Nearly twice as many girls than boys entered for the Stellenbosch regional competition of the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists, which takes place at Rhenish Girls' High School on 27 and 28 August.
The competition is one of the largest of its kind on school level in South Africa. Last year, more than 17 700 learners from all over South Africa participated in regional competitions. Only 800 projects were selected to participate on national level.
Ms Erika Hoffman, chairperson of the Stellenbosch region, says they are very excited about all the entries: "We have received entries from more than 300 learners with 222 innovative projects in 25 different categories in the sciences and technology. Of those, 212 are girls and 112 are boys.
But the organisers are still struggling to get all the schools in the Stellenbosch region on board. This year schools from the Overberg, Winelands, Boland, Durbanville, Bellville, Atlantis and Mitchells Plain entered for the competition.
The projects are judged by nearly 80 volunteers – most of them teachers, lecturers and postgraduate students from Stellenbosch University, and individuals from institutions like iThemba Labs, Eskom,the Department of Water Affairs and the South African Weather Bureau.
The well-known radio personality and environmentalist, Dave Pepler, is the guest speaker and will talk to the learners between 14:00 on 15:00 on Friday.
The judging starts on Thursday 27 August and the prize giving ceremony is at 15:00 on Friday 28 August. During this event the names of the learners who will be representing this region in October at the international exhibition in Pretoria, will also be announced.
The public is welcome to visit the exhibition between 11:00 and 13:00 on Friday.
The Stellenbosch regional competition is organised by Stellenbosch University's Centre for Pedagogy (SUNCEP) and SU's Faculty of Science. Financial support is given by Eskom's national and regional offices, the Het Jan Marais National Fund, Toyota SA and several academic departments and faculties at SU.
For more information, contact Anneke Muller at annekem@sun.ac.za or 021 808 3483
