RecycleBot Builders proudly embraces a successful three-month milestone since deploying six unemployed young people from Port Alfred and surrounding areas as Educator Assistants. These passionate individuals are now implementing a groundbreaking robotics and coding programme across six schools in Port Alfred, Kenton, and Klipfontein, namely Klipfontein Primary, Mtyobo Public Primary, Dambuza Full-Service, Ekuphumleni Full-Service, Port Alfred Junior Secondary and Kuyasa Combined School.
RecycleBot Builders is a pioneering robotics and coding programme designed to cultivate the next generation of visionary thinkers, innovators, and problem-solvers. By harnessing the power of reusable materials, this groundbreaking initiative ignites creativity, fosters critical thinking, and equips young minds with the skills to transform ideas into tangible solutions.
Through hands-on learning and real-world applications, RecycleBot Builders empowers children from Grade R to Grade 3 and operates in six Eastern Cape Sarah Baartman District schools under the Department of Education’s Makhanda cluster management centre (CMC).
RecycleBot Builders empowers children to build structures such as rollercoasters, launchpads and pulley systems along with balloon powered cars to understand concepts such as aerodynamics, force and gravity.
In September the respective schools completed level 1 of the RecycleBot Builders programme which makes the young learners Rookie Builders and earns them Green Badges. This means they have learned how to make things move, problem-solving, teamwork, confidence, and safety protocols. This makes a total of 715 learners who have earned green badges.
The new cohort is made up as follows: 103 in Port Alfred Junior Secondary, 85 from Klipfontein Primary, 126 in Mtyobo Public Primary, 103 in Dambuza Full-Service, 150 from Kuyasa Combined School and 148 from Ekuphumleni Full-Service. Supported by the Eastern Cape Department of Education and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), RecycleBot Builders is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of problem-solvers.
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, October 31, 2024. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
