Public Outreach

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The Inkaba yeAfrica geoscience community has established a successful record of public outreach programs through its official outreach arm, AEON EarthWISE, operating from the UFS (University of the Free State) campus in Bloemfontein, South Africa (note 2009 Overview below).

Inkaba yeAfrica's AEON EarthWISE was featured on popular science radio programmes, print media and National Science Week in SA through science demonstrations, static and interactive science displays,  teacher workshops, family mathematics workshops, multimedia presentations, promotional exhibitions and oral presentations. 

Furthermore, Inkaba yeAfrica featured at the last three bi-annual INSITE Trade Fairs (as part of the BMBF sponsored German Pavilion,  organised by DAAD-SA) in Johannesburg (2005, 2007 and 2008);  the Climate Change Conference (2009); SA PHD Conference and Expo 2009 and SAGA Bi-Annual Conference and Expo 2009, the Inkaba stand was visited respectively by a spread of school learners and parents, learning facilitators and members of the public (students, industry etc).

Open day events were also held by the respective Science Awareness Teams at the Boyden Science Centre - UFS; Hermanus Magnetic Observatory  (HMO) and the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HARTRAO), Krugersdorp/Pretoria.

Outreach 2009 : AEON EarthWISE

Since 2006 (Phase I : Inkaba yeAfrica, the EarthWISE office of the Africa Earth Observatory Network (AEON) has been functioning from the University of the Free State (UFS). Its office is
based in the Geology Department at the Faculty Agricultural and Natural Science (FANS). 

AEON EarthWISE is staffed and run on a budget provided by the Ellerman Scholarship made available by the AEON head office, University of Cape Town (UCT) and the Inkaba yeAfrica German-South African collaborative research initiative. The current activities of EarthWISE builds on 10 years of experience* gained during the period 1995-2005, whilst being managed from UCT. 

During the previous two years, AEON EarthWISE continued to provide training for natural science teachers in the Intermediate and Senior Phases and to increase the science awareness of communities in rural areas.

Three successful projects for 2008/9 were completed, managed by Mariette Erwee, MSc (Geol. - Science Education) (2009) and Huibrie Joubert (2008).

 

Outreach 2009 : AEON EarthWISE  (Ref. Mariette Erwee, MSc - UFS)    
Activity Schools Learners Facilitators Parents Medium
Prieska Weekend          
1  Teacher Training 4   18   Theory, Demo
2  Science Roadshow - in combo with 5 126   99 Displays
3  Family Math & Science Workshops         Workshops
4  National Science Week Workshops 27   48   Workshops, Activity Books
5  Kroonstad Road Show 6 290     Interactive Displays, Multimedia
6  Educational Material Development :          
6.1  Lab-Boxes         Lab-Boxes, manuals
6.2  Activity Books (2)         Activity Books
TOTAL 42 416 66 99  

 

The first was a science weekend in Prieska, consisting of a teacher training workshop, a science road show and Family Math and Science workshops hosted by the Research Institute for Education Planning (RIEP) of the UFS.

The second project was two teacher trainings during the National Science Week program of Boyden Science Centre.

The third project was a science road show in Kroonstad in collaboration with FANS - UFS. 

During 2008 and 2009, EarthWISE developed useful workshop material to aid in the training of teachers. Special manuals and accompanying lab boxes were assembled specifically for the geological sessions of the workshops. Two full activity books (one for Intermediate and one for Senior Phase teachers) were also developed, containing practical classroom activities for the whole subsection “The Planet Earth and Beyond” of the National Curriculum Statement in South Africa.

Supplementary budget allocations for Outreach came from the Northern Cape Department of Education;  Boyden Science Centre at UFS;  UFS' FANS marketing and by SAASTA** (The South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement) an agency of the NRF (National Research Foundation). 

SAASTA is the official NRF vehicle for facilitating the promotion of science and technology in our society. The NRF is the key public entity responsible for supporting human resource capacity for research, technology and innovation development in the fields of science and technology.

