The Fair whose aim is to bring together the country’s brightest scientific thinkers, is a research and technology advancement inspired platform that allows primary and secondary school students to submit their science inventions and research works to compete for prizes
Chikundi, believes that the national science fair whose call for entries ends on November 10, provides an opportunity for students from as early as those in Early Childhood Development (ECD) levels to exhibit their own scientific investigations and inventions.
The Fair, running under the Start Science Zimbabwe Project, a program geared towards encouraging the uptake of science related subjects among students, aims at encouraging research and development by talented young scientists in the field of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Chikundi, the event organiser and the brains behind the competitions said by participating in the Fair, students will increase their awareness of the wonders of science.
“The Fair brings together students, teachers, professional organisations, experts and educational bodies from all over Zimbabwe,” said Chikundi.
“This gives the students the opportunity to network, add to their knowledge and explore entrepreneurial possibilities, while broadening their scientific horizons.”
He said the competitions are open to all students in Zimbabwe and they can submit their work through their school and stand a chance to win while those in institutions of higher learning were welcome to participate as long as they fell within the required age categories.
“Students can enter their own individual projects or a maximum of three students can work together on a group project,” said Chikundi.
“There are eight different categories in which a project can be accommodated and participants may enter as many projects as they want.”
The project categories include agriculture, environmental science, chemistry, computer science and information technology applications, geology, chemical, mechanical, electrical and civil engineering, medicine and health sciences and physics.
Chikundi said his organisation aimed at encouraging more students to venture into science as professionals while strengthening the relationship between the scientific industry and educational institutions.
Chikundi said since the call for entries was made three weeks ago, at least 119 entries had been submitted against the targeted 500 entries.
“To date, four categories namely innovations, environmental science, engineering and chemistry have recorded the highest number of entries,” said Chikundi.
“Our thrust is to ensure fair representation of students from all the country’s ten provinces and we are hoping that students from both urban and rural schools will be part of this Fair,” said Chikundi.
He said the competitions were organised after recognizing the importance of spreading the knowledge, excitement and interest of STEM subjects to public school students through promoting the emphasis on hands-on, enquiry-based learning activities, and participating in field experiences and STEM-related competitions.
Chikundi called on the corporate sector to support the initiative considering that the organisers of the event were still struggling to mobilise for the resources for prizes.
“We are still working on the prizes to be awarded to the grand winners,” said Chikundi.
“We are actually still looking for sponsors to provide the awards for the young scientists and inventors and we hope that institutions and the corporate sector will assist us considering the importance of this initiative for building the base for scientific innovations in the country.”
Post published in: News