About 700 Secondary 5-6 students and teachers from around 100 local secondary schools gathered at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) today (8 July) for the Hong Kong STEM Olympiad 2016. The event was jointly organised by the Department of Science and Environmental Studies, Department of Mathematics and Information Technology and Centre for Education in Environmental Sustainability at EdUHK.

The Olympiad was supported by the Education Bureau of the HKSAR Government and co-organised by Hong Kong Education City, the Hong Kong Association of Science and Mathematics Education (HKASME), the Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong (ASHK) and the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) – Environmental Division. Supporting organizations included nine professional teaching and government bodies and environmental conservation groups.

Officiating at the closing ceremony were Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, Secretary for Education; Ms Sarah Wong Man-Yee, Vice President (Administration) of EdUHK; and Professor Henry Wong Nai-ching, Honorary Secretary of the ASHK. Ms Wong said that “as one of the eight publicly funded universities and the only one focusing on teacher education, EdUHK has been taking an active role in equipping teachers with STEM-related knowledge and training, which in turn fosters students’ innovation and creativity”.

Students participating in the STEM Olympiad first took the “Knowledge Challenge” as an individual and as a team before going on to the “Innovations in Practice Challenge” , where they had to solve the local wastewater treatment problems and create an artifact to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in STEM without prior training and preparation. Before the final challenge, Mr. Henry KM Chau, Assistant Director of the Drainage Services Department, was invited to conduct a mass lecture to the students on wastewater treatment and its underlying scientific principles. A series of 11 parallel education forum and workshops were also held to raise participants’ awareness of the importance of STEM education and hundreds of teachers and students attended. Mr Lau Kwok-leung, Chairman of the HKASME, Mr Norman Cheng Chun-ping, Honorary Secretary of the  HKIE, and Professor Yeung Yau-yuen of EdUHK discussed “Ways to Implement STEM Education in Hong Kong” at the forum. Ms Lydia Pang, Senior Education Officer from WWF-Hong Kong, conducted a workshop on “Implementing Scientific Investigations in the Field with Mobile Devices and IT Resources”.

In recognition of participating students’ innovation in STEM education, a total of 36 gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded to the competition winners. Po Leung Kuk Centenary Li Shiu Chung Memorial College won the “Best School Award”, Gold Team Award in Mathematics and “Innovations in Practice Award”. The two other Innovations in Practice awards went to Pui Ching Middle School and Queen’s College.