Students from 23 nations and territories — a record for the event — yesterday convened at the National Taiwan Science Education Center in Taipei for the final stage of this year’s Taiwan International Science Fair.
A total of 221 high-school and junior-high school students — 53 of whom are Taiwanese — made it into the final from a preliminary contest last month.
The finalists submitted a total of 40 works in categories including mathematics, chemistry, physics, astronomy, geography, environmental science, zoology, botany, microbiology, biochemistry, medicine, engineering, computer science, information, information engineering and environmental engineering and behavioral and social sciences.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The competition — started in 1992 as a contest for junior-high and elementary schools from nations in the Asia-Pacific region — was upgraded in 2002 when it attained its current title and started receiving entries from students around the world.
To bolster high-school students’ understanding of science, the ministry has revised high-school curriculum guidelines for next year to require students to engage in scientific projects and perform experiments in a bid to help them put theory into practice, Deputy Minister of Education Lin Teng-chiao (林騰蛟) said.
Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) gave a speech at the ceremony in which he detailed the potential for and challenges involved with the development of eco-friendly technologies that promote sustainability.
Prize-winning Taiwanese students would likely have the opportunity to compete in international science fairs, such as the US’ International Science and Engineering Fair, with the results scheduled to be announced on Friday, the education center said.
The overseas participants are from Belgium, Switzerland, Norway, Italy, Canada, New Zealand, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Mexico, Nepal, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan, Hong Kong and Macau.
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