2020 started out full of promise. The second decade of the 21st Century! A neat repeating pattern of numbers that seemed to herald stability, order and continuity.

CASME had closed out a 3 year strategic cycle and was about to revisit this to consider some new focus areas. In particular we were looking to consolidate our learning around ICT integration in mathematics and science teaching, our role in education research, and our place as a convenor of collaborative efforts to strengthen the education system.

At the centre of our work remained our vision of changing the lives of learners through quality and innovative mathematics and science education.

Then the reality of COVID19 hit. Without re-living this painful year that we are trying to move past, some themes emerged; gratitude, resilience and grit.

Underpinning these was the work we had done to prepare for our next phase of organisational growth and development. We had resolved to grow our partnership network, involve ourselves in sector strengthening efforts such as NASCEE, position ourselves and our thinking to take on more research and evaluation work, and consolidate our approach based on evidence of what works in education devleopment.

It has been a whirlwind few weeks as we have ramped up our project support activity. A major challenge during the lockdown has been access. Our rapid surveys showed this and our on-the-ground experience provided further evidence of the digital divide. Our response was to produce and distribute paper resources to learners and teachers, and offer some level of support through mobile messaging applications. However, in truth many of the rural and peri-urban schools that are the focus of CASME's work struggled.

Now that restrictions have eased, opportunities to provide support are also opening up. The past weeks have been evidence of this and we are leveraging a blended approach of on-site connectors to beam our experienced facilitators across multiple sites. In some ways this is a real test for a new way of working that we have piloted in a few projects over the past year or two. The early indicators are promising!

Our teachers' workshops made the move to a blended model. Working with our Department of Education partners in Amajuba and Ugu and our champion teachers in Umlazi districts, we convened training and support workshops for Natural Sciences and Mathematics teachers. CASME facilitators are adapting to the new approach using virtual meeting tools, online forms and screen writing gadgets to create engaging sessions.

CASME's mobile science resource centre initiative, Science2Go, is also back with renewed vigour after the Covid-19 break. Using our blended model, concurrent teams of on-site lab assistants (who are now doubling up as remote connectors), our experienced science facilitators are beaming in to multiple classrooms around the province, to guide learners through practical activities.

Our weekends are also thankfully once again packed with learner tutorial sessions. We are pulling out all the stops, working with the Class of 2020 to get them ready for their exams. Facilitators are broadcasting into multiple classrooms to provide lessons in mathematics and science, with the help of our "remote connectors". We even had one of CASME's former facilitators (now based in Mpumalanga) join us on Sunday for a session.

​Our partnership with UniZulu Science Centre has enabled us to offer a one-of-a-kind Physics exam review / essential skills course through our new LEARN.casme.org.za platform, with more courses for Life Sciences and Mathematics in the pipeline.

We are really excited about the boundaries that are being broken with our blended model, and the reach we are achieving, where purely online modes fail to reach the most vulnerable. As we move forward we definitely see this is part of our 'normal' and an opportunity to scale our impact.

​Onward! And Upward!

The Zenex Foundation celebrates as two learners from the Izimpande Zokukhanya Project make it into the top 20 achievers in the First Additional Language (FAL) National Olympiad. The two Grade 12 learners from Our Lady of the Rosary High School in iLembe District, KwaZulu-Natal - Kwenama Mkhize and Bongeka Mvelase - took 4th and 16th place respectively, in the Olympiad. They achieved Diamond, which is an equivalent of 80% and above. 
Izimpande Zokukhanya Project is one of three multi-provincial projects rolled out from 2016-2020 in KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape. It aimed to develop schools with potential into high functioning schools that offer quality Mathematics, Science and English teaching and learning to disadvantaged learners. The Foundation partnered with six schools in iLembe.
The De Beers Olympiad is an English competition hosted by the Grahamstown Foundation and the South African Council for English Education. The competition draws over 8000 entries from South Africa and neighbouring countries. What makes the Olympiad unique is the fact that it goes beyond the normal scope of the school syllabus. Learners are tested and expected to apply critical thinking skills, and need to be sharp and creative at the same time.
The competition is open to Grade 9-12 learners and a total of 59 Zenex project learners took part in 2020. The top achievers’ prizes range from cash, books and book vouchers. The prizes would be handed out at the National Arts Festival, but due to COVID-19, the 2020 celebrations could not take place in Grahamstown.
All the learners who took part in the Olympiad will receive certificates which indicate their exam evaluation. 
The Zenex Foundation congratulates all the learners who participated in the competition. We applaud all the teachers and NGO partners who assisted the learners in preparation for this prestigious competition. Zenex Foundation salutes you.

This article originally appeared on the Zenex Foundation Website at https://www.zenexfoundation.org.za/informationhub/news/item/548-rosary-diamonds-shine-against-all-odds-and-make-it-into-the-top-20-of-the-fal-national-olympiad

Dear Partners and Stakeholders
On the 11th of March 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Coronavirus (COVID-19) as an international ‘pandemic’. On Sunday 15 March the President of South Africa declared a national state of disaster, including several serious measures to help reduce the impact of the disease. These are outlined in the full statement.

1. Guidelines from the WHO

The WHO is the highest medical authority on diseases. These are their guidelines and here is their Q&A page. 

2. South African DoH guidance on Coronavirus
This is the South African Health Department’s website on Coronavirus. Which has all the details on South Africa’s response, contact numbers etc.
What are we doing about this at CASME? 
The decisions taken and outlined here are based on the following principles:

• to protect the health and safety of our staff and the people we work with, 
• to play our part individually and as an organisation to slow the spread of coronavirus in SA. This is based on public health best practices and the understanding that the healthcare system is not equipped to deal with the large numbers of people who will be flooding into it. The actions are aimed at delaying the spread as much as we can.

