Richtersveld Science Week 2015

This year we marked the 10^th year of the Council for Geoscience Field School with our 2^nd Richtersveld Science Week. This year we aimed high, visiting three schools within the Richtersveld region. These included; the Stephen Malherbe Laerskool in Eksteenfontein, the Johan Hein Laerskool in Kuboes and the Hoerskool Alexander Bay.

The location of these schools, especially the primary schools, in the furthest north western region of South Africa has resulted in them being largely isolated and almost forgotten. Many of these scholars face a dire future, with few opportunities and even lesser support. Despite this, the exemplary commitment shown by the teaching staff at these schools is inspirational. As such the Field School team has felt obliged to try and give something back to these communities. After all, these communities have warmly welcomed and supported us for our many years of visiting and performing our research.

The Science Week programme closely followed the school curriculum. For the primary schools, this broadly consisted of a lecture series focussing on the solar system, space travel and the life of a geoscientist. We also ran a volcano and river system experiment much to the delight of the students. For the high school, we placed a strong emphasis on possible bursary and scholarship opportunities, as well as information about subject choices and grades required for university entry. We also had special lectures by other young geoscientists and some of our very own field school participants.

An extra special surprise for all the schools this year was the donation of GIS-ready desktop computers. Nine computers were very generously donated by the Council for Geoscience and prepared by our ITC department. Most were equipped with GPU’s and had various open source software installed. This included; Quantum GIS, Stellarium, GIMP, Inkscape, Open Office and Google Earth. In addition, various spatial data was copied onto these machines, including; SPOT, Landsat and CGS Geological Data. Brief training sessions were held with the teaching staff, equipping them with knowledge to share with the scholars.

We hope that these computers will allow the scholars an opportunity to gain early PC literacy, especially understanding the ins and outs of GIS. It cannot be perceived where this kind of advantage could lead. We may have South Africa’s next top scientist coming from the Richtersveld!