 |
Ofentse Litsele, winner of the Eskom
Award for Best Development project,
with Mr Parthy Chetty, Chairman of the
Eskom Expo for Young Scientists |
Supernova went
to check out the northern Gauteng regional finalists of the annual
Expo for Young Scientists,the biggest science fair in South Africa
for grade 5 to 12 learners. The expo was held at LC de Villiers, the
University of Pretoria's sports grounds, from 31 August to 1
September. The expo showcased 389 projects from 52 schools and over
517 learners. We were more than impressed with the bright ideas we
found there.
Launched
in 1980, the Eskom Expo brings together learners, teachers, parents
and educational bodies from all over South Africa and aims to
encourage young South Africans to explore the variety of careers open
to them and increase awareness of the wonders of science, technology,
engineering, maths and innovation.
Learners
can enter in over 25 categories, ranging from alternative and
renewable energy right through to physics and astronomy, and they are
all competing to be selected to participate in the prestigious
national finals from 4 to 6 October 2012 in Boksburg, Johannesburg.
There
is variety of fantastic prizes up for grabs at the national
finals, including a mobile science lab, laptops, university bursaries
and much more.
 |
Marlene Meyer, winner of the
Eskom Award for Best Female project,
with Mr Parthy Chetty |
Out of
the 253 female learners from Gauteng who entered this year, Hoërskool
Waterkloof Grade 9 learner Marlene Meyer walked away with the Eskom
Award for Best Female project for her plant science project entitled
'Mysterious fairy circles', aimed at finding the cause of fairy
circles (grassless patches of vegetation) in the Namib desert.
“My
project took me five months to complete and this involved reading up
on plants of southern Africa, testing various plant species and
extensive online research,” says Meyer. She conducted numerous
tests to identify what caused the fairy circles and concluded that
these resulted from a poisoning of the area by a plant species called
Euphorbia.
“My
big sister, who had participated in the Eskom Expo, was very
supportive. She encouraged me when my plant samples would fail and I
had to start all over. Some of the challenges I encountered included
the various plant species I used during my investigation drying -
before producing results.”
Meyer’s
biggest lesson from her science project was that “there is an
answer for all questions.”
Juggling
school, homework, studying for the exams and his Eskom Expo project
didn’t stop Modiri Secondary School grade 10 learner Ofentse
Litsele from taking home the Eskom Award for Best Development
project.
“My
project was an improvement of my last year’s entry, and this year I
won,” smiled Ofentse.
After
observing severe damage caused by invasive alien plants in his
neighbourhood, Ofentse decided to come up with a solution to
eradicate invasive alien plants. Ofentse investigated an alternative
and environmentally friendly manner of eradicating invasive plant
species by using mycoherbicides, a fungus that works as a chemical
plant killer. “The spores of the
mycoherbicide penetrate the plant tissue causing a disease that kills
the alien species.”
Pretoria
Boys High School took home two of the top awards. Grade 10 learners
Levi Benjamin Homann and Paul Kim were awarded the Eskom Award for
Best Energy Efficiency project for their 'Solar Powered Fish'
project. The Eskom Award for Best Energy Efficiency project went to
Grade 10 learners Sonke Mkhabela and Matthew Keevy for their 'Eco
Lights' project.
At
the regional finals, 77 gold medals were awarded, 126 silver and 97
bronze. From the 77 gold medals, a delegation of 36 projects were
selected to attend the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists National
Finals.
Regional
Director Awie Duvenage says, “We are proud of all our learners and
congratulate our delegation of 30 heading to the nationals in
October. We know they will fly the northern Gauteng flag high.”
The
Supernova team would like to congratulate all the learners
that took part for contributing their amazing ideas to science. Your
initiative and dedication is inspiring! We wish the finalists all the
best at the nationals!
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