Learners shine at expos
Her entrant project was a sustainable water-driven pump. It can pump water to an average height of six metres.
Maru Attwood’s innovative abilities earned her two prestigious awards at the International Eskom Expo for Young Scientists held in Johannesburg from October 6 to 8.
The international science expo is an annual event and this year’s instalment attracted participants from as far as Thailand, Swaziland, Mexico, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Brazil.
The grade nine pupil of Penryn College and five others participated. The learners were part of a team from the Ehlanzeni district and they came home with one gold medal, two silver medals and two highly commendable certificates.
Maru won the Expolabs Prize and a gold award in the special category of water engineering from the South African Institution of Civil Engineering. Other than that, she received a gold medal from Eskom and was the category winner for innovation and technology.
Her entrant project was a sustainable water-driven pump. It can pump water to an average height of six metres.
Another grade nine learner, Uzair Hira, has developed a device that helps people to correct their posture. It beeps when a person’s posture is incorrect. Uzair walked away with a silver award for his device.
Phutumile Nkuna and Nokukhaya Buthelezi were also recognised for their project titled, “The Effects of Social Media and Mobile Message Apps on Grade Six Learner’s Mathematics. “They received highly commendable certificates.
