DUT in partnership with FFS Refiners hosted the annual KwaZulu-Natal central region Eskom Expo for future scientists on Friday, 18 August 2017 at the Fred Crookes Sports Centre.
This is the third time that DUT hosted this extraordinary event aimed at empowering grade fives’ to 12 learners with scientific knowledge and skills. Furthermore, the event aimed to providing these young future scientists with the opportunity to showcase their science projects and to compete for the regional science competition.
According to the provincial coordinator for the Science Expo, Nalini Dookie, she added that globally and in South Africa we are faced with many challenges that require the intervention of scientists. She (Dookie) further added that young aspiring scientists were the future and it was within their responsibility to find solutions to the current scientific challenges faced globally.
“Our aim in hosting this science expo is to develop these young, ambitious scientists and researchers. We are providing a platform for them to think out of the box and beyond the curriculum. We are engaging with them in order to find solutions to challenges that our communities are faced with,” said Dookie.
The Science Expo consists of over 50 categories ranging from Agricultural Science and Sustainable development and these categories received massive entries of more than 500 learners from rural and urban schools.
Odiq Lakraj of Star College Primary School did a study into Proton Therapy as a possible treatment for Cancer under microbiology and diseases. Lakraj created a model that will be able to target and detect bad cells from the human body. Lakraj’s creation after he discovered that research from the Israel Therapy Institute, the treatment is non-invasive, painless and only takes a few minutes a day and it can be conducted on an out-patient basis so the patients may carry on their normal activities.
The Science Expo ended on Saturday, 19 August 2017 with a prize giving for the best scientific model.
Pictured: Odiq Lakraj with his Proton Therapy model.
Mbuso Kunene.
