Girl learners dominate SAEON awards

Brother-and-sister team Christine and Nicholas Popich with Sibongile Mokoena, SAEON’s Education Outreach Coordinator. Nicholas also won a SAEON award in the 2006 Eskom Expo (Picture © Helen Williamson) Nadia Van Zyl (left) and Carla Pretorius of Northern Natal took top honours for their project From Disaster to Pasture (Picture © Helen Williamson) Sibongile congratulates Susan van der Merwe, who won the SAEON award for long-term monitoring and observation of pasture management (Picture © Helen Williamson)

- By Sibongile Mokoena, SAEON Education Outreach Coordinator

SAEON sponsored three categories of special awards for the national finals of the 2008 Eskom Expo for Young Scientists.

The event, which took place at the University of Pretoria in October, was attended by more than a thousand learners from all over South Africa. Nearly 40 000 learners country-wide participated in the regional rounds of the Expo, with 484 projects making it to the national finals.

The Eskom Expo for Young Scientists has established itself as a vehicle for South African youth to demonstrate their inventiveness and innovation in science and technology. The Expo is an annual event, with two levels of elimination leading up to the national finals. Projects are entered in three age levels - Grades 5- 7, Grades 7- 8, and Grades 10-12. Mr Mosibudi Mangena, Minister of Science and Technology, is the Patron of the Expo.

SAEON Special Awards

SAEON sponsored an award in each age level in the category Environmental Science and Ecology. The judge for the SAEON Award, Helen Williamson had a difficult but rewarding task to identify the projects that best met the SAEON criteria, one of which was to identify projects that show evidence of long-term monitoring and observation.

Brother-and-sister team Christine and Nicholas Popich of Northern Gauteng won the award in the grades 5-7 category with their project Mamma Mia — the clouds are hanging out. For their project these two enterprising learners observed and photographed mammalus clouds, the clouds normally associated with storms and tornados. They concluded that there were no storms or tornados associated with the cloud in South Africa.

Nadia Van Zyl and Carla Pretorius of Northern Natal took top honours in the grades 8-9 category for their project From Disaster to Pasture, which looked at affordable and effective methods for land rehabilitation.

In the Grade 10-12 category yet another girl learner, Susan van der Merwe of the Northwestern Cape, won the award for her project on pasture management. Susan monitored and observed how farmers construct camps and rotate their stock from more palatable to less palatable grasses through identifying and investigating the nutritional value of different grasses in the grazing areas, thus avoiding over-grazing and allowing camps to recover.

The SAEON award winners also won medals in the overall judging.

The tools that can change the world

In his keynote address Dr Phil Mjwara, Director-General of the Department of Science and Technology applauded the young scientists for their ability to deliver projects in the life-preserving and life-enhancing disciplines of science and technology.

He told the entrants that the future of science and technology is in their hands. “Continue your exploration into the wonders of maths, science and technology, as these are the tools that can truly change the world,” he concluded.

SAEON is proud to have been part of this initiative to identify, encourage and develop South Africa’s scientists of the future.