The four budding scientists will compete against learners from around the world at the BYSCC, held in the Huairou District in Beijing from 23 to 26 March 2019.
South Africa – The country will be represented by four exceptional teen scientists at the 39th Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition (BYSCC) – where they will exchange innovative ideas about science and technology, under the theme ‘Discovery, Innovation and Responsibility’.
The four youngsters had showcased projects of exceptional quality at the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists International Science Fair (ISF) in October last year and were selected by a panel of academics and professionals, after impressing judges with their ingenuity, depth of knowledge and mastery of inquiry methodology. These projects tackle contemporary issues in our everyday lives.
Liyema Tyutu, 15, from Enduku PJS School in Engcobo, Eastern Cape’s project looks at improving a vehicle’s headlights, so it is not blinding to oncoming traffic. This innovation works in a way that when oncoming traffic has bright lights, it dims automatically; and when it passes, it brightens automatically. The device has a strong ability to sense fading light, and switches on automatically when night falls, and switches off at sunrise.
The project by Ilané du Plessis, 16, and Ansonel du Toit, 16, from Hoërskool Waterkloof in Pretoria looked at the chemicals that find its way into swimming pools and how they react with the chlorine added. Their research concluded that stricter swimmer hygiene control measures should be in place in pools.
Phoebe Mgxaji, 16, from Macassar Secondary School in Macassar in the Stellenbosch region’s silver medal-winning ISF project looks at food labels – the information available to consumers and what they actually mean. Phoebe’s research centres around consumers not understanding the information on food labels.
The four budding scientists will compete against learners from around the world at the BYSCC, held in the Huairou District in Beijing from 23 to 26 March 2019. This is the second of six international tours for 2019 that our young scientists, who participated in ISF, will embark on this year. Other tours include Taiwan in February; Kenya in April; the United States in May; Turkey in June and Sweden in December.
International science fairs bring together the best from participating countries. It is essential for our learners to be exposed to the best from around the world, as it broadens their knowledge-base, exposes them to new ideas and different approaches to problem-solving. It is also a great way for learners to network with their counterparts from other countries.
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“I am really impressed that we have four young girls representing South Africa at this international science fair. Eskom Expo provides a platform for young scientists to grow, and these four girls have risen to the challenge and convinced us that they are worthy as our future leaders in the scientific fields. These young girls set a sterling example to the youth out there that you can achieve anything you set your mind to,” says Parthy Chetty, Eskom Expo Executive Director.
“Eskom has been supporting the Expo for nearly two decades, and we see this as an investment in our future scientists and engineers, who are being groomed to solve the problems of the future. The pool of science and engineering graduates that Eskom contributes to is for the benefit of the country. The life-changing experience these four young girls are going to encounter, will feed back into the system, to give more young learners the opportunity to compete internationally,” says Pieter Pretorius, Chairperson – Eskom Expo Board of Directors.
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