Description
Children and young people like challenges, and they love competition, especially if there is an attractive prize to be won. In a classic competition-style event, participants compete with each other in some way, such as developing an idea or the creation of an object. These are then compared, or put up against each other in some fashion, and the person with the best contribution would be declared the winner.
Competitions which involve developing, or conducting an experiment, are particularly attractive since they promote creativity and motivate the participants to do develop and conduct the experiment themselves, and to use the scientific method to make alterations as they proceed.
Target Audience
- Children 7-12
- Teenagers
You can do it with all those groups, but we did it with professionals from different fields like public engagement or the cultural and creative sector.
Benefits
Benefits
Competitions can be an efficient way to catch the attention of passers-by, and at the same time, convey knowledge about science, research, or a current issue.
It is also an effective way of mixing different types of thought processes, especially when the competition includes methods linked to research.
Competition events are massively versatile and can be tied to many diverse fields of research. Depending on the type of competition you wish to organise, they can be easily prepared in advance (depending on the format you chose).
Preparations
- Decide on a topic for your competition
- Decide on the format for the entries and how they should be submitted and judged (what criteria)
- Decide on a suitable prize and how the winners should be awarded
- Promote your competition
Notes
Marketing your competition is very important so that enough entries are submitted.
The competition must be promoted appropriately for the target group.
The competition judgment criteria should be available to participants before the event, and results should be announced and prizes presented at the end.
