The Bloodhound education team, including many Ambassadors, were very busy with National Science Week in South Africa that took place from Saturday 27 July until Sunday 4 August. The campaign is supported and funded by the Department of Science & Technology (DST). The mathematicians amongst you will have spotted it is longer than a week, but it is intended to cover two weekends to ensure events target the general public as well as learners in schools!

The Bloodhound education programme was engaged again for the third consecutive year with Science Week and provided workshops every day in Kimberley, plus the team also visited a local mall to excite the happy shoppers. The rocket car workshops were held at the Maths & Science Leadership Academy (MSLA) that has been the home of the Bloodhound education programme since the end of 2012. Each day, four primary schools from around Kimberley were invited to attend MSLA and experience a range of exciting STEM (science, technology, engineering & maths) activities and presentations. As well as the traditional science and maths presentations there were also workshops on the science behind physiotherapy (ouch), radiography, the environment, and even the pulsating rhythmic sound of 60 learners using African drums to feel the relationship between music and maths!

They’ve got rhythm and Kimberley was bouncing, plus they are learning about maths at the same time!

The MSLA is located in the centre of Kimberley, adjacent to the Big Hole that started the towns’ fame as the World centre of the diamond industry. Housed in a building that was originally the DeBeers snooker hall, it now plays host to the many learners who attend for extra maths and science lessons after their normal school day has finished, plus they also give up holidays to attend.

The MSLA learners are being groomed to be the potential future Mandiba’s (leaders) of the Northern Cape and South Africa and without the dedicated support of the MSLA staff would struggle to rise from their underprivileged backgrounds. Not only do they receive exceptional curriculum support, they are also guided through the higher education opportunities and bursary support they can obtain after completing their matriculation examinations.

Each Science Week Grade 6 learner took part in a carousel of 30 minute workshops and presentations during their half day at the MSLA, which included the Bloodhound rocket car manufacture. Located outside and quite bracing first thing in the winter morning, the groups of 15 were assembling their rocket cars, working in teams against time constraints and following specific instructions that would ensure successful operation of their cars.

Then the fun really began, why were some rocket cars so fast and managed to stay on the track and others disintegrated or flew? The lessons learned covered the basics of aerodynamics, manufacturing quality, teamwork, the ability to follow instructions and Newton’s laws of motion.

Pictured right is Wendy Maxwell with Grade 6 learners from Pescodia Primary School about to launch their rocket cars down the 9m rainwater gutter tracks. The car on the left didn’t move but its white paper rocket reached the wire fence at the end of the track, definitely a manufacturing oversight! Other cars took off and needed aerodynamic modifications before satisfactorily reaching the end of the track.  However, all 600+ learners who attended the workshops had great fun while learning!

A similar rainwater track was used at the Future Ed show in Johannesburg at the start of Science Week and thanks to Edit Microsystems and Chris Maxwell we incorporated a Labdisc motion sensor mounted over the track on a K’Nex bridge. The sensor detected the speed of the car and relayed this information wirelessly to a remote interactive screen with the fastest rocket cars travelling at 9m/s.

Not content with delivering workshops to over 600 learners in five days it was time to tell the families about the Bloodhound Project at the Kimberley Diamond Pavilion Mall where there was an expected 20 000 visitors on the Saturday after pay day.

Located adjacent to the MTN shop, we were supported by STEM communication and robotics learners from MSLA who showed the happy shoppers BLOODHOUND SSC videos whilst their children were given the opportunity to build balloon cars. It was a great opportunity for the MSLA learners to show off their communication skills with several showing they will make superb sales people! Hardly any of the passers-by could refuse the offer of receiving information about BLOODHOUND SSC coming to the Northern Cape as their children made balloon cars.

Throughout the day almost 200 balloon cars were constructed, and as experienced the world over, pink balloons were chosen by the girls (left)! By the end of the day there were numerous balloon cars shooting around the tiled floor of the shopping mall. And finally after a very tiring day we managed to get most of the MSLA learners to pose with their director Anne Maclean (far right of the picture at the top of this article).

