The sound of children playing echoes through the container classrooms and open spaces of Tom Place Primary School. The school is adorned with paintings of local wildlife, such as galjoen, proteas, and springboks, to welcome visitors. As the teachers call their learners back from breaktime, the children navigate around sheep and banana peels to return to their classrooms. Tom Place Primary School is a rural school in the Eastern Cape with limited resources, but at the far end of the school, Teacher Yonelani shines as the Grade 1 teacher for over 40 learners. Her passion for teaching is evident as she inspires her students to explore, learn, and express themselves with confidence.
In Teacher Yonelani’s classroom, students are learning about coding and robotics using Six Bricks as their primary tool. Working together in groups, the students are enthusiastic and full of imaginative ideas. When one student gets up to drink water, the rest of the class quickly follows suit, prompting Teacher Yonelani to use a fun Six Bricks movement activity to refocus their attention. The students giggle as they watch their teacher balance and twist with the bricks on her head, all while reinforcing their learning about robot movements and sounds.
It's amazing to see how engaged and creative Teacher Yonelani’s learners are during their lesson. Building robots using Six Bricks is not only a fun activity but also encourages teamwork, problem-solving, and imaginative thinking. It’s also impressive to see how the learners are able to communicate their ideas and showcase their robots to the rest of the class. Teacher Yonelani’s approach to teaching coding and robotics in an under-resourced school is a great example of how educators can find creative solutions to provide quality education to their learners despite limited resources.
