Minister of science and technology Naledi Pandor will hand over mobile laboratories to three schools in Muden, KwaZulu-Natal, on 16 July.
Siphakeme, Sheshisamsamo and Mount Ernestina Combined School will each receive a mobile laboratory due to the efforts of community organisation Zibambeleni.
The organisation requested Pandor to organise laboratories for local schools. Sasol is investing R855 000 in the project, according to media liaison Nothemba Noruwana. This includes the cost of carts, training and classroom support of the cart users.
The carts will be handed over to the three schools, but because they are mobile, they will be used by 15 schools in the area. “Sasol is also donating a total of 10 Sasol Science Carts to Free State and Mpumalanga schools.”
Techno-loaded
“Each mobile laboratory, or cart, is fitted with high-quality educational software for teaching theory, and a USB camera and a projector,” says the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
The USB camera can also be connected to a microscope to project images of specimens or text from textbooks, says creator of the mobile carts, SmartLabs.
“The teacher simply loads the cart with practical activity trays, wheels the cart to the classroom, loads the relevant ICT content and is ready to deliver the lesson,” says Noruwana.
SmartLabs says the carts bring a new dimension to science by enhancing learners' activities and reducing the risks associated with experimenting with hazardous chemicals. Each cart can perform about 131 biology, chemistry and physical science experiments.
Being mobile allows the resource to be shared between different science laboratories at the schools, SmartLabs adds.
DST spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele says the hope is that all the partners involved in the project - DST, Department of Basic Education, local municipality, local organisations, parents, businesses and other sources - will contribute towards not only just maintaining the labs, but also replenishing the stocks. “The Department of Science and Technology for now is only providing the infrastructure.”
Avoiding risks
Ngqengelele says this initiative forms part of the department's strategy to interest pupils in science, called Youth into Science.
“Sasol's key focus in education is skills development of educators. This particular investment will help increase educator capacity and effectiveness by means of technology,” says Noruwana.
This economic, mobile option is being supplied to underprivileged schools that are currently in Sasol's development programme and have shown positive results, she says.
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