SciFest is delighted to announce the introduction of a ‘SciFest STEM School Award’. This award will recognise the support and commitment of school principals, teachers and leadership teams in second-level schools who in collaboration with SciFest have implemented the SciFest@School STEM fair programme.
The ‘SciFest STEM School Award’ sets a standard for all second-level schools in Ireland to achieve best practice and to empower young people to recognise the value of STEM in their everyday lives and future career choices.
The aim of the award is to raise awareness of STEM education in schools and to encourage students through participation in SciFest to build on their 21st century skills of communication, presentation, collaboration and creativity and engage in self-directed inquiry-based learning.
General Requirements
To qualify for the award a school must be registered with SciFest and have hosted five SciFest@School STEM fairs. External judges should be employed, and the fairs must operate under the SciFest Guidelines. Students and teachers must be aware of these guidelines before they begin projects.
SciFest STEM School Award
Schools qualifying for the award will receive a framed certificate and an official SciFest STEM School Award digital badge which can be posted on the school website.
About SciFest
SciFest STEM fairs take place locally in schools, regionally in the 14 Institutes of Technology, DCU, and St Mary’s College, Derry culminating in a national final each November in Dublin. The programme was initiated to promote a love of STEM and to provide a platform whereby every second level student in Ireland whatever their background, circumstances or intellectual ability would have the opportunity to participate in a science fair. With some 10,000 students from almost 300 schools presenting more than 4,400 projects in SciFest 2018 the programme has grown to become Ireland’s largest pre-college STEM competition. All types of schools are represented, including a significant proportion of DEIS schools. In total more than 60,000 students have participated in SciFest since the programme was launched nationwide in 2008.
Entry to SciFest is free and open to all second-level students, thus promoting diversity and making participation highly inclusive and accessible. The SciFest@School strand was introduced in 2011 to support second-level schools in hosting their own in-house SciFest STEM fair. Demand has been strong, with participation growing from 5 schools in 2011 to 71 in 2018. SciFest@School STEM fairs are held throughout the school year. SciFest provides support in the form of toolkits, certificates, prizes, promotional material and a teacher’s pack and on-the-day support with judging.
SciFest is funded primarily by Science Foundation Ireland, Intel and Boston Scientific. The winners from each regional STEM fair go on to compete at a national final in Dublin in November.
For more information please go to the SciFest website: www.scifest.ie
