Registration Opens for ‘Big Science Event’ 2012
Posted by Science Oxford on December 5, 2011 | comments
Registration for The Big Science Event 2012 is now open and the primary school competition this year features a grand prize of £1,500 worth of signature playground equipment from Playforce. The prize is the largest prize that has ever been offered by the competition. Registration will remain open until 6th January 2012. See www.bigscienceevent.org for a full timeline.
The Big Science Event is Oxfordshire’s county wide event celebrating the achievements of our youngest scientists. The competition, coordinated by Science Oxford, is expected to attract over 3,000 pupils from 30 primary schools across Oxfordshire.
All Oxfordshire primary schools are invited to get involved with ‘The Big Science Event’ competition by getting their pupils to carry out a scientific investigation into something they do not know the answer to and in an area of science they are interested in. The topic can be something very topical or connected to something they are learning about at school.
Pupils work as a team, develop communication skills, learn scientific enquiry skills, work independently and make their own decisions in pursuit of their chosen scientific challenge. Following their investigations, the participating teams produce an A2 size poster of their scientific enquiry.
Archie Helas, Luke Forrester, Cameron Hunter, Joel Smith, Jake Turnbull and Daniel Wallace from Goring C of E Primary School won the 2011 competition with their experiment “Which fizzy drink freezes the quickest?” Their teacher said “I’ve never seen them so keen to do science.”
Talking about previous year entries Natalie Ford, Big Science Event Coordinator, said “I was incredibly impressed by the standard of their work, a great deal of creativity, planning and enthusiasm had gone into all the experiments. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next year!”
Talking about the prize donated for the Big Science Event the Managing Director of Playforce, Colin MacAdam, said “At Playforce it’s all about building a school environment that works for the future and takes a child through the whole school process. We wanted to demonstrate our support, not only for Science Oxford and the Big Science Event, but also the importance of science in Oxfordshire’s schools. That’s why, as a scientist, I am delighted we’ve been in a position to donate a fantastic prize to the school that wins the Big Science Event. Because every school has differing needs, we’re offering the winners the choice of a Flow Wall from our new Discovery range of products, or a Medium Poddely Set. It’ll be exciting to see what these winning scientists do with their new play equipment!”
This year the competition is being sponsored by Playforce. Playforce has offered a choice of a set of their signature Poddely playground equipment or a Flow Wall from their new Discovery range as the grand prize for the 2012 competition. The equipment is worth over £1,500 making the prize the largest ever offered for The Big Science Event. In 2012 one lucky Oxfordshire primary school will walk away with that prize.
Natalie Ford, coordinator of The Big Science Event, said “we are thrilled to be able to offer such an exciting prize this year as a result of Playforce sponsoring the event. The standard of entry in the competition is always high and I hope the prize will encourage schools to get even more excited about the competition.”
Playforce has over 13 years’ experience of providing the very best, most innovative play environments for children – from outdoor classrooms and shelters to creative drawing and active trails to the award winning innovation Poddely.
Oxfordshire schools wanting to participate in The Big Science Event can register online here.
You can read about the winners of the Big Science Event 2011 here.
For more information on this, and other Science Oxford school programmes, visit www.scienceoxfordnext.com
WHAT IS THE BIG SCIENCE EVENT?
The Big Science Event is a competition for primary schools, coordinated by Science Oxford. It was set up in 2009 to encourage more schools to give pupils an opportunity to design and carry out their own creative science investigations.. The competition is expected to attract over 3,000 pupils from 30 primary schools across Oxfordshire. Science Oxford is an independent charitable trust that was set up ‘to encourage the pursuit of science and enterprise’. It has been working with local schools for nearly 25 years and each year involves nearly 20,000 local school pupils with its educational programmes.
PLAYFORCE
Having worked with over 7000 schools and early years settings over the past 13 years, Playforce is the UK’s leader in the design and creation of innovative, curriculum-linked play environments for all children.
The Playforce designers work alongside practitioners, and of course children, to create everything from timber trails to outdoor classrooms and even non-fixed equipment to support the curriculum with innovative, award winning new range, Poddely. Our design team can also create bespoke equipment to meet your settings’ needs, ensuring your pupils benefit from all the outdoor environment offers. We have been lucky enough to win numerous awards for our designs, including a Gold 5 to 7 award for our Mini Beast Exploration Table.
Our trusted consultative approach means that our education experts take the time needed to not only meet your objectives but to work within your, already stretched, budget and even provide advice on fundraising and working with PTAs to make sure your children benefit from their outdoor environment, both in free play and in support of the curriculum
www.bigscienceevent.org
www.playforce.co.uk
www.scienceoxfordnext.com
www.facebook.com/scienceoxford
www.twitter.com/scienceoxford
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