Has the time come to unleash your creativity on the greater public? If so, SciFest 2009 might just be the competition for you.
SciFest is a local one-day science fair held in third-level colleges and open to all second-level students. A SciFest fair includes a competition and exhibition of projects, science talks, science demonstrations in the college laboratories and a prize-giving ceremony for the best student science projects.
If you are entering the SciFest competition, you can keep a record of all your vital experimental discoveries, graphs, videos, photos and insights in your own blog on ProjectBlogger.ie.
You get your own web space to create your science blog, and it’s a chance to share your experiences in science with classmates from your own school and from other schools around Ireland.
SciFest 2009
Over 2,000 students are expected to participate in SciFest 2009, and the deadline for entries is fast approaching.
The one-day festival of science is held in Institutes of Technology all over the country as a regional equivalent of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition. This year’s deadline for submissions is 13 March.
In last year’s SciFest, over 1,600 students exhibited over 680 projects in nine Institutes of Technology – Athlone, Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Limerick, Sligo, Tallaght, Tipperary and Waterford.
This year SciFest is expanding, and Dundalk, Tralee, Blanchardstown and Galway/Mayo Institutes of Technology will also be hosting SciFest events in response to local demand.
Junior Certificate
Sheila Porter, SciFest’s National Coordinator, says: “The aim of SciFest is to encourage a love of science and technology by offering students a chance to show off their projects to their peers and local community, whilst competing for national awards.
“SciFest is also tied to the Junior Certificate, as students’ projects can be used in the practical work element of the new science curriculum. Hands on activities in science are the key to developing students’ interest in the subject as they take learning out of the textbooks and link science and technology back to their everyday lives.”
An additional advantage is that SciFest is locally based, so it is more accessible to students and allows them to view the facilities and courses available in their local Institute of Technology. It also creates valuable links with Institutes of Technology and industry.
Learn more
Get your own science blog on ProjectBlogger.ie
Visit the SciFest website for information on the events near you
