AN educational tool destined to rev up students’ passion for maths and science, a BMW 3 series 2012 car was donated to the Unizulu Science Centre on Wednesday.
This donation formed part of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and BMW SA’s efforts to enhance youngsters’ access to maths, science and technology through interactive exhibits.
DST Deputy Minister Michael Masuthu was in Richards Bay to officially hand over the vehicle which is one of five being distributed to science centres across the country and will be used for educational purposes.
Masuthu said the country needed more scientists and it is parents’ role to encourage pupils to study maths and science and stimulate interest in these subjects which is part of our everyday lives.
‘There is nothing mystical or intimidating about this subject,’ he said.
Unizulu Science Centre Director Derek Fish welcomed the resource, adding that it will be an excellent teaching aid as it embodied all of science from motion, optics to electricity.
‘Science is changing and upgrading all the time and we hope to inspire pupils to work hard to not only drive these one day, but to be the designers of new innovation, designs and ideas too.’
The educational display cars were built in pre-production stage of the new BMW 3 Series at Plant Rosslyn and would have otherwise been scrapped.
Through funding from both the DST and local industries, the Unizulu Science Centre now boasts 2 600m² of floor space, with a dedicated exhibit area of 1 600m², a state of the art auditorium, a smaller theatre, a lab and two classrooms.
