The Times', available only to the three million or so people who read The Sunday Times, has done a story on the teachers and students who have been coming to the MTN Sciencentre from six of our nine provinces recently.

If you don't want to slog through previous blog postings, we've recently had visitors from the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State, NorthWest, the Northern Cape and of course, the Western Cape!

If you'd like to read the story and admire the photo of Detlef Basel setting things on fire in front of a large crowd of students, go to:
http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=583949

Visitors from the NorthWest province

50 students from the NorthWest province are coming to the MTN Sciencentre on Wednesday October 10 2007, in addition to our casual visitors and our outreach efforts.

This particular group of grade 11s are coming all the way from Hoerskool Skoonspruit in the Freemanville suburb of Klerksdorp, now also known as the city of Matlosana.

But we have local visitors too, we hasten to add. This week, locals are coming from various parts of the Mother City, including the private co-educational Christian secondary school Elkanah House in Table View, organised by teacher Liz Broad. (For more on the school, surf to http://www.elkanah.co.za/)

Others are arriving from further away in the Western Cape, such as Hoerskool Stellenbosch, with teacher Daleen Muller.

Both Hoerskool Schoonspruit from the North West Province and Hoerskool Stellenbosch from the Western Cape were provincial winners last month in a travel and tourism award organised by the National Business Institute, and both are coming here this week, so they seem to be thinking along the same lines, despite the hundreds of kilometres that separate them.

Primary Colours

Children are natural-born scientists. This is something to be encouraged. And so we do! And it seems to be working.

On the morning of Monday, October 8, 2007, the MTN Sciencentre was visited by 120 grade five students from Beaumont Primary at the base of the Helderberg mountains in Somerset West (34°4'12"S 18°50'23"E), led by grade five teacher Mr De Wet Kotze. (The school is visible from Google maps of satellite imagery online at http://wikimapia.org/765885/) This was Mr Kotze's first visit and he found 'very interesting, the things were done very well, and it was entirely appropriate for the level of the students.'

Then on Tuesday, because of sponsorship from the Department of Science and Technology (or to put it another way, thank you to the South African taxpayer!), we were able to host learners from Manenberg Primary. The school can be found on the corner of Kei Street and Kasouga Road in the Manenberg section of Athlone on the Cape Flats. This trip was organised by teacher Mr Basil Janson, who is trying to provide alternatives to gangsterism for his students.

And on Thursday morning, for the first time, we host close to 100 grade four children from Vukani Primary on Singolamthi Road in Philippi East. This school is in Lower Crossroads, a part of Cape Town suffering from high unemployment. The school group is being led by teacher Mr Babalwa Dudumashe, who had never been to the science centre - or indeed any science centre - before this week.

Mr Dudumashe teaches just about everything under the sun except science, and said he heard about the MTN Sciencentre through word of mouth, from a teacher friend who went and recommended it. ''Because many the parents don't work, we have to work extra hard to equip the students with life skills,'' he explained. Tragically, one of his pupils was a victim of the spate of child rape and murders which have been plaguing the Western Cape: ten-year-old Usande Dabula was a Grade 4 student at Vukani Primary School when her body was found half-naked in a field in Symphony Road in Philippi East.

MTN Sciencentre salutes teachers like Mr Dudumashe, Mr Kotze and Mr Janson, who go the extra kilometer for their students, despite difficult conditions.

Science Tourism

Our dedicated science educators Detlef Basel and Eloise Nefdt are clocking up the mileage on the bright yellow mobile science lab from the MTN Sciencentre. Here's a look at their schedule this week, covering the southern Cape.

On Monday October 8, Eloise and Detlef raced off to English-language Percy Mdala Secondary School overlooking the picturesque Knysna Lagoon. Staff at this school say that one of their biggest challenges is persuading learners to go home in the afternoon! (More on this school and its international partnerships at www.bbc.co.uk/nisa)

Tuesday, Detlef and Eloise motored down to Afrikaans-speaking Pacaltsdorp Secondary School, in tiny but historic Pacaltsdorp in the Karoo, south of the town of George in the southern reaches of the Cape, on the Garden Route.

Wednesday, Eloise and Detlef drove to the 1300 learners at the English-curriculum Imizamo Yethu high school, which is NOT in the informal settlement of the same name in Hout Bay, although it is true that both mean 'through our mutual struggle' or 'our endeavours.' This one is in George, and was pushed for by the local community in the 1980s when they had no high school at all, hence the name.

Thursday, Detlef and Eloise follow the roads inland to Groot Brak Rivier secondary school in the Klein Karoo, in Kannaland to be precise, where fewer than twenty percent of residents have completed high school, according to the 2001 census.

Friday, Eloise and Detlef head off through the Outeniqua mountains, this time to the Afrikaans-speaking Sao Bras Secondary School in the sub-economic suburb of Kwanonqaba in Mosselbaai. And for those who are wondering, the bay was called Aguada de Sao Bras (watering place of St Blaize) back in 1488 by the Catholic Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Diaz, while searching for a sea route to Asia. It was a Dutch navigator Paulus van Caerden who gave Mossel Bay its current name in 1601, for the abundant mussels that line the shores.

But these are science mussels (I mean, muscles) that these two are harvesting!

Science stars from Bethlehem

113 grade five students came here on Wednesday from Truida Kestell school in central Bethlehem in the Free State.

