iTEACHlab Learner Activities – Madressah Shoukatul Islam School

The Madressah Shoukatul Islam School of Durban attended the iTEACHlab Learner Activities session that took place on Wednesday, 08th March 2023. A total of 19 grade 7 learners attended this exciting and fun-filled session at the iTEACHlab in Durban.

Learners participated in the following STEAM activities in the Hubs:

Makerspace Hub: a Lego Design-Thinking Challenge, where learners are given a Lego Design-Thinking challenge card along with a pack of random Lego pieces. Learners are then given a time-limit to complete building a Lego model based on the challenge card. The learners also presented their models to the group. This activity also aimed to develop personal attributes like self-esteem, resilience, confidence, and optimism.

Robotics Hub: Problem-solving skills are essential in the real-world. The Coding a robot activity for the learners allowed learners to understand what a robot is, how it is bult and how to code it using block-based coding and computational thinking. Learners enjoyed making the robots move in various directions as well as incorporate sounds and different displays on their robot.

Maths Hub: Learning through the use of educational games is certainly one way of taking learning beyond the four walls of the classroom. In the Maths Hub, learners were exposed to numerous educational games related to STEAM and 21st century learning. These games helped learners improve their memory, think critically and creatively as well as understand various subjects in a simpler way.

Science Hub: The Ball and String Challenge is an activity that promotes communication and collaboration skills. This activity involves 4 learners, each holding one end of a string, opposite from one and other. A ball is then placed in the middle and the group of learners need to balance the ball carefully and place it into a cup that is placed in a different location. Sounds easy, but super challenging!

Amphitheatre Hub: Virtual Reality is an innovate way to learn especially with 21st century learning. The learners were excited to explore the Virtual reality applications using the Oculus VR headset. The aim of this activity is to expose learners to 21st-century skills that conceptualise teaching methodologies through 4IR technology advances.

For more information on the iTEACHlab Learner Activities session for school learners, please contact Raeesa Ebrahim: raeesa.ebrahim@mancosa.co.za