Page 38 - Thola Issue 17

36 Education Department
Education Officer, Sindi Nzama, highlights engaging educational programmes and activities, animated holiday programmes, National Science Week and International Museum Day Celebrations in her review of 2014.
EDUCATING
YOUNG AND OLD
National Science Week (NSW) is an initiative by the Department of Science and Technology and is celebrated annually in August countrywide. National Science Week aims to instill and increase public understanding and appreciation of science, innovation, technology and the role they play in maintaining and improving society, the economy and the environment.
The Museum conducted and
facilitated week-long NSW celebrations. Our aim was to engage and inspire the community by promoting science and highlighting its importance in our daily lives. The focus was mainly on the general public rather than learners.
We invited 200 residents of old age homes from Durban and the surrounding areas and they were more than happy to participate. The residents were from TAFTA: Care
of the Elderly; Issy Geshen; Kloof; Ekhanana; and KwaMashu Old Age Homes. Guided tours of the Museum galleries were conducted for the residents to showcase the diversity of our ecosystems, biomes and fauna. The objective was to build a more environmentally conscious society.
Behind the scenes tours were also conducted at our Research Centre where they were exposed to our research collections. This was to show them the vast information contained in the collections and the various areas of research. It was also an opportunity to interact with the curators. The residents were then treated to refreshments.
This year, we decided to move
out of our comfort zone and take our NSW celebrations to areas outside eThekwini. We worked in collaboration with the Luthuli Museum situated in KwaDukuza, where we engaged with 200 enthusiastic learners from the North Coast. The objective was to show learners how science can be interesting, challenging, important and of direct relevance to their daily lives.
Since NSW is held in Women’s Month, we hosted an event that was
TOP RIGHT: Up close and personal with our banded mongoose.
BELOW: Kloof Old Age Home residents fascinated by Rhino specimens in our City Hall galleries.
thola: VOLUME 17. 2014/15