SciFest Africa is the biggest science festival in sub-Saharan Africa, and its core purpose has always been to make science accessible to all. And this year’s programme held unique cross-cultural appeal because of its “Science Across Cultures” theme — highlighting that the most distant particle in our universe and we as a species are all part of a single magnificent cosmic soup worthy of fascination, exploration and joyful veneration at the marvellous eternal complexity of life.
From ancient paintmaking to modern micro-rocketry, colour and illusions to prehistoric bling, organic vegetables to supersonic science, DNA detectives to weather ice cream, laser beams to the science of facial beauty, instrument acoustics to continental drifts, bubbles to electricity, marine pollution to robotics, astronomy to agriculture, astonishing alchemy to curious chemistry, sushi to the SALT telescope, bird ringing to mapping, industrial design to invasive alien species, fracking to kitchen chemistry, Marie Curie to the mathematics of Zulu design, understanding the dark universe to healing with light, Scifest Africa 2011 burst at its scientific seams with incredible experiences, activities, exhibitions, lectures, demonstrations, installations, excursions.
With Sasol as lead sponsor, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and its affiliate the Systematic Education & Extramural Development & Support programme (Seeds) as premier sponsors, and the Department of Science and Technology, the National Research Foundation’s (NRF) South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (Saasta) and Old Mutual as general sponsors, Scifest Africa this year was filled to the brim with activity.
This year at Scifest Africa, the reality of kidscience is took on fun-filled proportions for everyone from pre-schoolers to matrics. This is in line with the Scifest ideal of not only making science accessible, but also stimulating an interest in the discipline from an early age. A primary goal of the kidscience activities at this year’s festival was to demystify scientific pursuits by changing children’s perceptions of them. This involved taking them out of the white-tiled lab, demonstrating their everyday applicability and making them as enjoyable and laughter-filled as possible.
One of the activities that captured the imagination of attendants was the Afrobot Robotics Tournament. While most South African kids think of robots as those three-light poles at intersections they must stop at if the little man’s red. Others know them as what supercars and monster trucks become to fight in Transformers. Some as cartoon characters. The tournament cleared that all up by using basic electronic components and household materials to build a robot that plays soccer and competes against other robots.
SciFest 2011 also brought the newly launched South African National Space Agency (Sansa) to the festival for the first time. Launched in December 2010, its vision, in the agency’s own words is to “be a leading contributor to advancing society through space science and technology”.
What this translates to in real terms is implementing South Africa’s national space strategy, driving industrial development in South African space science and technology, and integrating and managing our country’s space activities through the promotion of skill and capacity building, research and infrastructure, and international cooperation in space-related activities — and it already has its own satellite ‘up there’.
Apart from its exhibition, “Sansa: A giant leap for space science and technology” which shows how Sansa plans to manage South Africa’s space activities for the greater good, Sansa is also running a satellite-building competition to share the science of satellite use and construction with senior primary school learners; and also offers an appealing “Satellites and their uses” experiential multimedia workshop for senior high school learners.
In celebration of the International Year of Chemistry, this year ‘s Scifest programme was peppered with chemistry in all its elements and forms — from lectures, talkshops, workshops and exhibitions for learners, educators and adults, through to a fun-filled Chemistry Party with Sibo the famous character in the popular children’s series by the same name. In this activity Sibo was helped by the atom and molecule puppets from the element family to introduce chemistry to young children as part of the Scikidz II programme, geared for pre-schoolers. Indeed, at Scifest Africa 2011 the chemistry-guided activities for all ages ranged as far as the chemical imagination can stretch — from the Cape Town Science Centre’s show “Astonishing Alchemy and Curious Chemistry”, to the University of East Anglia’s “Kitchen Chemistry” and beyond.
And to herald a century since Marie Curie’s amazing achievement in chemistry, there were also fascinating encounters with top female scientists from South Africa as part of the Scifest programme this year. Even though Scifest Africa is just one week a year, the organisers are well aware of the vital importance of reaching learners in disadvantaged communities the whole year through, Scifest Africa’s outreach programme traverses far and wide both before and after the festival.
The programme uses a variety of dynamic interactions to make scientific concepts and ideas pleasurable, interesting and appealing for educators and learners alike. Its activities range from edutainment and educational theatre, to games, lectures and workshops — often in collaboration with theatre production companies, fun-learning institutions like Living Maths and visiting international specialists.
This article originally appeared in the Mail & Guardian newspaper as an advertorial featuret