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The crowds of busy, boisterous young people you’ll see today on York’s Keele campus are from more than 67 schools from across Ontario, battling it out in six "brainathlon" events. The occasion is York’s 25th annual Engineering & Science Olympics, and more than 1,100 high-school students will be on the Keele campus from 8:30am to 3:30pm.
"These games give participating students an opportunity to learn about the real-world applications of science," says Keith Aldridge (left), York professor of geophysics and founder of the outreach program. "Two of the events, the York Lander and Lost in Space, will give students valuable insights into York’s pioneering work on the 2007 Phoenix Scout Mission to Mars and the recently launched Gravity Probe B [intended to test Einstein's theory on general relativity]."
At the end of the day, prizes will be awarded to the best three teams in each event and a trophy will be presented to the overall winning school. Team events are designed by York professors in the Faculty of Pure & Applied Science to entertain players and spectators and to allow students to demonstrate their understanding of fundamental laws behind modern scientific and technological advances.
Left: Science Olympics students with a water rocket they designed and built
The kick-off for the Engineering & Science Olympics is in Lecture Hall A of the Computer Science & Engineering Building. For program details visit the Science Olympics Web site. To read about last year’s event, see this YFile story.