Cofimvaba -25 August 2014

After completing St James we moved on to Cofimvaba Senior Secondary school round the corner from St James. These two schools were not on the original list but I was asked to include them in a session as part of the request from Mr Mgijima. I now understand why. Cofimvaba SSS is a very new building with a principal who is very dedicated to the task. She runs the system very efficiently and welcomed us to the school.

We were taken to the Science Teacher and told that there were over 400 Grade 10 and 400 in Grades 11 and 12. The logistics of setting up in an open area made it impossible and we resorted to setting up in the school hall with a full PA system and data projector.

The large numbers provided an interesting dimension to the process which my NMMU students were rather concerned about. The challenge was to engage as many learners while showing them as much of the equipment as possible. This was achieved through the use of a data projector and the built-in web cam of a laptop focused on to a strategic area of the desk. I use this technique often in my lectures and it was my student who suggested that the equipment be set up in this manner. I was impressed by their suggestion.

I am confident that through the use of “edutainment” and drama the learners were given a demonstration that was of the highest calibre. This included the dynamo, wind energy and hydrogen fuel cells but excluded the solar cell demonstration. On checking the total number of questionnaires returned it was discover that over 50% were not collected for whatever reason. It would appear that the larger the group the greater the chance of the questionnaires not being returned which was detected by Jade from the visit to the region last week. This would certainly account for the lower numbers overall.