Friday, August 21, 2009

Eskom Expo for Young Scientists

The Cape Town Expo took place this week. Despite being on maternity leave I was involved as a judge (well, actually, a convener, but let's not split hairs) for the seniors (Grades 10-12; approx ages 15-18). I'm really glad I was. It was a fascinating experience and I picked up some good ideas for our in-house school version.

I have to say though, I was disappointed with the overall standard of the projects. One of the projects that particularly sticks in my mind was about the effects of alcohol on unborn fetuses. Before I say more, I need to point out that a) this expo is supposed to be about investigations (ie. experiments) and not just about research projects, and that b) projects involving alcohol are severely frowned upon (in fact, they will not be permitted AT ALL next year). This project was from a learner who was obviously not a first language English speaker (if the spelling and grammatical errors were anything to go by) and was obviously from a disadvantaged background (if the quality of the poster was anything to go by). Neither of those things should severely disadvantage a learner though, as the adjudication is mostly based upon the content of the project and an interview.

What did impact rather negatively on this project was that, in the first paragraph, the learner said something like (I can't give an exact quote, but it is close to the real thing): Alcohol makes babies cuter because they are filled with fruit.

Yes, you read that correctly. I had to read and re-read the sentence several times, just to check I'd got it right. And then I proceeded to howl with laughter, and cry with dismay that a) this learner's teacher thought this project good enough to bring to Expo and b) this learner's teacher probably didn't care enough to look (not even look closely) at the project before submitting it to Expo.

Seriously - is this the quality of teacher that exists in SA? If so, then God help us, because our youth are essentially being set adrift by the very people who are supposed to anchor them. I knew that the qualification level of teachers wasn't necessarily very high (I've been told that many only have matric themselves), but that was during the Apartheid era. I had thought that the government had been fixing this by creating all sorts of special categories for schools to channel more money to them for the training and equipping of staff and schools. Apparently though, the situation is worse than I thought.

I mean, really? Babies are cuter because alcohol fills them with fruit? Yeah, okay - fruity as in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome fruity. Brain-damaged fruity maybe, but not cute fruity! Sorry, but no.

If this weren't real I would continue laughing, but this is so sad, so tragic I can't laugh anymore. Even crying about it won't help. How do we fix this? How do we save this great nation of ours when this sort of thing is happening? And more importantly, what role do I play in fixing this problem?

On the plus side, we got our first gold medal (which is automatic entrance to the next round) in goodness knows how many years! I was very proud of little Daniel (He's only in Gd 9). It couldn't happen to a sweeter child. He had those beautiful shiny eyes and eager expression that spoke volumes when he received his medal. He isn't one of those kids who achieve this kind of success every day and for whom receiving a medal is either embarrassing (because it marks them as geeks) or blase (because they always succeed at whatever they do).

National Finals are in Pretoria in a few weeks' time. For Daniel, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He can't wait. His words to me were "I'm overwhelmed." Now I need to find him sponsorship of about R2000 to ensure he gets there. So if any of you faithful readers can suggest someone I can approach, please do let me know. (He has to pay his deposit by Thursday this coming week and the balance the week after.) His project was a physics one entitled "Determining the effect of different shapes of caravans on stream-lined cars in a cross-wind environment". Yup. And he's only in Gd 9. Bright child. You know, I think this experience might just enthuse him enough to take Science at varsity level, which is the point of the Expo. Whether or not it does, just seeing his face light up was enough of a reward to make all the hard work to make the Expo happen worth it!

Well done, Daniel! And I will do everything in my power to make it possible for you to be in Pretoria come October.

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