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The Life Sciences Building fuses six departments, promoting transdisciplinary research on (among other things) fresh water ecosystems, metagenomics, hydrogen power, animal anatomy, and more.
Health and Wellness Market Day UWC's School of Natural Medicine (UWC-SoNM) hosted its first Annual Health and Wellness Market Day, an exhibition about various aspects of healthy living, on 24 October 2012. The Market Day served as an opportunity for the SoNM to educate the public about the importance of good health and lifestyles while introducing a variety of alternative medicines. Members of the public browsed through stalls, watched demonstrations, and shopped for organic foods, alternative therapies and health products. For those looking for a little pampering and relaxation, treatments such as massages and threading (where a cotton thread is pulled along unwanted hair in a twisting motion in order to remove it) were available. For the more active health enthusiast, there was an open platform at the centre of the stalls where yoga, tai-chi and Zumba demonstrations took place.
Health and luxury: Student getting pampered with threading treatment.
Maths 4 Stats: Creating a nation that really counts Eighty-four Grade 10 to Grade 12 Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy teachers from around the Western Cape received certificates at UWC’s Library Auditorium on Saturday 13 October after completing the Maths4Stats programme. To address the need for statistical development in South Africa. UWC, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) and Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) came together to create Maths4Stats, a programme aimed at producing a specialised body of educators who are both enthusiastic and well-informed about Mathematics and Statistics. Speaking at the certification ceremony, WCED Chief Educational Specialist Mbulelo Bali noted that teacher development is a very important challenge. “The South African Matric results are very low every year,” said Bali. “Part of the reason for that is there is always new educational content that the teachers were not previously exposed to, and when this content gets to the classrooms the teachers grapple to deal with it.”
Dr Nancy Stiegler, HOD of UWC Stats Department; Manyano High educator Noncedo Nzulu; and Prof Mbulaheni Nthangeni, Executive Manager of Human Capacity Building at StatsSA.
Learning science and engineering through origami aviation The University of the Western Cape Science Learning Centre for Africa (UWC-SLCA) teamed up with the Sakhimva Foundation, a non-profit organisation that creates aviation awareness, to host the first Paper Jet Competition for primary and secondary learners in Worcester on Saturday 13 October. The objective of the competition was to create an aviation platform where learners are challenged to apply their mathematics and science skills in a non-threatening and fun environment. Grade 6 to 9 learners from 13 primary schools from the Breederivier-Overberg Region flocked to the school hall of Victoria Park Primary in Worcester to take part in the competition. Each team consisted of three members: a “designer”, who developed and researched the design; an “engineer” who folded a single sheet of A4 paper into a jet; and a “pilot”, who threw it. The competition was tough, and the greatest flight distances were attained by Worcester RC Primary (25.50m), with Victoria Park coming up just a little short (23.20m) and Worcester RC Primary a little further behind (18.25m). But everyone had great fun cheering their respective teams to greater heights (and distances).
The first fold is the deepest: learners start implementing their jet designs.
The secret to a good flight? A great take-off.