More than 1 000 pupils from across the Ehlanzeni district, eager to learn more about science, made their way to Penreach – a non-profit organisation (NPO) which focuses on developing school leadership.
This marks Penreach’s 10th year of participation in this science week, an initiative instituted by the Department of Science and Technology. It aims to stimulate interest in science as a subject of study and also to promote technology careers in general by exposing schoolchildren to a wide variety of science-based activities.
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As a catalyst for high-quality education in disadvantaged communities, Penreach supports the work of the department of education, and believes that practical learning is vital for children of all ages.
“Teaching and learning is not something that should be confined to the classroom,” said Mr Bailey Nkuna, director of teaching and learning at Penreach.
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“Pupils must establish the relevance of the maths and science they learn in the classroom and make it applicable to what they see in the environment,” he explained.
According to Nkuna, this realisation often comes too late. “Science should not only be emphasised in high schools, but should be prioritised from as early as the early childhood (ECD) phase. Following a pipeline approach, shows us that the effective way of developing children is to nurture them from ECD progressively across the grades. This eliminates learning barriers when they enter the high school phase.”
He added that the more support children and teachers received, the better.
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The NPO is also actively involved in the development of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge in maths, science and technology, regularly conducting career-guidance sessions to ignite pupils’ passion in these fields. The organisation is currently the only one in Mpumalanga to make use of several mobile science laboratories.
These primarily attempt to close the knowledge gap between primary and secondary education. It also aims to teach children the practical meaning of science through experiments.
Dr Abbey Mdluli of the district’s education head office applauded Penreach on the successful execution of all the activities. He said he was proud of the good work they were doing.
