This initiative is
supported by the Australian Government through the Department of
Education, Science & Training |
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Overview |
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The
Science and Engineering Challenge, or the Challenge as it is better
known, is an outreach program which aims to generate student interest
in studying science and engineering. It involves up to 320 students,
per day, competing in a number of fun and hands-on activities that are
designed to provide a positive experience of science and engineering
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Objectives of the
Challenge |
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- To raise
awareness of science, engineering and technology in the community.
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- To provide a
vehicle for the local community to be involved in an innovative
program that promotes science and engineering.
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- To increase the
participation rates in HSC science, advanced mathematics and
engineering studies.
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Our Approach |
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To
generate enthusiasm for the sciences and engineering.
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- To capture students imagination
and show that science and engineering involves creativity.
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- To provide students with a
different experience in science and engineering to the classroom.
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How is the Challenge
organised? |
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- The Challenge is a cooperative
venture between the University of Newcastle, the local community,
and other universities. The Challenge is conducted in every state of
Australia and competition is divided into three levels; regional,
state and national.
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- Typically 8 schools per day
compete in a Challenge, with each school providing a team of approx
32 students. These teams are divided into eight groups that compete
in one or two activities during the day.
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The
Activities |
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The fun
and hands-on activities involve principles of science, engineering and
technology. The concept is to immediately
engage students in the activity with a minimum of introduction and
theory. Students explore scientific principles for themselves rather
than being guided to a predetermined answer.
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The Stats |
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- The number of schools involved in the challenge doubled between the years
2004 and 2006.
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- In 2006 over 12,000 students
participated in regional Challenges across Australia.
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- In 2006 over 2000 volunteers
helped to run our events.
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- A recent survey of students who
participated in the challenge we found 91% found it rewarding, 81%
found it informative about careers in science and engineering, and
38% said the were influenced by the challenge to study maths,
physics or chemistry in year 11.
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Awards
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- In 2001 the Challenge
was a finalist the Eureka Awards for promotion of science.
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- In 2003 the challenge
was awarded Engineers Australia Sir William Hudson Award for
best engineering project in Australia
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Costs
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There are no costs for students to
participate in the Challenge. |
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ooOOoo
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Update 20/07/07
The Regional Chairs meeting will be held in Newcastle on August 23rd
2007 at Belmont 16 Foot Sailing Club. The event falls in National
Science week and will also see the holding of the regional events in
Newcastle at Broadmeadow. The Friday evening, August 24th,
will see a dinner held to celebrate National Science Week.
The National Challenge will be held in Queensland (boo!) at Toowoomba
in October 2007 over two days being October 17th and 18th.
It will be great to see the winners of the Newcastle event in action
for the very competitive and highly sought after title of National
Winners. The event held in Tamworth 2006 was an outstanding success
and extremely competitive. The event however did generate some
excellent camaraderie amongst participants. It is through these events
and similar that more students are selecting the various science and
related strands. It is great to see that this will assist in
addressing the National Skills shortage in this area.
Tim Coates
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