CHENNAI STUDENT WINS IESO-EARTH SCIENCE OLYMPIAD -2010 AWARD
Posted on: 20/Oct/2010 2:38:57 AM
S. Varun Rajagopal X standard student of Padma Seshadri School, Nungambakkam has participated at the International Earth Sciences Olympiad (IESO) that was recently held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia and won an award too.
The Earth science Olympiad had attracted participation from 76 students, four each from 19 countries. Varun was the only student from Chennai in the Indian contingent; the other participants were from Delhi, Goa and Varanasi. The Olympiad offered the student exposure to Exploration of a limestone cave, knowledge about fossils, a peek into meteorology. Incidentally he brought honors to the country. The lessons that this period has offered have been very rich for the teenager who is back after winning a bronze
As per Varun, he got to know about the Olympiad, thanks to his teacher
Ms. Mahalakshmi Ramjee. There were different levels for qualification from examination to Training at camp in Bangalore. The training at Bangalore included lectures by experts and field trip. The next level was in Indonesia, the students were tested on oceanography, meteorology, astronomy, and geosphere and others. The students were also given group exercises, Final Evaluations involved written tests with theoretical and practical components.
“Our task was to explore a limestone cave there and share our observations with an audience,” said Varun, whose teammates in the group were from other countries.
R. Shankar, vice-chair, International Geosciences Education Organization and foreign secretary, Geological Society of India said that the objective of the event was to raise the general awareness about earth sciences. India will host next the Olympiad in 2013 according to him.
Earth science is essentially a field subject. So the contest involves a small field project that would require students of different countries to collaborate and take up a small project on the field. Students tend to learn a lot.
