Jenaid Coetzee, Leolyn Robertson, Tamikah Prinsloo. Image: Supplied

A group of Grade 10 learners from Soneike High School in Kuils River, armed with curiosity and enthusiasm but with no laptops of their own, took their first steps into the world of computational modelling — a way of using computer coding to simulate real-world situations. 

Computational modelling is a technique used in science and engineering to simulate physical systems using mathematics and computer code. It’s a powerful way to explore concepts like velocity, acceleration and forces, but some high school learners still lack access to laboratories and computing facilities that would help them adequately explore these concepts.

Heading up the initiative with Soneike High School since 2023 in the hope of bridging this glaring knowledge gap, University of the Western Cape (UWC) senior technical officer and passionate physics lecturer, Ian Schroeder, who was seconded as Lecturer to the Extended Curriculum Programme, has been committing himself to the cause, teaching concepts in his spare time.

But this year, things are slightly different: despite Schroeder’s ill health, he chose to continue his mission, preparing this cohort of high schoolers of the Kuils River high school for their first year of university in 2028. “The project dubbed, The Project 2026 Initiative, started in 2023 with the Grade 10s of that year who are now writing the matric exam and hopefully going on to tertiary studies in 2026. The new cohort, who are in Grade 10 this year, will bear the fruits of the experiences over the next two years, and it is in their first year of varsity when the real results of these efforts will be seen,” said Schroeder of his community outreach project.

Tamikah Prinsloo, Jenaid Coetzee, Amy Longestain, Leolyn Robertson. Image: Supplied

Schroeder put out a call to current and previous students of his first-year physics course to help facilitate the workshop. Five of them offered to volunteer their time and joined the team. Together with his son, who is currently in grade 10, this facilitation team then ran the Computational Modelling workshop sessions for the grade 10 learners, with his guidance.

It brings Schroeder much joy to see them aptly steering this youth empowerment project under his watchful eye.  “I am glad that there is finally a pool of students who can take over and run with it.” 

“It is their time now. It reminds me of the riot days of 1985 - where awareness programmes were ‘by the students for the students’.”

Speaking about the project, he said, “Had I not incorporated Computational Modelling into the second year of the Extended Curriculum Programme course that I taught a few years back, having these facilitators ready to go at a moment's notice would simply not have been remotely possible. Now they can fly without me.”

This Computational Modelling workshop (with the current cohort of grade 10 science learners) was born as a result of a UWC careers guidance talk in August, given by Schroeder. He addressed the grade 10 science students at the school. All but one student had no experience with computer programming, but many showed an interest in it.

University of the Western Cape senior technical officer and passionate physics lecturer, Ian Schroeder. Image: Ruvan Boshoff.

“With many learners having no access to laptops, we decided to use the UWC Physics PC Lab, which is a big 72 seater laboratory. I was amused to see how, at the end of the final session, they had so much fun and were so engrossed in building their own 3D simulations that I had to chase some of them out, or else they would have missed their bus!

“Using VPython - a beginner-friendly coding environment that helps users create visual simulations without getting bogged down by complex syntax - they were able to model motion and even generate graphs showing how objects moved over time.”

Schroeder said, “I really could not even have dreamt of doing this without the incredible support and expertise of the facilitation team, and especially my son, Brian, who is currently in grade 10 at Calling Academy and has been doing coding for the past six years. He brought his experience in presenting Computational Modelling boot camps for my first-year students over the past three years.” 

The five current and former students met with Schroeder for training and mapping sessions and then two Saturday workshop sessions with the grade 10 learners, all in their free time.  “The teaching assistant from my course also jumped in to assist the learners. My state of health meant they were the engine for this, and I was in the pit lane directing,” said Schroeder. 

Learners from Soneike High School, Kylie Bougard and Nicole Mazok, getting familiar with Computational Modelling and enjoying the opportunity to be part of the programme. Image: Supplied.

Schroeder was particularly impressed by one student who had only ever used Scratch (a visual programming language often taught in primary schools) once before but took to VPython “like a fish to water.”  “I hope she continues with the project, because she seems to be a natural.”

“The session wasn’t just about coding. It was a full afternoon of learning, starting with a welcome from the School's Enrollment Management Unit, a careers talk by an Eskom engineer, and an introduction to the University’s online learning platform by CIECT,” Schroeder said.

During the last session, learners dived deeper into the “habits of the mind” that underpin computational thinking. This includes modelling problems using tangible objects before moving to sketches, mathematical equations, and finally, computer code. They experiment with smart carts - devices that measure motion using onboard sensors - and build models to simulate different scenarios, including one dubbed “The Great Race,” where two smart carts compete under different conditions.

“If this is what the future of science education looks like, then it’s bright - just like the sun those photons are trying to escape from,” said Schroeder, referring to a Monte Carlo modelling problem the grade 10s will work on when the sessions resume.