HARARE-The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) came up with a gas-powered mobile laboratory that accommodates 12 students and can be folded and put away after use.
NUST Communications and Marketing Director Thabani Mpofu told The Mirror that the laboratory has wheels and can be adjusted.
Mpofu spoke to The Mirror at last week’s Zimbabwe Agricultural Show (ZAS), where NUST exhibited. The laboratory costs US$ 900.
“As NUST, we continue to support primary and secondary schools in teaching science. This innovation transforms a classroom into a laboratory. After finishing the experiments, students can fold, put it away and continue with other lessons in the same class.
“The mobile laboratory is a response to the need for schools to set up laboratories to support the teaching of sciences as well as support students to come up with innovations,” he said.
The six-day ZAS ran from Monday to Saturday under the theme: Sustained growth: Adaptation. Productivity. Linkages.
Mpofu said an independent innovator brought the idea of a mobile laboratory.
He added that the innovator worked on the project for sometime and theey began taking it to schools last year.
“We are working on this project in partnership with an independent innovator. We pioneered this innovation as a university and came up with this prototype. The hub is open to independent innovators who join our students and academics. The mobile laboratory is flexible, durable and affordable.
“The workstations in laboratories at schools may be fewer given the high number of students taking science classes. Having extra mobile laboratories allows students to carry out experiments at the same time without having to wait for one another. Come examination time, some students wait for long hours, from 8 to 4 pm to do their practical because of shortages of laboratories,” said Mpofu.
