Science Investigation Awards

2011 Science Investigation Awards - September 22nd

Congratulations to all the students that participated in the second Flinders Science Investigation Awards. We have grown from our inaugural awards last year with 34 primary students to over 70 students from years 7 – 12 this year entering 46 investigations.

Students came from metropolitan and country schools to present their research in poster form at the University, where they had the opportunity in the morning to discuss their projects and tackle questions from a team of roving judges. This team, including Dr Paul Willis, Director of the Royal Institute Australia (RiAus), various University researchers as well as industry representatives from organisations such as the Fisheries Research & Development Corporation (FRDC), National Centre for Groundwater Research & Training (NCGRT) and Primary Industries and Resources SA (PIRSA), allowed students to interact with and see some of the ‘real people’ in science.

SIA 2011 JudgingSIA 2011 JudgingSIA 2011 Judging

After lunch, students had the opportunity to do computer game programming and lab work with bacteria, during a range of science workshops organised by the Flinders’ Faculty of Science and Engineering.

SIA 2011 StudentsSIA Students 2011SIA 2011 Students

The official awards ceremony was then held in the afternoon, opened by the Flinders University Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Andrew Parkin. Competition was fierce and the judges had a hard time selecting the prizes. Congratulations to the winners!!!

Year 7 Winners
SIA 2011 Year7 PC SIA YEAR7 2ND sia 2011 Year7 1st
Peoples Choice
2nd Place
1st Place
     
Year 8 Winners
SIA Year 8 PC SIA Year 8 second SIA Year 8 Winner
Peoples Choice
2nd Place
1st Place
     
Year 9 Winners    
SIA Year 9 PC SIA Year 9 second SIA Year 9 winner
Peoples Choice
2nd Place
1st Place
     
Senior Winners
SIA Senior PC SIA Senior second SIA Senior First
Peoples Choice
2nd Place
1st Place

 

 

 

 

In 2009 PICSE GrowSmart and PICSE Flinders collaborated in the inaugural South Australian Science Investigation Awards, which was open to student in years 8-12 from any school in the southern or regional areas of South Australia. From 2010 onwards, PICSE Flinders will hold its own Science Investigation event.  This year, the investigations will be opened up to participating primary and secondary schools and the award ceremony will be held on 22nd September at Flinders University.

To participate in the Science Investigation Awards, schools are asked to contact Debbie Charter, the Science Education Officer for PICSE Flinders. Once your school is involved in the project teachers will explain the structure of the awards in your normal science classes. You will then have the opportunity to plan, design, conduct and evaluate an investigation in any area of science.

These investigations will then be summarised in a poster ready to be displayed by the students at the awards event.

The investigations will be judged and the awards given out to the students at the end of the afternoon. There will be first, second and encouragement awards for each of the year levels, a best primary industry prize and a peoples choice award with prize money up to the value of $500!

For further information and resources to prepare a science investigation, click here.