South African students suss out our solar system

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South African students suss out our solar system

Christina Scott

Five teams of young students from around South Africa met during October at the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory to battle it out in Astronomy Quiz 2006.

Randfontein Primary School made sure as many students as possible benefited from the quiz by testing all the grade sevens, choosing ten from each class in the next round, and using those winners - Isaac Nape, Urisha
Chandrapregaas-Maharaj, Caitlin Clarence and Nikiwe Filita - to represent
the school.

"It was a lot of fun," learner Caitlin Clarence said. "Some of the questions
are pretty difficult but we did get through most of them. We did learn much
more than what our knowledge already was."

"I did have a thought at one time of maybe studying astronomy," the
13-year-old said. "It's interesting to know what's out there that we can't
see with the naked eye."

The Gauteng team from Arethabeng Primary School in Soshanguve includes
Thabiso Kobe, Candy Mkhize, Malebo Madumo and Oscar Phaleng.

The finals at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Johannesburg "were
interesting because I learn more things that I didn't know," said 13-year-old Candy Mkhize. "They asked us a question, 'where in space do we find the Sea of Tranquility?' The answer was the Moon."

The grade 7 pupil said she would like an astronomer "because I want to learn more about the universe."

The Free State team, from Eunice Primary in Bloemfontein, was an all-girl
effort by Gemma Lynn Barkhuizen, Courtney Skinner, Minjon van Tonder and
Hannah Christine Oglesby.

Boyden Observatory head Matie Hoffman paid tribute to Free State schools
which did well even though few of the pupils spoke English as their mother
tongue. He made special mention of Mpolokeng Kolobe, Jennifer Motsumi, Edwin Jones and Claude Swartz of the Koffiefontein Intermediary School in the small town of Koffiefontein, who made it all the way to the tie-breaker at the end of the third round.

Dr Hoffman noted that there was only a difference of one mark between second place winner Harmony Primary, with three non-English-speaking learners in a team of four, and the third-place all-girls team from the Afrikaans-language Fichardt Park Laerskool. "This is an excellent competition," the University of the Free State physics lecturer said. "The learners worked very hard. One could see that those who did not win were very much disappointed."

The Northern Cape team from Gekomineerde Skool Williston in the tiny Karoo
dorp of Williston includes Ricardo Beukes, Nicole Gibbons, Carl Hoorn and
Desmari Smit.

The Western Cape winners were twins Allen and David Metcalf, Stephanie
Thomas and Ivan Daniels, from Pinelands North Primary School in Cape Town.

The school fought their way through a nail-biting tie-breaker with Cape
Flats teams from Aloe and Ryland primary schools to become the Western Cape winners at the historic South African Astronomical Observatory.

The tie-breaking question in the Western Cape: which US spacecraft launched with a message to familiarise alien life with humans? (Correct answer below.) All four Western Cape schools which made it through to the
provincial finals have won have won a trip to the powerful new Southern
African Large Telescope, otherwise known as SALT, in Sutherland in the
Northern Cape.

A record number of 130 schools competed in Astronomy Quiz 2006, said Ina
Roos of the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA). There are plans to expand the competition to include more provinces and schools next year.

"The students were quite keen. I was impressed with the learners and how
competitive they were," said Dr Sivuyile Manxoyi of the South African
Astronomical Observatory in Cape Town. "It would be nice to get more schools involved in the quiz."

(Answer: The spacecraft Pioneer 10 was launched with a message for
intelligent life out in the universe, explaining something of human
civilisation)

More information:

www.SAASTA.ac.za