POLOKWANE – To come to school on a Monday morning and be able to play with Lego is a treat most learners would love.
At Mitchell House this was exactly what happened this week when the Junior Engineers for Africa (Jefa) visited the school and used technical Lego as their primary tool to teach the learners a bit about engineering.
“A child learns by seeing something, hearing it and then doing it,” Brenda Windram, founder and team leader of Jefa, explained.
Jefa runs workshops at schools and science festivals for groups of up to 130 learners.
“Our goal is to enable school-going learners to reach their full potential. This is accomplished by using practical problem-solving activities,” Windram further explained.
She said they taught children problem-solving skills, memory sequences, responsibility and life skills. The learners built age-appropriate objects such as rotating cars, caterpillars, cranes and helicopters.
All the learners from gr. 00 to gr. 9 were involved in these workshops and said they enjoyed them a lot.
“This is so much fun, and I am building a pretty dog,” gr. 0 learner, Lani Maphalala, said excitedly during the workshop.