*  Note Living Africa Sub-Project 3.2.b-8.  Reference:  Tredoux M and Rochford K (2006) - An evaluation of the educational impact of the EarthWISE geoscience project on a disadvantaged rural community in South Africa.  Proceedings of the 5th Global Congress on Eng.Educ., Brooklyn, NY, USA.  Obtainable from the UICEE, Monash Univ., Melbourne, Australia

**  SAASTA was formerly known as the Foundation for Education, Science and Technology (FEST). The organisation changed it's name after being incorporated into the National Research Foundation (NRF) in December 2002

Inkaba yeAfrica  in a pan-African context

In its final year of Phase I, two specific events helped to underscore the growing interest in Inkaba yeAfrica, in Europe and beyond, as well as in the wider region of Africa (e.g the SADC countries).

First, the Vienna office of the United Nations acting on a GFZ initiative, offered to assist Inkaba yeAfrica and engage with partners in South Africa’s neighbouring countries.  Accordingly, with UN funding, representatives from Botswana, Tanzania and Mozambique successfully participated in the final Inkaba yeAfrica Phase I workshop in South Africa during October 2007. This has laid new international foundations that will be further explored and expanded during Inkaba yeAfrica Phase II.

Secondly,  the 2007 and 2009 workshops was held in conjunction with the international conference of the SA Geophysics Association (SAGA). The overwhelming interest by African and overseas conference participants in the results of the Inkaba yeAfrica research provides a strong signal that there is global interest in the science and  the scale and complexity of Inkaba yeAfrica, the integration of which sets it apart from most Earth science programmes globally.

Whilst Inkaba yeAfrica aims at understanding fundamental processes of the extreme

complexities of Earth Systems, through measuring, monitoring, modeling, and experimenting across a huge range of scales and rates, the Inkaba yeAfrica science teams are also taking on truly grand challenges of Earth Stewardship, through engaging with urgent socio-economic needs to meet the extreme complexities of sustainable development in our present and future world.

It is this latter human perspective that will be addressed even more succinctly by successfully attracting into Inkaba yeAfrica Phase II new well-established communities of experts both in South Africa and Germany that deal with the agriculture, forestry and biodiversity.

Specially tailored development and capacity building projects designed to focus on an accelerated path for students from previously disadvantaged backgrounds are built specifically into some of the Inkaba research proposals.

In addition, more centralised capacity building and outreach programmes in South Africa will be coordinated through the Inkaba yeAfrica office, in collaboration with the AEON initiative.

These new developments are proof that Inkaba yeAfrica has become an innovative and dynamically evolving scientific enterprise with a growing number of stakeholders.

Inkaba yeAfrica  is Big Science

*    Over 5 years : 24 Million Euros or 240 Million Rands expended    *

The scale and complexity of Inkaba yeAfrica are what set it apart from most Earth science efforts globally.

Much of the science carried out requires layout of expensive field and laboratory equipment, the use of marine research vessels and various satellites.

The science teams are taking on truly Grand Challenges of urgent socio-economic needs to meet the extreme complexities of sustainable development in our present and future world.

 

Left : Seismic equipment from the GFZ pool ready for deployment in the Karoo. Right: Newly-installed tide gauge at Marion Island

Geo-Song – Mother Earth  http://yearofplanetearth.org/index.html >

You’ve been using me for centuries
I’ve always been so resourceful
Creating wealth, building cities
Providing raw material

Today my reserves are running low
Both in and out of sight
We have to be sustainable
Restore the balance, make it right

This planet, my people
Come together
Look after this world
This planet, my people
Come as one
Look after my earth
This planet, my people
Come together
Watch my water
This planet, my people
Keep my air clean
It really matters

My surface is shaken by hurricanes
My ground is squeaking, u call it quakes
I’m either dry or flooding you
I feel there’s nothing I can do

You have such a knowledge, please use it right
To keep u and me healthy
I’m confident you’ll see the light
I’ll be much safer, make it right

 ...
... ...

 

 

 


2010/05/16 04:21:30 PM