New science labs will boost teaching, learning

CREATIVE SPACE: UWC has donated science learning centres to different high schools in Cape Town, including five previously disadvantaged schools. Most of them will be officially opened tomorrow. Picture: UWC

CREATIVE SPACE: UWC has donated science learning centres to different high schools in Cape Town, including five previously disadvantaged schools. Most of them will be officially opened tomorrow. Picture: UWC

Published Feb 21, 2017

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Five previously disadvantaged schools will receive brand-new science labs today to support hands-on science teaching and learning.

UWC’s Science Learning Centres for Africa (UWC-SLCA), in partnership with the Garden Cities Archway Foundation and the provincial education department, will open the labs at schools in Ocean View, Lansdowne, Athlone, Philippi and Mfuleni.

The schools will bring the total to 45 SLCs constructed, with a further three to be opened soon.

Professor Shaheed Hartley, director of UWC-SLCA, said developing a culture of science teaching and learning will help improve National Senior Certificate results and other assessments.

“We have to start with the basics: supporting teachers to develop the confidence to teach science with an advanced level of understanding, knowledge and teaching skills.

‘‘Similarly we have to be creative in providing learners with opportunities that will draw their interest and willingness to learn,” Hartley said.

UWC-SLCA has teamed up with corporate organisations to improve the infrastructure in which the subjects are taught, providing a creative space in which the teachers’ and pupils’ interaction with science and technology can be advanced.

The schools receiving the labs today are: Ocean View High School, Ocean View; York Road Primary School, Lansdowne; Spes Bona High School, Athlone; Phakama high School, Philippi; and Manzomthombo High School, Mfuleni.

“The achievement of learners and teachers in national and international benchmark tests paints a very bleak picture - one that highlights a national crisis. To address this need, the Science Learning Centre for Africa in UWC’s Faculty of Education has introduced a number of far-reaching support programmes to improve the teaching and learning of science and mathematics.

”The construction of these science learning centres is an extension of the curriculum support provided by UWC-SLCA, and serves as reward for committed science teachers, school management and learners,” UWC said in a statement.

In 2011, UWC-SLCA in partnership with Garden Cities Archway Foundation started the construction of science laboratories.

The provincial education department joined the partnership last year.

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