Winners of PEPPS science expo announced

Social media was used to provide an external platform for learners participating in the PEPPS interactive science expo and, as real scientists do, the participating learners had to defend their theories in the public forum when exhibiting at the Mall of the North two weeks ago.
“The academic and educational value and assessment of the expo projects were concluded before the Mall exhibit started,” according to Celri Lawrenson, Grade 7 Science educator at PEPPS. The Facebook page went live on 21 October and was unpublished on 26 October at 00:00. The overall individual posts reached 19 007 people and the total page reach was 16 059. Some 1 337 individuals engaged and 239 liked the page.
The winning group in Grade 7 was Nooreen Ghood, Khina Dressels and Patricia Chaminuka with their geothermal heat pump. Some 2 011 views were recorded and they received 104 likes. The “likes” were used as criteria due to the fact that it is impossible to like more than once per viewer and there is intent behind a like – not just a cursory glance. A reach of 356 was recorded.
The winners of the junior group were Grade 5s Aicha Mengouchi, Michaela Mockford Ayesha Ally with their sustainable solutions project creating drinking water from seawater with a sand and charcoal filter. They recorded 5 014 views, 256 likes and 1 137 reaches.

NELIE ERASMUS
>>nelie.observer@gmail.com