Die Physikanten at Scifest Africa 2014

Report by Lillian Magari & Noxolo Mafu.

Following the theme “Into the Space”, Scifest Africa 2014 welcomed award winning German scientist performing group: Die Physikanten. Creating a giant tornado of fire, crashing oil drums using air and making gigantic smoke rings, Die Physikanten aimed to make science exciting and accessible.
Sascha Ott, a scientist from Die Physikanten, believes that the purpose of the show is to allow children to become eager to learn more about science. Although the children were entertained and enthusiastic to interact with certain experiments, science teacher at Ntsika Secondary High School, Solomon Johnson explains that this excitement does not always filter into the classrooms beyond the annual SciFest. The inability to provide such experiments to local school children in a sustainable way, due to lack of resources, creates an absence in general science knowledge for young pupils.