Paterson High pupils off to science fair
Two Paterson High School pupils have qualified for the Eskom Expo International Science Fair for a second year in a row, along with 21 other pupils representing the Bay.
The school’s unique approach of pairing mathematics with music and art saw grade 11 pupil Mandilakhe Gqolana, 17, and grade 10 pupil Kirsty Langford, 16, advance to the international fair.
Langford said had it not been for her six cousins, aged between 10 and 12, who she used as “guinea pigs” for her project, The 2x and 3x Tables , she would not have had anything to produce for the expo, let alone a medal-worthy idea.
The regional Eskom Expo for Young Scientists competition, held on August 28 and 29 at Nelson Mandela University, saw hundreds of the Bay’s best mathematics and science pupils taking part.
Those who made the grade will attend the international expo taking place in Johannesburg from October 2 to 5.
Langford said her project was aimed at helping to develop mathematical understanding among primary school pupils, through a visual interpretation of the times-tables.
“Children learn better when they can see and make sense of what they are learning.
“During a maths class, our teacher was showing us a diagram simulating the timestable and I found it quite easy to grasp,” Langford said.
“So I decided to see if my cousins would understand it.
“Initially they didn’t get it, but after a little googling, I realised I could bring the timestable to life through simply using a ‘hoola hoop’ and string.”
Using the two times-table, she said one simply started at the top of the hoola hoop and moved to the first marking, representing 2 x 1, then the next, and so forth, with the number of strings between the markings the answer.
“My cousins started using the method to prepare for upcoming maths tests and all of them improved drastically as a result, proving conclusively that kids learn and understand better through being visually stimulated while learning,” Langford said.
Gqolana, who also participated in the expo last year at the school’s debut to the competition, said being selected for the international fair reassured him that his project, The Origins of Mathematical Principles in Music, could potentially win overall.
“This year we did the same project as last year in principle, but we focused a lot more on the research element.
“It took almost the entire year to get the project done,” Gqolana said.
“But having had the experience from last year’s competition, I am quietly confident we will do well this year, knowing what to expect from possible questions from the judges.”
All of the Paterson High School participants thanked mathematics teacher Michael Simon and physical science teacher Kenneth Prins for initiating many of the ideas and mentoring the pupils.
“There are patterns in mathematics which relate to most things in life. Being able to identify these patterns and apply them will see a pupil improve in almost all aspects.
“And that is what we are trying to do, to ensure maths is more relatable,” Simon said.
The other 21 pupils participating in the international fair include: Xolisa Wakashe (Khumbalani Primary), Caroline Boshoff (Cape Recife High), Tyler Gonsalves (Theodor Herzl Primary), Marle Steyn (Collegiate High), Brad Spies (DF Malherbe High) Khodija McCarthy (Nasruddin Islamic High) Kaylene Govender, Anja de Klerk and Sunet Barnard (Pearson High).
Tasmiyah Desai and Maariyah Nakhooda (Nasruddin Primary), Shaziyah Laher (Al Azhar Institute), El’righ Meiring (Daniel Pienaar High) Trishul Mathura (St Georges Preparatory), Carlo Britz, Luke Silver and Sina Qwayi (Grey Primary), Daniel Holmes (Grey High), Jawandre Witbooi (Lawson Brown High), Liyema Nenemba (Ndzondelelo High) and Jaylin Cornelius (Alexander Road High).
‘Children learn better when they can see and make sense of what they are learning’
Kirsty Langford
PUPIL