The Department of Basic Education (DBE), in partnership with the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), this week, hosted a Senior Phase Coding and Robotics Workshop. The workshop took place at the CSIR Centre for High-Performance Computing (CHPC) in Rosebank, Cape Town. The programme targeted teachers and subject specialists to build capacity for implementing the national coding and robotics curriculum. It focused on computational thinking and introduction-to-advanced Scratch programming.

Ms Koki Selepe, Deputy Director of Science Promotion at the DSTI, officially opened the workshop. She highlighted that the training empowers educators to understand and explain robotics and coding concepts effectively within school classrooms, directly improving the overall quality of teaching.

Core sessions and presentations included the following: The Scratch Programming was facilitated by Mr Mthetho Sovara, Senior Research Engineer at the CHPC, with support from the CSIR and National Integrated Cyber Infrastructure System (NICIS) teams.

A presentation on High-Performance Computing (HPC) by Dr Werner Janse Van Rensburg, CHPC Research Manager, followed on how processing speeds operate across data centres, network servers, and cloud computing architectures.

Participants toured the active CSIR building data centre. The site visit showcased the practical integration of supercomputers, large network servers, GPUs, and cloud computing hardware. Attendees observed how built-in system coding automatically identifies and isolates system errors without disrupting full operations.

Practical and robotics exercises followed with Scratch for Arduino, Led by Mr Binjamin Barsch, Lead Software Engineer at NICIS. Participants built physical robotic arms and programmed their movements using the Scratch for Arduino application. During Physical Computing, educators engaged with Micro:bit pocket-sized computers to deepen their technical coding skills.

The training concluded with practical group and individual exercises. Educators presented their completed projects to the workshop audience using peer-to-peer classroom simulations. This practice prepares teachers to transfer these critical technology skills directly to school learners. The DBE wishes to express its sincere gratitude to the DSTI and other partners for making this highly impactful workshop possible, whilst also strengthening the collaboration between the two departments.