Page 26 - issue 24
P. 26

26            In The News





          A:  I  can’t  remember  from  the  top
          of  my  head  but  we  had  countries  like    Engineer Magazine also sat down with Mr Modise and
          Swaziland,  Botswana  and  yes  we  still   Mr  Tladi from Bakgatle JSS in Mochudi who invented a
          need  to  introduce  the  competition  to     Mobile Science Laboratory to ease the burden of financing
          other  African  countries.  Kenya  also
          participated but a lot more is needed to   expensive labs in rural and peri-urban schools.
          gain awareness with many other African
          countries.  Zimbabwe  was  also  part  of
          the competition.

          Q  Since there is a gap with teachers

          who  teach  this,  how  are  you  coping
          with the number of learners coming for
          training ?

          A: The ideas is that in the schools
          we  have  a  group  of  learners  who  are
          in  the  competition  and  the  teachers
          are  the  coaches.  At  Sci-bono  we  are
          the mentors. We are familiar with the
          project  and  we  know  how  it  works.
          We just need to make sure that before
          I make the teacher coach the student I
          need to know what is expected of the
          teacher.  I  start  with  them  as  a  group,
          we  program  the  robots  and  show  the
          logistics  and  then  I  meet  with  the
          learners as well. The role of the teacher
          is to guide the student. I also share with   Q: Tell us about this Mobile Laboratory?
          the learners how to program and build
          the  robots.  So  both  of  them  have  the   A: This mobile laboratory was motivated by lack of labs in primary schools and
          knowledge  but  the  teacher  uses  the   dilapidated labs in secondary schools. So this innovation was meant to address
          knowledge to guide the kids not to do   that so that leaners will be able to conduct experiments /practical work. What
          the work for them.                   we call activity based learning. So in this project we have water as one of the
                                               components and can be used for different practicals in the lab such as measuring
          Q: In participation at this event, have   volume, finding boiling point of water or any other practical that needs water. The
          you so far realized what is expected of   second one is a Portable Gas Bunsen burner so we can conduct practicals that
          you to achieve ?                     involve heat and the learners can construct knowledge on their own.

                                               Third  is  the  electricity  component  and  electricity  component  has  two  outlets.
          A:Yes, if I may quote what the Minister   One out is connected to the wall socket and learners can conduct experiment on
          said  yesterday,  he  said  that  we  are   circuitry. When there is no electricity we resort to solar. We have a solar panel used
          here  to  explore  the  power  of  ideas  in   to recharge the solar battery. We have a separate outlet for the solar connection.
          education. So robotics coding i.e. IT ,we   We have a buzzer to demonstrate electricity for the lab. Basically the lab creates
          need  to Start with teachers then then   platform for learners to have activities and extract knowledge on their own.
          learners .So I found we are relevant ,at
          the right event and sharing with other
          African countries .What we are looking   Q: How long did it take to build this laboratory?
          for if  possible is have partnerships with
          other companies and governments      A: It took almost one year and three months to make it work.


                                               Q: What was the response from other countries dignitaries at this event?





          Issue 24 - oct/Nov  2019                www.engineermagazine.co.bw                                                                                             www.engineermagazine.co.bw                   Issue 24 - oct/Nov  2019
   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31