Title of Innovation: Sirealities

Year of implementation: 2018

Implemented by: Sisanda Tech

Country/Countries where the Innovation is being implemented: South Africa

Problem being solved

80% of public schools in South Africa don’t have a science laboratory that means 9.6 million learners will complete their science studies without acquiring necessary practical skills that they can use to get a job or be able to solve the challenges the face. The World Economic Forum cites that 65% of children entering school today will work in a completely new job type(which is STEM-related) that does not exist today. Failure to solve this problem will increase our youth unemployment rate which is currently at 38.2%.

Description of innovation

Si realities is a virtual science laboratory for science learners from Grade 4 to 12. It allows the learner to perform the experiments by just using the camera of their smartphone and tablet to project a virtual science apparatus in front of the learners. The learner can just perform the experiment just using tablet. Si realities aims to make science engaging, fun and accessible to millions of learners in Africa. Our approach  is to make Si realities a self-learning platform that any learner could log in and begin learning on and off the class room.

Outcomes and Impact

In 2018 we have reached 200 learners who have indicated that Si realities makes them understand abstract science concepts and 59 teachers who said Si realities will improve the engagement in the classroom and it's easy to be integrated with the curriculum and the pace setter. We are currently piloting with 8 schools.

Potential to be scaled and replicated

Si realities comes with two version namely the personal version and the school version. The School version contains experiments that are curriculum-aligned and delivered directly to schools. While the personal version contains experiments from the school version with additional experiments from science experiments. It  can be downloaded from popular App Store such as Google Playstore and Apple App Store. We want the learner to Explore, Experiment and Learn anywhere and anytime.

Our revenue model for personal version is based on freemium model, we also sell merchandise while the school version we make money through licences.