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Action Against Climate Change
WINNER - Eric and Julie go to School
Cut Carbon Emissions - Cancel School
While school travel of young children produces more carbon emissions than that of older children, the most effective action to cut emissions would be to cancel school, says the winner of the Macquarie University Eureka Schools Prize for Action Against Climate Change.
This tongue-in-cheek advice is given in an impressive web-based video entitled Eric and Julie go to School: an investigation of school travel carbon emissions. The video reports on research into transport patterns of school students, and does offer some realistic suggestions for reducing transport emissions.
This prize is part of the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes, the Oscars of Australian science. Coveted among science prizes, the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes were announced at a glittering event in Sydney on 19 August attended by a ‘who's who' of Australian science, government, academia and industry.
Daniel O'Doherty, a Year 8 student at Pacific Hills Christian School in Sydney, won first prize and will receive a $1,000 Abbey's Bookshop voucher as well as $2,000 cash for himself and for his school.
"Daniel undertook very rigorous quantitative and qualitative research into 3,000 school journeys, discovering that the ratio of car to bus travel for students was 3:1. He then came up with an impressive five-point action plan to reduce carbon emissions," says Australian Museum Director, Frank Howarth.
The higher number of car journeys for younger children was related to parental concerns about independent travel. Daniel suggested these fears could be allayed by having older students accompany younger ones, acting as ‘carbon buddies'. He also suggested augmenting existing bus services with private buses for ‘early starters' and those on less established routes. He calculated that if all students caught the bus, there would be a massive 80% reduction in emissions.
Daniel also looked at planting trees to offset emissions, estimating that two trees per student every year were required. His winning video can be viewed at http://schooltravelcarbon.googlepages.com/
Second place was awarded to Tasmanian, Storm Holwill, for her project Just a Drop in the Ocean?. The Marist Regional College student believes we should let oceans help us produce plant bio-mass for bio-fuel production, instead of using food crops. "Using the oceans means we don't need land space or fresh water to grow our bio fuel-crops." says Storm.
Storm's plan is to use algae, both as a potential fuel source and for CO2 sequestration. Her project can be viewed at http://www.mrc.tas.edu.au/science/aacc/
Third place was awarded to students at Bowral High School for their video Reducing Carbon Emissions. The students give examples from real households on cutting down carbon emissions, such as reducing hot water use and choosing electrical appliances carefully. Their project can be found at
http://www.bowralhighschool.nsw.edu.au/the_school/faculties/science/assessment.html
Students at Lindisfarne High School, NSW, won fourth place with Making a Difference. This video explores the idea of reducing the school's carbon emissions by purchasing more environmentally friendly buses which would run on bio-fuels. And they suggest living without bus air-conditioning and TVs. Their video is at http://pizza.lindisfarne.nsw.edu.au/year10/mich0021/climate-comp.mov
The Macquarie University Eureka Schools Prize for Action Against Climate Change is awarded for an online presentation that investigates and promotes science-based responses to CO2 emissions associated with climate change. $10,000 in cash plus software and book vouchers is distributed among place-getters and their schools.
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Sponsor
The Macquarie Eureka Schools Science Prize for Action Against Climate Change is sponsored by Macquarie University.
Description
The Macquarie University Eureka Schools Science Prize for Action Against Climate Change is awarded for an online presentation that investigates and promotes science-based responses to CO2 emissions associated with climate change.
prize
1st - $4,000 plus a $1,000 book voucher from Abbey's Bookshop, Sydney
2nd - $3,000
3rd - $2,000
4th - $1,000
Prize money is divided equally between the winning students and their schools. Each winning student will receive a copy of Microsoft Student 2008. Each winning team will win for their school a copy of Microsoft Expression Web Designer.
PLUS: a representative of each finalist will win a trip to Sydney for the 2008 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes Award Dinner on 19 August.
Purpose
The Macquarie University Eureka Schools Science Prize for Action Against Climate Change is designed to encourage students to consider science-based responses to CO2 emissions associated with climate change.
Using their home or school as a case study, students are asked to use scientific methods to identify and estimate CO2 emissions and suggest ways these might be reduced.
The results of the scientific analysis and the proposed CO2 reduction strategy are to be reported creatively in a 2 -3 minute presentation that must be uploaded and available to view online.
This presentation could be done in a variety of ways - as a documentary, debate, short film, animation, song, play, discussion etc. Be as creative as you like.
How the presentation is made is not the critical issue. What matters is how effectively the chosen Action Against Climate Change message is conveyed - and that the presentation is available for viewing online.
Prize money is divided equally between the winning students and their schools. Each winning student will receive a copy of Microsoft Student. Each winning team will win for their school a copy of Microsoft Expression Web Designer.
Judging Criteria
Entries will be judged against the following criteria:
1. Scientific content: the nature and quality of the science used to identify and estimate/calculate CO2 emissions (30%)
2. Reduction strategy: the nature and practicality of proposals for reducing CO2 emissions (30%)
3. Communication: the effectiveness of the entry in communicating the scientific findings and proposed strategy (40% )
While presentation is important to communicate a clear scientific message, the prizes are to reward scientific content. The judging criteria are not related to money spent on the production and editing.
Independent entries can be submitted by students but the applicants must be supported by their school.
Teacher notes and lesson plans are available here.
Conditions of entry
The prize is open to Australian secondary students in Years 7-10.
The prize is open to an individual student or a team of no more than six (6) students.
An individual can only enter once in any year, whether individually or in a group.
There is no limit to the number of entries received from a school.
An entry is to take the form of a presentation uploaded online and live at the time of submission of the online entry form. An entry should be no less than 1 minute (minimum) and no longer than 3 minutes (maximum) in length, including any titles and credits.
Online entries close at 5.00pm AEST on Friday 2 May 2008, at which time the multimedia presentation must be online, live and accessible from within Australia.
Entries must remain online, live and accessible from within Australia at least until 31 December 2008.
Copyright considerations are the responsibility of the students. All sources of information, including illustrations and music, should be clearly referenced, acknowledged and/or credited.
The work entered/nominated for this prize may not be entered/nominated for another Australian Museum Eureka Prize.
The deliberations of the judging panel remain confidential. All recommendations and decisions taken are binding and final and no correspondence will be entered into on such matters.
Information provided by the entrant(s) in relations to the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes (including photos), may be used by the Australian Museum for promotional/publicity purposes.
Personal information provided in connection with the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes will be used only by the Australian Museum and only in connection with the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes.
How to enter
1. Complete your presentation and upload this online
2. Complete and submit an online entry form
Submit the online entry form before 5.00pm AEST on Friday 2 May 2008. Your presentation must be online, live and accessible from anywhere in Australia by this date and must remain live until 31 December 2008.
