Chemistry Department Community Engagement for 2017

Community Engagement 2017
Community Engagement 2017

The students and staff (both academic and support staff) again tried to do a little to help the community of Grahamstown, especially in the form of Maths and Science Education.

The need for interventions in education should be seen against the backdrop of the following statistics: of the 280 000 children who started grade 1 in 2002, 47 000 passed matric in 2013, and only 9 600 passed maths (at 30% pass mark).

So, what did we do?

  • The Khanya Maths and Science Club that was started in 2 000, continued tutoring grade 7-12 learners in these subjects
  • Technical staff assisted the science teachers at some schools to sort out their labs and dispose of unwanted chemicals
  • Second year students did service-learning, making dyes with grade 11 learners
  • Honours students did service-learning, doing ‘A Pollutant’s Tale’ and hands-on experiments with grade 7s at two schools
  • During Scifest and at other times during the year, learners came to the labs to do titrations and organic functional group experiments ; this included a school from Pedie
  • Tim Harrison from Bristol ChemLabS, together with staff and students took ‘A Pollutant’s Tale’ to schools
  • Teachers attending in-service training in the Education Faculty did pracs in our labs

The above is not an exhaustive list. Community Engagement and Service-learning can be very rewarding, and as such is encouraged so that both parties benefit – both the person doing the CE work as well as the community where it is being done.

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