Durban Site Visits_descriptions
Transcription
Durban Site Visits_descriptions
Overview of site visits – Durban, April 2015 Durban Botanic Gardens Originally developed as a botanic station, in 1849, the Durban Botanic Garden is Africa’s oldest botanic garden. In 1851 the Botanic Garden was relocated from the edge of the Berea Ridge to its present site in the centre of town. It covers approximately 15 hectares and is the City’s oldest public institution. The Botanic Garden has a collection of cycads, palms, orchids, bromeliads, a selection of trees from all over the world, eighty heritage trees as well as exotic and indigenous plants. Educational programmes include curriculum-based school guided programmes, permaculture courses, school greening, environmental education and public lectures. In addition, the Botanic Garden has research programmes which include: the Stangeria project; Sandstone Sourveld research programme; City Micropropagation Laboratory; KZN Herbarium; UKZN Department of Life Sciences; Cycads. Host: Mr Thevan Henry (Durban Museums Coordinator) 0832598301 New City Library Site The eThekwini Municipality is in the process of building a new city library at Centrum site opposite the Workshop Shopping Centre. The new library will provide for a larger book collection, tactile books, additional meeting and study rooms, a cultural and performance space and areas for computers and other emerging technologies. Presently there is a mobile container in the Gugu Dlamini Park overlooking the Centrum site. Staff at the container gather information through surveys on user needs and promote the new City Library. Delegates attending the GELP event will visit the site and learn about the new library. They will also get to view a mobile library and a mobile museum. Host: Mr Thevan Henry (Durban Museums Coordinator) 0832598301 KwaMuhle Museum Located in the city of Durban, the KwaMuhle Museum tells the story of the Municipal Native Affairs Department and the Durban System. The Municipal Native Affairs Department was established in 1916, with John Sydney Marwick as its first manager. Marwick had been given the name “uMuhle” by Zulu migrants. He had successfully repatriated 7000 Zulus from Johannesburg back to the Colony Natal in 1899. The Department was responsible for administering the Durban System, a form of urban control and “native” administration”. Elements of the Durban System include the issuing of passbooks, municipality gaining a monopoly on the production of traditional beer (umqombothi), the creation of beer halls and African accommodation. The “Spirit of Reconciliation” can be found in the museum. Rooms in the museum have been named after people who worked for the Municipal Native Affairs Department and implement the Durban System and those who resisted. The courtyard with the sculpture ”Shadows of the Past”, the mural and the Zulu medicine garden articulate South Africa’s journey from the periods of segregation and apartheid to democracy. The Zulu medicine garden is symbolic of reconciliation. Current exhibitions include: The Durban System; Ethekwini Living Legends Exhibition; Andrew Zondo Why I did it and the 1913 Natives Land Act. Host: Mr Thevan Henry (Durban Museums Coordinator) 0832598301 Kwamashu Education Centres : e-learning kiosks The Pinetown Education District, north of Durban, is participating in the Programme to Improve Learner Outcomes (PILO). The Programme is assisting the District to pilot a best practice model for education in the Province, and ultimately nationwide. One of the innovative intervention has been the installation of e-Learning Kiosks in the District’s two Education Centres at Hammarsdale and KwaMashu. Briefly the e- Learning kiosk can be likened to an educational content vending machine. It comes preloaded with educational content that assists the teacher and the student to access content and enhance their performance. The kiosk has built-in Wi-Fi which covers a 30-40 km radius range. It can play videos, DVDs and information is downloadable using USBs and CDs. Teachers can also use this facility to share notes with experts and amongst themselves. It is a scalable educational device that can go a long away in making up for insufficient learning and teaching resources and library facilities in a school or learning community. Host: Ms Joanne Gouws (Centre Manager) 031 509 4412/ 078 803 3852 Rietvallei Senior Secondary School: Science Cart Rietvallei Senior Secondary School is located on the outskirts of Durban in an area called Inchanga. The school services a seriously indigent community and 98% of its learner population survives on State grants. Although the school is under- resourced it has, over the past 4 years, achieved an average pass rate of 90% in terms of the National Senior Certificate/ Matriculation. A contributing factor to this success is a partnership initiative that the school initiated with Vodacom. Through the partnership the school has acquired a Smart Lab Science Cart which compensates for the poorly resourced Science Laboratory in the school. The Smart Lab Science Cart is mobile and can move from one class to another thereby providing every class in the school with a science lab. Smart Science Cart The Smart Science Cart is a cost-effective and mobile solution to the absence of a laboratory or funds to establish one. The Cart provides an integrative approach to teaching science and includes equipment as well as technology. It can easily be stored away when not used, or moved from class to class as needed. Smart Labs initially started manufacturing the Science Cart after they recognised a need in both public and private schools for a simple solution that would empower the science teacher to effectively teach the subject in an engaging and interactive