SCIFEST ANNOUNCES TWO NEW AWARDS SCIFEST STEM SCHOOL AWARD 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.
What is SciFest! Inclusive Free Accessible Local Regional National
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.
10,000 Students
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.
660 Teachers
Twenty-one schools have already qualified for the award and will be presented with their certificate and digital badge at their SciFest@School 2018/19 STEM fair. A further fourteen schools have hosted four SciFest@School fairs and will receive their SciFest STEM school award on completion of their fifth event.
300 Schools
SCIFEST STEM OUTREACH AWARD Finalists at the SciFest 2018 National Final will be invited to make a 2-minute video describing their project. The videos will be posted online and the general public will be invited to vote for their favourite video. The video with the most votes will be presented with an award at the national final. 6
700 Judges The biggest science fair programme in Ireland!
