Students invited to showcase skills in ThinkQuest Competition 2012

The ThinkQuest Competition 2012, sponsored by the Oracle Education Foundation, is now open to students worldwide. This global competition engages students, up to age 22, to solve a problem using their critical thinking, communication and technology skills.

“The ThinkQuest Competition motivates students to create and share their best work with a global audience,” said Brad Saffer, Vice President, Oracle Education Initiatives. “By participating in the competition, these students develop the skills they need to succeed in school and the workplace.”

Students, under the direction of a teacher coach, can present their solution using a variety of technologies, including interactive applications, online games, websites, photo essays, online journals/blogs, animations and videos.

“ThinkQuest extended my classroom beyond our school walls and made the world part of our learning experience,” said Javier González-Delgado, award-winning ThinkQuest coach. “We discovered that we share similar problems and concerns, and when we collaborate with a global community, we broaden our knowledge and increase our ability to solve real problems.”

Teams must develop and submit their entries by 25 April 2012. An international panel of judges will evaluate the entries. Prizes include laptop computers; a trip to ThinkQuest Live, hosted in the San Francisco Bay Area; cash grants for the coach’s school, or organisation; certificates of participation; and certificates of distinction for top-performing teams.

Students 18 and older who place in the top 10% will be eligible to apply for an internship with the Oracle Education Foundation. More than 7,600 teams from 52 countries participated in last year’s competition. Four Sri Lankan students from Nalanda College Colombo were honoured for receiving first prize for their work on a project that stimulates rebuilding village in post-conflict scenario at the International Think Quest Competition in 2011.

In a second award for Sri Lankan students, six students from Amal International School, created an entry called ‘End Child Labour’. It was awarded second place in the competition’s Digital Media, under 19 category. Full details of the ThinkQuest Competition 2012 are available at thinkquest.org/competition.