E-I-E-I-O

You all might be wondering why the abbreviation above, well on the next few days we reviewed how science kits, simple models and exhibits can make a huge difference to learning scientific principles and making sure that these principles are cemented in the minds of learners ranging from ECD to High School! So in essence it's :

E for Excite

I for Introduce

E for Explore

I for Interact

O for Outcomes

Day 6,7 & 8

On the last days of our visit we experienced first hand use of grant funded teacher training and use of simple educational resources in the classroom for interactive teaching. This for me personally was an extremely important part of our trip, as the KZN ScienCentre has over the last year developed an extensive programme around simple science resource kits as well as teacher training. The most important lessons learnt from this part was the engagement around all partners involved and most importantly I will be further engaging with The Miami Science Museum and  The Fairchild Project over the materials and expertise that they have used for the above ;-)!

As I write this post I have been back in S.A for a a few days now and we are certainly ready to rock and roll! I will be writing new posts each week with details on how I implemented what I  learnt, how The KZN ScienCentre has evaluated their programmes and how we have made use of all our collaborations and partnerships. For all of you reading this blog please feel free to contact me if you require any further info or would like to partner with The KZN ScienCentre. And we must we always remember as the picture below shows all projects can start of a mere caterpillar and within the right environment, food of knowledge and time to review and mature they can all turn into butterflies!

Resources Resources Resources!

Wow, it really has been an awesome 3 days of learning and acquiring new skills and resources!

Day 3

Experienced a day on the beautiful campus of University of Miami (pictured above). Some of the highlights of the day included a short course on the many different social media tools that can be used in the classroom to have a broader impact on all sorts of educators, facilitators and learners. Interestingly enough the University of Miami has introduced twitter, facebook and wikispace in the classroom allowing for students to interact on a real time basis with their classmates and teachers. This type of participation is really a good creative outlet and can be used as tool for monitoring and evaluation. I was really left inspired and have some newfound ideas on how to utilise these methods to increase learner and public participation at The KZN ScienCentre. especially to evalaute our programmes,workshops and exhibits. Another usefull tool that we will definately be making use of will be creating our own comic strips for more interactive learning, for more information on how to create your very own comic strip go to www.pixton.com, These tools will also help us to make follow ups with our visitors and make sure we can assist education in the province once learners have left our doors!

The second part of the day included a very interesting and unusual problem and inquiry based learning workshop, where learners decide "what science they would like to test" - in this case the learners get a set of crickets that they use to test crickets taste preferences for example whether they would like to eat a banana or a granola bar. This type of workshop really makes learners practice their very own scientific theories and really unlocks their scientific potential, once again this workshop will be used initially in our holiday programme as a pilot project to a bigger project in the future.

Day 4 & Day 5

"Give Today...And...Change Tomorrow" - On these days we were fortunate enough to look at two organisations that really represents this message.

At the Miami Zoo we had the opportunity of looking at worksheets developed by Grade R educators that were incorporated into teaching a group of 4 year olds the different animals and the ecosystem - this had  a great impact on me as we have just developed an ECD centre at The KZN ScienCentre -  I will be writing a great deal more about this after we visit the Children's Museum and the ECHOES programme this weekend, so watch this space. 

Now on Day 5 we were taken around the Miami Science Museum and their plans for the future - for some background, the Miami Science Museum has been given a grant of around $250 million to move to a bigger and better location. At the museum we looked at their abilities to acquire funding and sustain their organisation by the very many programmes they run. The Miami Science Museum  works very closely with their Department of Education and The Miami University and with this partnership in mind we were introduced to an exciting programme that ensures a 89% pass rate of high school graduates who thereafter are accepted to local universities via a scholarship and funding model. This programme is really worth replicating especially if we look at the similar socio-economic problems that exist between the disadvantaged populations of both Miami and S.A. Miami has had over the years a large Cuban influx due to the political and economic situation. I will be engaging with a few people on this matter when I get home ;-)!

Hope you have enjoyed my latest post there's certainly more to come if these last few days are anything to go by!



Science Camps to Elementary School Dissections

So finally arrived to the beautiful sunny skies of Miami - so here's some of the excellent work we've been seen already!

Day 1

Introduced to the Miami Science Museum's Entrepeneurship Career Day with Grade 10- 12's. This programme is an excellent role modelling programme that shows kids how to dream big and have heart in accomplishing all they can by hard work, study and a passion for a career in business, science or technology. So to quote the Miami Science Museum Education Team " The Anatomy of an Entrepeneur is KNOWLEDGE - PASSION - FIRE." Kids are taken through a programme where they have a first hand talk by a science specialist in business, an inspirational video on business development (See www.TED.com and William Kamkwamba - Amazing!) and then kids have to develop their own business plans with their own ideas. During this time kids are also taken through the Science Museum to interact with the exhibits and team!The KZNScienCentre will be looking at introducing this programme as soon as I am back!

Day 2

Awesome squid dissections with elementary school learners funded by the Miami Education Department - Calamari Anyone ;-)

We also had the priveledge to meet with the Dean of Education and The President of the University of Miami as well as Professor Mike Gaines who is involved in multiple informal and formal learning interventions. Lots and lots of meetings - looking forward to all the collaborations!

Goodnight for now after an amazing and fulfilling 2 days - www.willitbeyou.com!



Adventures in Science Begin!

And so it begins! After some wise words from Beverly, Tebogo and Rudi at our farewell lunch hosted by The DST and SAASTA we're off to the airport all in good time - just enough to write my first post :-).

Now for some background - I am currently the Head of The KZN Science Education Foundation - The KZN ScienCentre - a fully registered NPO focused on creating a science and an education literate society in South Africa. I am passionate about what I do and what we stand for and always looking at new ways of creating awareness and creating a stable organizational strategy and plan to ensure financial stability in a harsh economic climate.

Now about this adventure , I was fortunate enough to be chosen by The Department of Science & Technology and SAASTA to embark on a course at The Miami University and The Mimai Science Museum as well as many other informal learning Centres and schools. Whilst there I will look at processes that involve executive management of various informal learning centres, curriculum support to schools, conceptualization and implementation of programmes as well as sponsorship and fundraising models to name but a few. Over the next few days I will be posting interesting findings, pictures and thoughts gained from my experiences.

Albert Einstein once said " All that is valuable in human society depends on the opportunity for development accorded to the individual" so with that in mind, whilst I will be making the most of this opportunity, I also hope by my blog and chats to various colleagues when I come back that I will give you insight, knowledge and skills that can be used to contribute to to the education of our youth!

Hamba Kahle/Goodbye for Now from a beautiful warm JHB - till I write again from a beautiful warm Miami!