"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.
No comments:
Post a Comment