It's an interesting school, with a history that dates back to just after the Anglo-Boer war in the early 1900s. It's also a school with its eye on the future, as it was one of the first whites-only schools in the province to open up admission to children of all races while apartheid was still intact, prior to the arrival of democracy in 1994. For more information on the school, go to http://www.truidakestell.co.za/eng/index.htm

Grade five manager and mathematics teacher Hantie Maree said, ''we have come to Cape Town every year for three years, and every year we do a graph on the children's favourite activities from the questionnaire, and every year, the MTN Sciencentre ends up the most popular of the activities we do, I promise you.''

''I've already made a tally table and the MTN Sciencentre has ended up at the top again,'' Mrs Maree said on October 9. ''The children just simply love it, I think because it's so very much hands on. We go to the Cango caves, Robben Island, World of Birds in Hout Bay, the museums, the aquarium, we do a train drive down the coast, it's a lot of stuff that we do. And for the past three years, MTN Sciencentre has come out tops.''

Manenberg to Delft to KwaZulu-Natal

On October 4, we were visited by 45 students, mostly grade sevens, from Mahlabathini Primary School in Mahlabathini, north over the Black Mfolozi River in northern KwaZulu-Natal, led by technology teacher Mr Nkululeko Cele.

''It was very good, the staff at the science centre divide the children into different classes and they do some practical things. The children took their models all the way back to KwaZulu-Natal to show their parents what they have done at the MTN Sciencentre. We don't want to miss those lessons at the science centre,'' said Mr Cele.



In addition, Grade nine students came from Manenberg High School (above) in the area of the same name in Athlone. Their trip was organised by Ludwig Bernard of the school, which has had its ups and downs. Last year one of Manenberg's learners, Cheslyn Jones, was fatally stabbed by gang members outside the school.

On the other hand, last year Manenberg also got a matric pass result of 85.29% (to give you a comparison, it was about 35% a few years earlier) and is hoping to do better in the 2007 matric exams, which start any day now. A visit to the MTN Sciencentre - courtesy of sponsorship from the Department of Science and Technology - seems like a good way to work towards achieving a 100% matric pass rate!

On the same day, we had a visit from Rosendaal High School (above) in the remote and poor satellite township of Delft, a mixture of shacks and small cinder block houses some 35 kilometres away from the rest of Cape Town. This is what the school itself has to say about itself:

''Situated in Delft, Rosendaal High serves a poor socio-economic community with high incidents of unemployment, gangsterism and crime. The road towards technology has therefore been a long and difficult one for the school and from their humble beginnings of one computer donated by an ex-deputy-principal for administrative purposes, Rosendaal High now has a full Khanya computer laboratory (see below).''


This is the school that sent 70 learners from grades 8 and 9, escorted by teachers Mr Claude Petersen and Mrs Barbara Mouton. ''In an area like us, our learners don't get out of it much and they enjoy it when they do,'' said the school's newly-appointed maths and science subject head, Virgil Fritz. ''Our learners were very excited, I could see that. Their report back was also very positive.''

The school's visit was subsidised by the Department of Science and Technology, so no fees were necessary for their visit to the MTN Sciencentre. ''It's a very challenging situation for us,'' said Mr Fritz. ''They made it free for us and that is important to us because we are a sub-economic area. If there was money involved, we wouldn't have gone.''

Students also came from Khayelitsha's Matthew Goniwe Memorial High School, named for the teacher and activist who was assassinated and his corpse mutilated by apartheid-era policemen. Learners from Malibu High in Malibu Village also came on the same day, courtesy of sponsorship from the Department of Science and Technology.

PS: The next day, Muizenberg High visited. Surfer's Corner! And Eloise Nefdt and John Crossland took the Mellow Yellow mobile laboratory out to Oliver Tambo (not the airport, silly, that's in Johannesburg; this is a high school named after the teacher who led the African National Congress in exile). We'd tell you more, but we don't want to overload you.

Tjokkies was here

Much of Bloemfontein seemed to be here in the first week of October. Well, to be specific, the students from Laerskool Universitas - better known as Tjokkies - were here. (For more on the school, check out http://www.tjokkies.fs.school.za/)

This is according to organiser Michael Grundling from World Sport Events, www.worldsporttours.com, which is based in Brackenfell, Cape Town, and organises sport and educational tours for schools.

Michael brought in 60 grade 7s on the last day in September from Bloemfontein, to spend six days touring Cape Town. On Wednesday they spent between two and three hours at the MTN Sciencentre. ''They said next time they would love to spend the whole day there. They enjoyed it absolutely. The deputy headmaster said they thoroughly enjoyed it,'' said Michael.


Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were a busy start to October 2007, with the Department of Science and Technology sponsoring students from the bilingual Afrikaans/English schools Spine Road High (seen above) with the help of teacher V.N Paramore and Rocklands High (see below), the latter led by Francois Nekosie, head of the science department.



Both are good schools in Mitchell's Plain. They were followed by a Wednesday visit from Modderdam High School (one of the schools trying to ban the instant messaging system known as Mxit because kids can't stop playing with their cellphones in class) in Bonteheuwel in Athlone.

Did you know that back in 1985, the premier of this province, Ebrahim Rassool, was a teacher at Spine Road High? So who knows - maybe the future premier of the Western Cape was walking in his or her school uniform through the doors of the MTN Sciencentre last Monday!

In the same time span, we were visited by the youngsters from Ebbtide Educare with teacher Estell Gordon, while Eloise Nefdt and Detlef Basel took the mobile science van to the Bellville Velodrome, the indoor sporting arena which can take 6000 people!

Leonie Joubert video

Video: Leonie Joubert on "Scorched : Slouth Africa's Changing Climate"