Though the desolate hill where South Africa is building a new giant telescope is hundreds of miles away, Hartmut Winkler hopes the project will attract more students to his science classes.
Astronomy is an easy road into science.
The country's science programs are desperately in need of excitement. South African school children placed last in math and science, according to a recently released global study. The South African science score was less than half the test average. There's a need to push science as a whole, and just teaching people through book work won't be the way to do it. The South African Large Telescope , to be built in four to five years, will help scientists study the formation of the universe.