SciFest@IT Sligo takes place this Wednesday, May 14th in the Knocknarea Arena.
This is an all-inclusive, all-island competition where second-level students showcase their science, technology and maths projects at a series of one-day science fairs held in the 14 regional Institutes of Technology and the University of Ulster, Magee Campus, Derry. The winners from each Science Fair will go on to compete in the national final in November.
The event in IT Sligo is now into its seventh year and is growing in popularity. It brings together students from schools in counties Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Donegal and Cavan.
“It’s a local version of the Young Scientist Exhibition,” explains Bill Crowe, a lecturer in Environmental Science at IT Sligo and chief organiser of the North West regional SciFest. “The aim is to encourage a love of science through enquiry-based learning and to give students an opportunity to display their projects and possibly win prizes.”
The SciFest programme is primarily sponsored by Science Foundation Ireland’s Discover Science & Engineering Programme and Intel Ireland. It is also supported by a number of other companies and organisations. 2013 saw a record number of students and schools taking part in SciFest nationally. 5,368 students exhibited 2,262 projects in schools and Institutes of Technology across the country.
Visiting students will also get an opportunity to tour the IT Sligo Schools of Science, Computing and Engineering, which will include a demonstration of robotics.
SciFest begins at 9.45am on Wednesday, May 14th.
About 300 second-level students – the brains behind more than 130 exhibits – attended last year’s SciFest in IT Sligo.