Schools from across Northern Ireland are being invited to attend the biggest event on the academic calendar.
The RDS Primary Science Fair – in Belfast’s Waterfront (6th and 7th June) will welcome students to find out, among other things, if their teachers could really be replaced by robots.
50 schools in total are set to exhibit at the Fair.
The event, which is arguably the region’s largest STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) fair since coming to Northern Ireland in 2017, will bring together 1,500 key stage 2 pupils to showcase creative science investigations and reveal answers to experiments conducted over the past two months.
Visitors to this year’s two-day event can expect to find out which biscuits survive being dunked into tea, how fairground rides really work and how the unsinkable Titanic sunk.
Chief Executive of the RDS, Michael Duffy, said: “Imagination is the only barrier to the questions we can ask about the world around us and the RDS Primary Science Fair seeks to encourage children to stretch their imaginations as far as possible and use critical thinking and scientific processes to arrive at their findings.
“2017 was our first year in Belfast, and we are delighted to be back for a second year. We would encourage all schools to attend and experience the day – in the hope they might be inspired to enter next year and conduct their own investigation.”
Former head of the NI Civil Service and Director of The Irish American Partnership, Sir Bruce Robinson, has been involved with the Fair for a number of years and spoke of how the Belfast Fair “presents a great opportunity to set the next generation on the path towards a STEM career. STEM subjects are vital to creating a future workforce of innovators and safeguarding the economic stability of Northern Ireland. The Fair is designed with primary school-age children in mind and to provide them with an entertaining, engaging and interactive learning experience.”
The RDS Primary Science Fair is already well-established in Dublin and Limerick and between the three venues will host a total of over 7,000 primary school students and their STEM projects in 2018. With an underlying ethos of encouragement through whole-class participation, all of the schools chosen to exhibit will be presented with trophies and individual certificates for students in recognition of their hard work. Constructive feedback from judges who work across science, education and STEM industries will also give students the opportunity to engage with STEM professionals.
For booking and further details, visit the RDS Primary Science Fair website: www.primarysciencefair.com
