Science Centre practitioners from around the country were hosted by the Cape Peninsula University of Technology for a two-day Science and Technology workshop conducted by Dr Shaheed Hartley, Director of Contract Research in the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Interim Dean of Research.
The South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA) asked Dr Hartley to develop this workshop for science centre practitioners to build capacity in science centres. This need becomes more pertinent in light of the fact that the Department of Science and Technology are planning to build more science centres around the country.
The workshop acted as a forum for science centre practitioners to share information and ideas about dealing with members of schools and the public who visit their respective science centres, as well as how to build science clubs.
Dr Hartley says, “We don’t have the numbers of people to do science shows at science centres and through this programme we hope to build critical mass of science centre practitioners.” The training is meant to help science centre practitioners with their presentation skills in physics, chemistry, technology and mathematics.
He says, “We need to get youth enthusiastic and interested in science and we can achieve this through the way we present the topics to them. We need to know our audience and be skilled in how to adapt our message and style of presentation to the people to whom we are presenting. This workshop helped participants adopt these skills.”
As part of the workshop, Dr Hartley explained how to go about organising science shows, what engages the audience, how to ensure the attention of the audience is captured, and how to organise the logistics.
In addition, the skills will enable participants to take the skills and apply it in their own environments. Dr Hartley says, “First we demonstrated different shows and thereafter the participants presented their own hands-on activities to the rest of the group. Participants moved between the lab, where they conducted their experiments, and the classroom where they demonstrated their experiments to the rest of the group.”
There are plans to continue teaching science centre professionals. Dr Hartley said, “This is the start of a series of workshops. I’ve also been asked to do mentorship in the Eastern Cape, and to assist in training in this regard.”
Written by CPUT News
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