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 The grand finals of the Intel Mini Scientist 2011 have taken place at the Intel Ireland campus in Co Kildare, with the two overall winners, one being Hair Today, Heat Tomorrow, from Kilmurry National School in Co Clare.
Intel Ireland said that 2011 has been the best year ever for the Intel Mini Scientist competition, with almost 3,000 primary school students from eight counties in Ireland getting involved.
Over the past few months, fourth, fifth and sixth-class students from across Ireland have been getting hands-on with science.
The Intel Mini Scientist competition, which has been running since 2003, gives young students the chance to explore science through project-based learning and exhibitions.
The first phase of the programme involves students participating at local-level exhibitions, where Intel judges visit the participating schools, choosing two winning projects in each school.
The second phase involved each of these winning projects taking part in the Mini Scientist Grand Final. This year’s event was hosted last Thursday, 1 December, and Friday, 2 December, at the Intel Ireland campus in Leixlip, Co Kildare.
The grand finale at Intel event brought together 300 of these students who displayed 98 projects in the hope of picking up one of the two overall and 10 runner-up prizes. The participants exhibited their projects for a panel of judges, which was made up of Intel employees. Intel employees also had the chance to come along and view the work of the students, whose projects each included visual displays, projects books and practical experiments based on a scientific area aligned with the national primary science curriculum.
Scientists of the future
Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn visited the exhibition at Intel on 2nd December to hear from some of the budding young scientists and to award the prizes to the students. Quinn commended the standard of work presented by the students and reminded them of the importance of exploration and investigative learning in solving big problems and creating opportunities for the future
Sarah Sexton, co-ordinator of the Intel Mini Scientist programme, said Intel was delighted with the success of this year’s competition.
"This year, it was fantastic to once again see a growth in the number of students participating in the programme and at the same time we continue to see an ever-higher standard of projects amongst the participants – the competition is a great way to get children excited about science and to give them the opportunity to build key 21st-century skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving and teamwork,” said Sexton. Image Caption: Ireland’s MInister for Education Ruairí Quinn, TD, with 'mini scientists' at the Intel Mini Scientist grand final event at Intel Ireland's Leixlip campus. Story from siliconrepublic.com
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