science is a mess!

St Albans College is having a major reunion of graduates from matching years in revious decades - 1968, 1978, 1988, 1998 - on Friday July 11 in Pretoria. And there's been a flood of memories.

Thought you might like to know that Peter Bower of the Class of 70 wrote about someone who is still going strong at the MTN Sciencentre - Detlef Basel, now in his 70s and still causing chaos, as can be seen in the photograph above.

This is what Peter wrote: In the 60s the Photographic, Printing and Puddlers (pottery) Clubs were all housed in one of the original farm outbuildings near the dining hall.

In the Puddlers Club somebody (Detlef Basel, I think) had lit on the idea of using a Morris Minor gearbox to drive the potter's wheel. For some reason, he hadn't removed the gear lever. The correct speed to throw a neat pot was to be found in 1st gear. Changing to top gear resulted in a most gratifying spray of muddy water and clay about the room.

Some things never change, as people who sit in the front row at Detlef's science shows might attest!

Info found here: http://www.stalbanscollege.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=380&Itemid=33

teaching goes nuclear

''On Monday I took the teachers to visit Melvyn Miles at the Koeberg nuclear power station on the West Coast. The teachers debated the effects of load shedding due to lack of coal-powered electricity on their communities and considered the need for alternative sources of power,’’ said John Crossland of the MTN Sciencentre.

That's John in the picture, seen here lurking between the 10 Gauteng maths, science and technology teachers on winter study break and Koeberg itself, the only nuclear reactor in the southern hemisphere.

‘’It was great to expose teachers to the world of work, particularly the science and technology driven sectors of South African industry,’’ explained Ryan Bruton, another MTN Sciencentre manager, who accompanied the group with Audrey Mosiapoa, a science graduate currently receiving training at the MTN Sciencentre through the Department of Science and Technology’s national youth service scheme.

David Sindele of the Potsdam sewage treatment plant in Milnerton also gave them a tour of some very practical – and very necessary - examples of the science involved in providing clean water and a healthy environment.

The MTN Sciencentre name also hosted the teachers on Wednesday, where they viewed MTE Studio's new exhibition on the pros and cons of nuclear energy, called Pebble Power for the People.

Teaching the teachers

While their students enjoy the last week of winter break, ten Gauteng maths and science teachers are trying out their first-ever study tour in Cape Town at the MTN Sciencentre. Here they are with Tony Williams, who is based at the science centre as part of the educator traiing programme ORT-Tech.

Hemant Waghmarae from the SciBono centre in Newlands, Johannesburg, initiated the new project with the help of Busisiwe Maqubela of the MTN Sciencentre.

‘’This has been the first time science centres have worked together like this to help motivate and inspire science teachers with real-world examples of the material they teach in the classroom. So far it’s been a great success,’’ said Ms Maqubela.

Themba Nkabinde, who coordinates the career development of maths, science and technology teachers for the Gauteng education department, agrees. The five-day trip was underwritten by the Gauteng education department.

Pretoria teachers include Johanna Chokwe from the recently-renovated Bona Lesedi no-fee school in Mamelodi East, Kgabo Manamela from Sohanguve Technical High School and Kriba Baloyi from Mamelodi’s J. Kekana High School, who came with Balam Subramani of the Tshwane north educational district

From Roodepoort came Princess High School teacher Sharon von Luiters, while teacher Winnie Alexander comes from Fred Norman High School in Ennerdale in southwest Johannesburg, both accompanied by Nduna Marobela of Johannesburg West educational district.

Representing the East Rand was teacher Venie Chetty from Springs secondary school and Sunward Park High School’s Enoch Thango from Boksburg.

The 10 teachers arrived in Cape Town on Sunday, July 6 – just in time for the heavy rains, cold weather and floods. They can keep warm while filling in their journals, perhaps?

They return to Gauteng on July 12, two days before the new school term starts, inspired and ready to revamp the classrooms.

see science with different eyes

Take a look at this shot of an old diagram, en route to the camera obscura at the MTN Sciencentre. Photographer Max Barners uploaded it on his website - http://maxbarners.com

Kaylyn at ExperiLab

Kids enjoy going into the Experilab shop and trying out the van der Graaf generator -this is Kaylyn, whose dad posted the pic online. The science centre is swamped with happy kids this winter school break here in wet Cape Town. And they're getting ready for the big sleepover on Wednesday 9th, to celebrate Nandi's birthday.

Sea-faring science

The venerable University of Virginia in the eastern USA is teaching future American science teachers - and broadening their educational horizons - in the 2008 Semester at Sea Course, which takes place in the northern hemisphere's fall - probably a good time to come to dock at places like Walvis Bay in Namibia and Cape Town, South Africa. That's their route, above, on what is roughly a 100 day voyage.

While conducting experiments and learning how to make balloon-powered cars and fan belts, there's also a section where they find out how museums teach science. First stop: us, the MTN Sciencentre, in Cape Town!

Other stops include the Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre in Chennai, India; Penang science centre in Malaysia, classrooms in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, and the Hong Kong Science Museum and the Shanghai aquarium, both in China.

Sounds fabulous, doesn't it? Semester at Sea has been running for nearly half a century - see http://www.semesteratsea.org




Ed Sobey, above, who will be running the course, specialises in Education and Environmental Sciences



Professor Sobey is president of the Northwest Invention Center (www.invention-center.com) to serve schools and museums with hands-on programs and exhibits, and to help inventors. and senior director of the Asian Institute for Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (www.asiainvents.com).



In these roles he develops creative learning programs and museum exhibits, and writes books on technology, inventing, and science. His academic background is diverse: first physics and math, followed by oceanography.



In addition to his academic work in peer-reviewed journals, 100 magazine articles and 21 books (some of which we show here) not to mention directing museums for nearly twenty years, Ed Sobey has also hosted tv shows such as The Idea Factory and Blow The Roof Off and received many awards for his work in community education.



Ed served as the first director of the USA's Inventors Hall of Fame and founded the American Toy Hall of Fame. Quite a cool guy, we look forward to welcoming him!

MTN Sciencentre on Flickr

Smart photographers upload their photos on the Flickr photosharing system - and we show up a lot.