EXPERIENCE THE

PIONEER CENTRE

The Pioneer Centre is an exciting project to teach school children more about South Africa’s rich cultural heritage. The programs and interactive activities offered are CAPS based on outcomes and target the Social Sciences, Technology, Natural Sciences, Arts and Culture and Design. Specific syllabus themes are presented using an introduction, treasure hunt, followed by interactive discussions.

It consists of three main areas: the auditorium, the foyer and the main exhibition hall, and the open-air area for traditional activities.

In the auditorium, provision is made for visual and interactive introductions per syllabus theme, while a map facilitates the treasure hunt with specific themes in the main exhibition hall. Original objects, replicas, historical photographs, contemporary visuals and snippets of information are used here. The origins and cultural diversity of South Africa are explained in terms of broad themes such as national symbols, food, clothing, settlement, and materials (wood, metal, leather, grass, clay, ceramics and glass).

THE PIONEER CENTRE OFFERS EXCITING AND ENRICHING ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS:

THEN AND NOW

GRADE 1 TO 3

GRADE 1

This program offers a new experience and teaches Grade 1 learners about:

  • Early communities, individuals and community structures using the San as an example, their own community within South Africa
  • Food – The food we eat, where food comes from, healthy and unhealthy food, how we preserve food
  • Water – Water use, how we waste water, safe and unsafe drinking water, how we store clean water
  • Houses – Different houses, materials from which houses are made, houses for different weather conditions
  • The weather
  • Map work – how to find places
  • Transport – early types of transport

GRADE 2

This program offers a new experience and teaches Grade 2 learners about:

  • South Africa – our country with provinces, our flag, our national anthem, our coat of arms, national symbols
  • Various types of transport: old t.o. new
  • Early methods of communication: speaking, reading, writing, postal system, rock art
  • Food and water
  • Clay and sand as soil types
  • Animals – farm and wild animals
  • The weather

GRADE 3

This program offers a new experience and teaches Grade 3 learners about

  • Ourselves (what is an ID) within the community of South Africa (our country with provinces, our flag, national anthem, coat of arms, national symbols)
  • How people lived long ago versus how people live today, which includes the following: examples of stories from the San period to the present day; tools of the past compared to the present; how homes have changed over time; how certain things have been done in the past; payment methods and trade from long ago to the present.
  • How to preserve special items from the past – museums.
  • What we get from the earth – plants, clay to stone
  • Animals that help us – food, clothes

HUNTER COLLECTORS TO MODERN MAN

GRADE 4 TO 6

GRADE 4

This program offers a new experience and teaches learners about:

  • Local history focusing on Pretoria.
  • Different types of transport through the centuries as used by various groups and industries.
  • Different types of communication devices as used by various groups and industries.
  • Lifestyles and belief of the hunter collectors of South Africa (San)
  • Types of settlements and why people live there.
  • Food and farming in South Africa: Types of farms and crops
  • Why water is essential in South Africa

GRADE 5

This program offers a new experience and teaches learners about:

  • Lifestyle and faith of the hunter collectors and shepherds of South Africa (San and Khoi-Khoi)
  • Lifestyle and faith of the first farmers in Southern Africa
  • Heritage in South Africa: Sites, objects, etc. in Pretoria
  • The physical characteristics of South Africa
  • The weather, climate and vegetation of South Africa with the focus on Pretoria and Gauteng

GRADE 6

This program offers a new experience and teaches learners about:

  • The people and city of Mapungubwe
  • Trade through South Africa
  • Types of settlements and why people live there

VOORTREKKER MONUMENT

The following topics can be covered in our programs:

1. CAUSES, HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GREAT TREK

References are made to factors on the Eastern Frontier that could have led to the Great Trek, the course of the Trek (1836-1838), and what impact it had on the interior.

2. THE BUILDING, SYMBOLISM AND MEANING OF THE MONUMENT

The background is given about the building process (1937-1949), materials used, objects that were built to have symbolic meanings and what they meant to the Afrikaner and South Africa.

3. THE MATERIAL CULTURE OF THE VOORTREKKERS

Objects used during and after the Great Trek are displayed and illuminated in the Cenotaph Hall and the museum.

4. THE NATURE OF MONUMENTS AND MUSEUMS

The place of a monument and the educational value of museums for the preservation of tangible material is explained.

5. MIGRATION PATTERNS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

References to indigenous groups in the interior and settlement patterns and the disruption that the Great Trek brought.

6. TOURISM

Explanation of the Voortrekker Monument as a tourist attraction.

7. HISTORY AND MATERIAL CREATIONS OF THE EARLY ZULU PEOPLE

The Zulu hut and objects used by the Zulu people are physically handled and demonstrated.

FORT SCHANSKOP

1. ARCHEOLOGY

References to excavations of material with specific reference to Fort Schanskop.

2. ASPECTS OF THE ANGLO-BOER WAR

Fort Schanskop is used as a starting point to explain the takeover of Pretoria by Lord Roberts in June 1900.

3. THE ROLE OF FORT SCHANSKOP DURING THE ANGLO-BOER WAR

Explanation of how the fort was used by the English after the invasion of Pretoria.

ACTIVITIES AND DEMONSTRATIONS

  • Traditional pioneering bread baking
  • Shooting of the cannon Susanna 
  • Farming: tug of war and saccharine
  • Water: make your own water filter from recyclable materials
  • Soil types: make a clay object
  • Communication: learn how to send a postcard