Students and National Science Week

An article about the launch on National Science Week appeared in Independent Newspapers, available online at http://www.iol.co.za:80/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=2934&art_id=iol1210858605164S522

Here it is below, with a few pictures.

SA tackles science basics

May 15 2008 at 03:42PM

Western Cape Education MEC Cameron Dugmore, speaking at the opening of National Science Week on Friday May 9 in the Western Cape, announced a renewed focus on getting the basics of mathematics and science right at primary school level.

Dugmore, who spoke to teachers at the end of the launch ceremonies at the Cape Academy of Science, Mathematics and Technology in Tokai, beneath Table Mountain, said ''the numeracy rates are a major concern in grade 6. We need to strengthen what we do in our primary schools.''

On May 22, for the first time, the province will honour those primary schools which have made the greatest improvement in maths and science, he told the assembled teachers.



Also attending were Western Cape science communicators such as Sivuyile Manxoyi and Isobel Bassett from the South African Astronomical Observatory in Observatory and Dr Gillian Arendse, Ryan Linden and Ambrose Yaga from iThemba particle physics laboratory in Faure.

''If we don't get this right, in mathematics and science, our country is going to lose its competitive edge,'' Dugmore warned the audience, which included Busisiwe Maqubela, Jani de Bruin, Fikiswa Majola, Phakamisa Kwinana, Edzon Robyn and Detlef Basel from the MTN Sciencentre in Canal Walk in Cape Town.

Also present were National Youth Strategy science graduate volunteers Candice Arendse and Meshack Magatshavha, and National Research Foundation interns Samuel Motlhabane and Noluvuvo Maile, all from the Hermanus Magnetic Observatory, which monitors disturbing changes in the earth's protective magnetic belt.




Fortunately, many high school students (see above)attending the launch of National Science Week, which runs from May 10 to 17 with special events around the country, were already convinced of the value of science.



Southfield-based Monique Timmie, age 15, a grade 10 student at Heathfield High School, said ''I like physics, it's my best subject. You can go anywhere in the world with physics and South Africa needs more scientists.'' That's Monique on the righthand side of the photo above.



Kuils River-based student Spencer Horne, above, who studies and boards at the Cape Academy, spoke to the audience.

''Science is constantly evolving. There are daily discoveries. Science is stimulating,'' the teenager said.

Bersan Lesch, a speaker from the ''science and youth unit'' at the Department of Science and Technology in Pretoria, said over 250 000 science career booklets had been distributed and over 200 000 people were expected to participate in National Science Week.

Dr Lynthia Paul, a University of Cape Town microbiologist from Nababeep in Namaqualand, told the students ''sometimes there were people who told me my dreams were too big.

Don't let anyone tell you your dreams are too big. If you set your mind to it, it doesn't matter what your circumstances are.''

* South Africa's National Science Week runs until May 17th with lots of free things to do and try. The MTN Sciencentre in Canal Walk in Cape Town is throwing open its doors, with free entry, from 9 am to 6 pm on Saturday, May 17.

In addition to the standard favourites like spinning in the gyroscope, the hourly trip to the camera obscura to watch the ever-changing fantastic views of the Cape Town skyline, gross-out dissections of eyeballs, kidneys and fishguts at Lucky's Lab and the daily 2 pm blow-it-up chemistry show with the fabulous Fikiswa Majola and the dashing Detlef Basel, there are quite a lot of additional activities.

Consider a free screening of the movie Bushman's Secret, featuring breathtaking footage of the Kalahari landscape, or hang out with the man who was nearly the next president of the USA, Al Gore, as he explains how we're cooking the planet in ''An Inconvenient Truth.''

Or attend ''Not too hot, not too cold,'' a workshop which is a praise poem by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to the unique qualities of our home planet.

Or outsmart Lente Mare of Chess for Change with chessboard war, or make your own volcano out of kitchen cupboard ingredients such as vinegar, bicarbonate of soda and food colouring.

If you prefer something more active, head off on the hike of nearby Intaka Island wetland.