1) Local and international flights
No local and international flights are allowed from 15 March 2020 to 30 April 2020. As more information becomes available on the extent of the spread these dates may be extended at some point in the future.
2) Washing hands regularly, don’t touch your face
The best method of preventing coronavirus is by washing your hands for 20-seconds with soap and water. The way the virus gets into your system is through your nose, your mouth or your eyes. Respiratory droplets (from a cough or a sneeze) that get into your mouth/eye/nose are what infect you. For that reason don’t touch your face, cough into your elbow and wash your hands often.
3) Extensive Social distancing  - meetings and training workshops
One of the most effective ways of preventing the spread of the disease is to minimize unnecessary physical contact with others. This includes shaking people’s hands and hugging. CASME staff will use alternatives like the foot-tap, the sup, the hip-bump or the bow.  Please don’t be offended. They will also keep at least one meter away from people who show any symptoms of having the flu.
As part of our extensive social distancing campaign all CASME staff are eligible to work from home, particularly those who rely on public transport. They will however still be available over email and telephone. We will try and move as many of our meetings to Zoom rather than in-person.
All teacher workshops, learner classes and other group activities are cancelled until 14 April when schools are scheduled to reopen. We will assess the status then and revise this if needed.

We acknowledge that these extreme measures will impact on our work with schools, teachers and learners. We will do our best to mitigate these through electronic distribution of resources and support, and to re-schedule activities as soon as it is reasonable to do so.
Thank you for patience and continued support and assistance as we work together to limit the impact of this global health crisis.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me on benson@casme.org.za or 0824405242 for assistance or clarification.
Sincerely
Henre Benson (Director) and the CASME Team
*With thanks to Nic Spaull and Funda Wande for sharing their version of this document from which we have borrowed substantially

\This is just a snapshot and a select few highlights. We encourage you to stay on top of our latest news through our social channels.

None of these successes would be possible without your continued support and commitment to our work. We are grateful to have had generous contributions by our donor partners from the business sector and independent trusts who continue to recognise the importance of quality education for the future of all South Africans.

Our office will re-open on 3 January 2019. We look forward to connecting with you during the course of 2019 and wishing you all the best for a restful festive season with family and loved ones.

Yours in education
The CASME Team
​

CASME wishes to appoint an eLearning consultant to support a move to a blended eLearning mode of programme delivery.

The consultant will manage and implement the 1) Evaluation and Selection of an appropriate eLearning Platform and 2) Conversion of existing programmes to eLearning format.

The eLearning consultant should submit a proposal, which:

• Clearly sets out the work including outputs, outcomes
• Demonstrates experience and qualifications in this field, including CVs and evidence of work done previously
• Sets out a timeline for delivery of the work between April and October 2018
• Includes a fully inclusive budget

The work should be conducted on site at CASME’s offices at 23 Caversham Road in Pinetown.
Comprehensive submissions responding to this brief should be emailed to:
Henre Benson
benson@casme.org.za
 
By Friday 13 April 2018
​​The full RFP can be downloaded from the link below:

2017 Mandela Washington Fellow Malshini Senaratne joins CASME on a two-week practicum as she learns how the organisation strives to change the lives of learners through mathematics and science, and apply that experience towards the development of a ‘Girls in S.T.E.M.’ program for the Seychelles. She is one of 130 Fellows chosen this year to undergo professional practicums across Africa in partnership with private, public, and non-profit companies.

by ​Tremaine van Aardt

This article originally appears in the Herald Newspaper and Herald Live.
 
http://www.heraldlive.co.za/news/2018/02/14/mobile-science-lab-project-paying-off-sas-pupils/

A mobile science lab rolled into Nelson Mandela Bay yesterday on a mission to reignite a passion for maths and science in impoverished schools through practical application of the usually mundane theory.

A dire need for engineers saw Mahle South Africa partner with the Centre for the Advancement of Science and Mathematics Education (CASME) three years ago to establish the Science2Go campaign.

And in the last two days the science lab has visited six schools to raise awareness and garner support for the campaign. The visit could give two pupils the opportunity to study at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Stuttgart, Germany.

The idea is to take science to the pupils in way they can touch and see it in action through practical experiments instead of just reading about theory in their books.

Speaking at Douglas Mbopa High School, Science2Go chief operations officer Henre Benson said the campaign had already reached more than 15 000 pupils across KwaZulu-Natal and would soon be active in the Bay. “We will handle all the practical experiments in the curriculum. Children tend to learn when they can see what is being taught,” he said.
“This skills development has already improved the science enrolment in our [30] KwaZulu-Natal schools by 43%. “So initially we do the experiments but we also train the teachers to make it sustainable once our services are needed elsewhere.”

He said this week was a roadshow to introduce the concept to the schools. Should a sponsor assist in buying and equipping another vehicle, the mobile lab will be operational in the city within three months.

“Once we are operational we will visit the identified schools anywhere between once a week or once a month, depending on the availability and the requirements of the school.”
Douglas Mbopa deputy principal Konya Nomazulu said the campaign was phenomenal. “We will definitely be on board with this.”

Mahle communications manager Jolene van Heerden said the organisation’s corporate social investment programme focused on addressing problems with maths and science at schools. “We wanted to make a difference.”

She said Mahle funded university studies for several pupils.

“Two of the most exceptional pupils are given an opportunity to study engineering at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Stuttgart, which is an R800 000 bursary spread over four years.”