Usasazo Grade 10 visit to UCT Pathology Learning Center

11 Jun 2017
11 Jun 2017

The Usasazo Life Science teacher and Head of Department, Ms Poswa was delighted that she could take both of her Grade 10 learners to the Pathology laboratory. The transport to the event was generously sponsored by the UCT Pathology Laboratory.  66  Grade 10 learners visited the pathology laboratory on the 22nd and 24th May and the outcome was very positive.  According to Dr. Jane Yeats (Curator of the UCT Pathology Learning Centre) the visits went very well last week. After discussing the possible program Dr. Yeats and Ms Poswa were able to agree on a focus which was relevant to the curriculum.  In the 3 hours with each group they did the following:

  • A short general intro/orientation to the pathology specimen collection and how/why they have the collection.
  • An introduction  to cancer making use of an animated Kahn academy video; demonstration of different types of skin
  •  Lynelle Govender ran a fun quiz, largely on the basics of cell biology, with  prizes – this really brought things alive! Lynelle also briefly touched on study/career opportunities in medicine and pathology
  • A demonstration of a few common heart diseases, rickets (as an example of a bone disease and nutritional deficiency), a video about tapeworms and their lifecycle (shortened version of BBC’s Michael Moseley “Infested – living with parasites”) followed by demonstration of intestinal worms.

Learners were given juice and snacks during the break, also sponsored by the Path Lab and were given a chance to explore the museum. According to Dr. Yeats, Mrs Poswa had told them that she had no idea what to expect, but it was far more than she was anticipating, and she would love to give her learners this sort of experience more often.

The SII is grateful to the Path Lab team who made this visit possible: Dr Jane Yeats; Prof Carolyn Williamson (Head of Division of Medical Virology); Prof Dhiren Govender; Prof Raj Ramasar; Dr Lynelle Govender, Mr Jurgen Geitner (technical officer) and Mr Melvin Lawrence (Lab Assistant). A special thanks too to Prof Valerie Mizrahi (Director of the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine) for kindly sponsoring the second bus as part of their commitment to social outreach and transformation. This meant that all the Grade 10 Life Science learners could be included in the visit.

Credit: Melvin Lawrence (Lab Assistant) for the photographs.