African Skies Shine Upon Sci-Enza

Posted on October 08, 2008

Primary school children had the opportunity to see a star show in the portable planetarium at Sci-Enza and partake in several astronomy-related educational activities.

“Understanding the vastness of our solar system can be a bit mind-boggling and the holiday program aims at inspiring children to enjoy astronomy and understand a bit more about the universe and their place in it” says Rookshana Hussain, one of the organizers of the event.

Children had the opportunity to climb into and see the Southern hemisphere stars projected inside a large blow-up dome. The portable planetarium called the Starlab, belongs to South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA) and was brought to Sci-Enza especially for the holiday program.

Two National Youth Service (NYS) volunteers working at Sci-Enza, Irene van Nugteren and Nadine Broodryk were trained to facilitate star shows in this special inflatable planetarium. In the star dome constellations and planets were pointed out and African Star lore stories were told under the ‘night sky’.

“2009 is the International year of Astronomy. The program is just a preview of things to come next year at Sci-Enza,” says Nadine Broodryk who also coordinated the holiday program. The children were also introduced to some of the interactive software programs available that can be used to explore the universe from the comfort of your own home.

This program aimed at building an interest in astronomy, included an interactive talk about the solar system and activities such as making a sundial, rocket and playing games to learn interesting facts about the planets in the solar system.

Philip Nel from Lynnwood Laerskool said that it was nice to learn new things about the stars. After seeing the star show, Lisa Kruger a grade 2 learner from Laerskool Theresapark said: “Dit voel of daar sterre reg rondom jou is. Dis lekker as die sterre draai. Mens kry nie elke dag die kans om dit te sien nie. Ek het nog nooit die sterre beelde so duidelik gesien nie!”

Leon Matheus, a 3rd year mining engineering student at the University of Pretoria was one of the assistants who was there to give the young scientists a hand where needed, and he said that the Science-is-fun program is very educational and inspires the young kids to engage in science activities.

Armand Bredenkamp, a grade 4 learner form Lynnwood Laerskool, can now tell time using the sundial he made during the program. “Ek het ook baie van die planetarium gehou en die speletjies baie geniet.”

It seems that the astronomy-themed program was successful. Rudi Horak, director of the Sci-Enza science centre said that it was good to see how much the children already knew about the solar system and how they enjoyed learning more about the stars, planets and space.

 

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POSING WITH THE STARS: Learners outside the portable planetarium at Sci-Enza

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