way. Being able to witness experiments being performed in front of them and seeing the outcomes first hand, aids the recall and memory on the subject matter of students. Smart Labs’s Science Cart is a self-contained teaching platform from which the teacher can illustrate experiments. The integrated audio and visual components are used to present animated or pre-recorded experiments in a safe and comfortable environment. The Science Cart allows schools to integrate the advantages of technology into the classroom in a costeffective way. The Science Cart comes with a combination of life science and science equipment. Host: Mr Eric Gyebi (Science Educator) 084 9831842 Hammarsdale Education Centre: Ecological Centre An Education Centre is an educational facility of the Department of Education. It is a standalone institution that renders expanded learning opportunities to students outside of the school environment. The Education Centre caters for both in and out of school youth and provides a supportive environment to teachers and learners. Hammersdale Education Centre, through its partnership with Durban Solid Waste, has established an Ecological Centre. This facility benefits learners and the community and provides information and skills on nature conservation. The Ecological Centre serves as a science laboratory where learners and the community can learn about water saving methods, water recycling and gardening processes. They learn how to generate electricity using bio-digest processes which may be a long-term solution to the energy crisis currently being experienced by the country. Students are empowered to use natural resources to generate energy and food. Host: Ms Nonhlanhla Jele (Centre Manager) 031 771 2860/ 0733970329 Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA): Information and Communication Technology as a Teaching Tool Flowing from a Memorandum of Understanding entered into between the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (“PRASA”), the latter has partnered with Intel Education, Kolok, Rail Cell and Sapient, to bring a full, contemporary ICT educational solution to South African schools. The solution includes teacher and student-specific access devices (laptops and tablets), charging trolleys for devices, SMART boards, projectors, classroom management software and curriculum content. The solution will also facilitate school connectivity, Wi-Fi infrastructure as well as learner and teacher development in computer skills. A proof of concept reference school has been established at the Durban School for the Hearing Impaired in Amanzimtoti, south of Durban. PRASA will provide connectivity through its fibre optic network infrastructure which is placed at railway stations (the school has to be in range of the railway station to pick up connectivity). A special needs school was selected as this will be the first of this kind of school to be set up for e-learning and will be used as a case study for the whole of Africa. As a proof of concept school the school will continue to receive teacher development until teachers are able to fully utilise the technology as a teaching tool on a daily basis and will avail themselves to showcase to other prospective schools. Visitors will be able to see the full solution live and in action and this will also give rise to an opportunity to receive feedback from the users. Host: Ms Tracey Kennedy (Retail Account Manager) [email protected] Open Air School “93 years of excellence in education for learners with physical impairments" (1921 – 2015) Open Air School plays a vital role in educating physically challenged youngsters, empowering them to become independent, well-adjusted people, contributing to the enrichment of South African society. The school is the platform on which children shine, as they are prepared to become global citizens who can change the world. Open Air School is located in the suburb of Glenwood in Durban. This government school is classified as an LSEN (Learners with Special Educational Needs) school and, as such, requires additional funding. It caters for approximately 279 learners, from pre-primary to grade 12, providing education to children with Special Educational Needs. A hostel accommodates those who live in outlying rural areas. Learners come from a range of social and economic backgrounds.Embracing the school motto, "I can and I will", the learners persevere and many go on to excel in academics, sports and cultural activities. Open Air School boasts present and past learners who have gone on to compete provincially, nationally and internationally in various sporting codes. The levels of disability range from mild to severe and include for example cerebral palsy, visual and hearing impairment, impairments suffered as a result of an injury, and hand/eye co-ordination problems. The school provides a variety of therapies, including psychological, speech, physio and occupational therapies, while four professional nurses provide medical support. Learners follow a normal academic curriculum, with educators employing innovative and imaginative methods to adapt to the diverse needs of the learners. Instruction is in English. Learners can choose either Afrikaans or Zulu for their second language option. Skills-based training classes are also offered. Learners are given various extracurricular opportunities. In the field of paraplegic sport, many learners have received provincial colours in athletics, swimming, table tennis, boccia and wheelchair basketball and two learners received national colours for wheelchair bastketball in 2012. There is an active Interact Club, which aims to serve the community in the true spirit of Rotary, the Left Feet First Dance group and a choir. Host: Mr Noel Moodley (Principal) 031 205 1277