Off to Hakskeenpan

As soon as Science Week ended it was time for the Bloodhound education team to head for the schools in the Mier Municipality, which is also the location of Hakskeenpan. Joined by Liz Bosman, who heads education outreach at the William Humphreys Art Gallery (WHAG), the aim of the tour was to promote the new art competition and the Bloodhound education programme to new schools.

Kimberley is over 660 km from Hakskeenpan and a good day’s journey with a meal break stop-off in Upington. The journey north west is highlighted by the prolific nest building of the Sociable Weaver bird that seems to occupy almost every available telegraph pole or tree. An amazing feat of civil engineering, the nests can grow to such a size that many trees or poles have been flattened horizontal by sheer weight. If lucky, or unlucky for the Weavers, you will spot the menacing sight of a hawk perched on top of the nest waiting for the emergence of a quick meal.

The journey to Hakskeenpan takes you through some of the most beautiful but barren parts of South Africa and into the red dune area of the Kalahari Desert. Unless you have a four wheel drive vehicle do not stray off the tarmac or gravel roads. We were just 100 metres away from our first school in Welkom when I took a wrong turn and we were stuck! It was at this point that Wendy Maxwell remembered we had a supply of composite materials that we use in presentations. Firstly they make great shovels and when placed under the wheels we were able to return to firm ground and make our appointment with the primary school.

It was at Welkom we met with our latest Ambassador, Father Aloysius Gonzaga. He came to our aid with an extra pair of hands to push our vehicle out of the soft red sand.

Welkom Primary School is located just 10 km from the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and we then headed back to our base in Askham to the JJ Adams Primary School. Askham is approximately 75 km from Hakskeenpan and also has an unused primary school with accommodation that could prove very useful for the schools from distant parts of the Northern Cape that wish to see the car run.

Next day it was off to Grootmier and Loubos primary schools and Father Aloysius’ first Bloodhound presentations. He speaks Afrikaans and has a way with words that makes the Bloodhound story even more exciting. Hearing him tell the learners about the Aussie Invader car and include the characters Bruce and Sheila with an Australian/Afrikaans accent made everyone laugh, including me even though I was not sure what he said! Father Aloysius will be helping to recruit schools in the more remote areas around Upington and his home at town of Keimoes. Many of the learners spotted family members during the presentation that showed photos of the workers on Hakskeenpan!

Liz Bosman outlined the new art competition with the theme of SPEED to all the schools, leaving them and local coffee shops with posters. The competition will be open to learners of all ages and also adults. The competition entries will feature at the WHAG in October when they host the South African museums and art galleries bi annual conference. We will also present the prizes for the recent Andy Green helmet art competition and also feature UK BLOODHOUND SSC art works.

The final act during our trip to Mier was to collect stones from the piles on Hakskeenpan. WHAG will be providing jewellery workshop training to local Mier residents who have creative flair and is one of the enterprise skills being offered.

On leaving the R31 and entering Hakskeenpan through the security gate there is a huge communication structure being erected in the north west section of the track that will provide the link with Upington and the world. The 50m tower is the work of MTN and sits alongside an impressive assortment of steelwork that will support the solar arrays that will provide power to the site. The tower is adjacent to where BLOODHOUND SSC and the engineering team will be located on the pan.

The size of just one of the MTN communication towers and associated solar array steelwork can be judged by the assembly workers also shown in the photograph.

After collecting several boxes of stones and rock samples for the geologists it was time to say goodbye to Hakskeenpan and Mier Municipality, the beautiful sunsets, amazing night sky and outstanding landscapes. The Bloodhound education team headed back to Kimberley to prepare to support the Eskom Expo competition for learners. This national STEM competition identifies young people with enterprise skills where the ultimate prize is a trip to Intel’s annual International Science & Engineering Fair.

We now have 90 schools involved with the Bloodhound education programme in the Northern Cape and a total of 333 across South Africa. The passionate band of Ambassadors is growing to cope with the requests for Bloodhound presentations, with everyone waiting enthusiastically for the cars arrival in 2015.

Dave Rowley August 2013