Science fest draws 120,000 visitors

Over 20,000 students from 224 schools attended the 11-day festival through organised tours, up 33 per cent from last year. The number of science communicators (local students trained to deliver activities at the festival) also increased by 60 per cent on 2011.

In addition to the two sites in Abu Dhabi, the festival also reached out further to the community through events in Al Ain and Al Gharbia. The number of followers on social media also witnessed a great surge and reached 22,000.

The Abu Dhabi Science Festival is a strategic initiative by the Abu Dhabi Technology Development Committee (TDC) dedicated to the engagement and inspiration of the nation’s youth with exciting science related hands-on activities as part of a wider plan geared towards building a talent base in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI).

As a sign of how the festival is enthusing local children, Nouf Al Marzouqi, a 10-year old student who visited the festival during the school tour programme said: “I definitely want to be a surgeon. We learnt how to use keyhole surgery to save people’s lives and make them feel better. I will study hard to become a successful surgeon when I grow up; this is what I want to do and to do it for my country.”

Mona Al Sheikh, 14, was fascinated by the ‘Robotics and Electronics’ theme across the festival. “Math is my favourite subject but now I wish to learn more about the technology that makes things move. I loved the Lego Robosports workshop where I programmed my own robot! I want to invent the most useful robot ever!”

For the Science Communicators, 800 university students were recruited and trained.

Ibrahim Al Rashidi, one of the science communicator alumni commending his training said: “We really had a superb training, giving us career-enhancing skills, but the real joy is bringing wonder and inspiration to the children as they learn hands-on about science, exploring and experimenting.”— olivia@khaleejtime

• UAE