Annual expo ‘to develop scientific minds’ hosted online this year
The annual expo will now take place on their websites starting from this month until the end of the year.
The Eskom Expo for Young Scientists will be hosted online this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The annual expo will now take place on their websites starting from this month until the end of the year.
One of the northern Gauteng mentors, Thabo Poo said the expo “works to develop scientific minds through project-based learning with a key focus on scientific and engineering research”.
“The expo looks to ignite curiosity among learners and to equip them with high-level problem-solving skills,” he said.
Provincial coordinator Raven Motsewabangwe said, in keeping in line with social distancing protocols put in place, the expo will run an online rolling assessment of projects this year.
“Due to Covid-19, we are unable to host our physical expos, including our International Science Fair.
“This means there are many learners that we may not be able to reach, but we are looking to work around this challenge by using all online platforms available to us to facilitate the educator and learner mentorship,” he said.
“Learners will have the opportunity to have their science projects assessed by science industry practitioners and research scholars via online platforms.”
He said learners may register their projects on their database at www.exposcience.co.za where they can continue to work and upload their projects once they have completed.
This year the Eskom Expo is also celebrating its 40th anniversary.
“In spite of the current difficulty faced by the world, we would like to celebrate the resilience of our young scientists who even under the current conditions are striving for scientific excellence by taking up the challenge to showcase their research work,” said Motsewabangwe.
He said by participating in the expo, learners stand the chance to win university bursaries from their partners, learnerships as well as project development funding from organisations such as the Technology Innovation Agency.
Pretoria forms part of the Expo Regions called the Northern Gauteng Region where the very first expo was held back in 1980.
“Between 2016 and 2019, over 1 500 learners from 202 schools have participated in our regional expos,” he said.
Motsewabangwe said it was important that learners take part in project-based learning where they are able to tap into their creativity, technical skills and problem-solving skills.
“It is a good platform for learners to take the knowledge they learn in the classroom and apply it to everyday life to develop innovative solutions to our daily challenges,” he said.
“It is also important for educators and persons within the scientific realm to participate in the programme as project assessors and mentors to aid in the transfer of much-needed knowledge to our youth,” he concluded.
*Please note this article has been amended.
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