Rice Science Tournament 2005

Definition:

The Rice Science Tournament 2005 was an educational event targeting 10th grade students (first year secondary cycle), in a selection of schools in Lebanon.

In addition to motivating students to better respond to science teaching and show more interest in scientific knowledge, the RST was fun, with end-of-line great certificates and prizes distributed on behalf of Rice University (through the Envision Grant from Leadership Rice), the Embassy of the United States of America in Beirut, NASA and Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Lab.

This was a first trial for a future nationwide science tournament for the first grade in the secondary section of the Lebanese scholar system. In 2005, it was tested on 3 high schools (nearly 400 students). These schools have different social and religious colors which helped give the project an extra dimension of social tolerance, peace and constructive cooperation, important values everyone must try to help grow and maintain in the country.

The Rice Science Tournament 2005 main objective was to motivate students to better respond to science teaching and show more interest in scientific knowledge, thus ameliorating the scientific level in the country.

The active branch in this project was directly working to study and implement RST for fall 2005 through dynamic and highly competent science graduates and teachers. This team interacted directly with the nearly 400 competing students through their school directions. Each school team consisted of a main science teacher involved in coordinating the effective work and some graders.

Other SciLeb members involved in the project were multimedia and networking graduates, volunteering to make sure the event gets a good focused media attention and coverage, especially in its final phases. A graphic designer offered volunteer help in designing the certificates for the finalists.

An extra hidden gain from this project was to train those team members and young teachers/social workers to improve their teaching and communication skills, as well as to help nourish their leadership capacities through working with multiple academic institutions on different levels for the good of society.

Effective Steps:

The participating institutions, Amjad High School in Shoueyfat, Antonine Fathers College in Baabda, and Sagesse High School in Ain Saadeh, represented the cultural, social and religious diversity in the country in an isotropic manner.

SciLeb members held multiple meetings and consultations with the 3 school principals and directions throughout 2005, in order to tie a friendship with those academic institutions and explain the tournament objectives. Following this, a SciLeb representative was assigned to every school.

Active teams for every school consisted of the SciLeb representatives in those institutions (mentioned above), as well as teachers from those schools and other SciLeb members.

In addition to the directly coordinating board, other SciLeb/SocioLeb members were assigned to help in grading, logistics and paperwork, as well as coordinating meetings, the prize distribution ceremony and the press releases.

The manpower invested by SciLeb in this project totaled to 18 persons:

10 science researchers and teachers
2 medical doctors
1 psychology student
2 translators
1 business manager
2 engineers and multimedia experts

As a preliminary step in implementing the event, SciLeb members, with the help of school directors and teachers, introduced the Rice Science Tournament 2005 to the participating students. Those students were informed that SciLeb team will, in the final evaluation of winners, be considering the school scientific results in the fall semester.

The first phase of the tournament consisted of a scientific knowledge multiple choice quiz; comprising 50 questions of physics, chemistry, biology, geology and general logic. The content conformed to the official academic scientific required level for the 10th grade.

The first 20 positions in every school qualified to the second round of the tournament which involved essay writing. The essay subjects covered topics from general scientific knowledge, to opinions on some scientific issues, to the relationship between scientific and social, or even religious concepts. The students’ opinions were priceless to keep, in order to understand how the newly emerging generations in Lebanon see and understand the world and how they face the different considered hot topics.

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