The fifth edition of the Google Science Fair has opened for submissions, and Malaysian students are invited to participate once again. The international competition is open to all students aged 13-18, and seeks to promote a culture of observation and experimentation among youths. There is also a US$100,000 (about RM 363,700) scholarship (among other prizes) up for grabs for the grand prize winner.
Google’s Science Fair is a joint effort with LEGO education, National Geographic, Scientific American, and Virgin Galactic. While no Malaysian has won the international prize, Google Malaysia has been awarding a Country Prize for locals who come up with great projects. Last year’s winners were Lutfir Rahman Mohd Izani and Faiq Hazim from MRSM Kota Putra, who came up with a jute-reinforced polyester manhole cover to replace the existing steel covers.
Some 90 regional winners will be chosen from the pool of entries; from this, 15 global finalists will be flown to the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California to present their projects. The panel of judges will select a winner for each age category (13-14, 15-16, 17-18) and a grand prize winner.
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The grand prize winner receives US$100,000 in scholarships and classroom grants from Scientific American and Google, a National Geographic Expedition to the Galapagos, an opportunity to visit LEGO designers at their Denmark headquarters, and the chance to tour Virgin Galactic’s new spaceship at their Mojave Air and Spaceport.
Projects can be submitted in English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Arabic, Hebrew, Polish, Japanese, Russian, Turkish, Dutch, Korean, Portuguese or Chinese (simplified or traditional). However, Google will still allow submissions in any language, as long as there is an English translation for the English speaking judges. This technically means that students are able to submit their projects in our local language.
Entries must be submitted by 18 May 2015, which doesn’t really leave much time for conducting experiments and performing research. Interested students and teachers can get more details from the official Google Science Fair website.
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