“I discovered how I love to be in a lab working on something to help people.” So says a learner of her experience at a workshop to expose 130 Grade-9 high school learners from disadvantaged areas to the application of Mathematics and the Sciences in medicine and healthcare, held at the Health Sciences campus in June.

The outreach workshop, hosted by the Division of Biomedical Engineering in collaboration with UCT’s School Development Unit’s (SDU) Siyazakha Project, aimed to instil an interest in pursuing mathematics and sciences among students from disadvantaged communities.  

The learners were treated to interesting and entertaining tours to eight themed stations - Health Innovation, Medical Devices, Orthopaedic Biomechanics, Digital Health, Clinical Engineering, Virtual & Augmented Reality in Healthcare, Mechanobiology and Outreach Movies.  

"We are hopeful that we inspired these learners by successfully demonstrating the diverse applications of these subjects in medicine and healthcare,” says one of the organisers from Biomedical Engineering, which is based  in the Department of Human Biology. The Outreach Movies shown to the pupils,  for example, were created by first-year Master’s students on different aspects of biomedical engineering and health innovation, and their motivation to select these fields of study.

The Siyazakha Project, led by the SDU’s Ms Gillian Kay, is a five-year project funded by the Zenex Foundation aimed at increasing the uptake of Mathematics and Physicals Sciences and at improving learner performance in Mathematics and Physical Sciences in ten high schools across Khayelitsha, Mfuleni, Ravensmead and Joe Slovo Park. The SDU supports the principals and senior management teams, offers teacher professional development for English, Mathematics and Physical / Natural Sciences teachers and runs a learner programme for selected learners.  

The Grade-9 learner programme aims mainly at stimulating an interest in Mathematics and Science and developing critical thinking skills.
The learners were also treated to an inspirational talk in the closing session by Ms Thoko Miya, the Global Partnerships Manager of GirlHype (www.girlhype.co.za), a non-profit company with the mission to empower, connect, and support the next generation of South African women leaders in science, technology,  engineering, and mathematics (STEM) addressed the learners.

And it appears that the enthusiasm and passion of the hosts rubbed off on this learner who was inspired to comment, “Experiences from today have encouraged me to study hard because …. education is not (only) about studying and getting a job, but also about (enjoying) the (work) experience”.