Science contest winners to be announced Thursday
Science contest winners to be announced Thursday
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Education and Culture is
expected to announce on Thursday the winners of this year's
national young scientist contest.
Twenty-five participants completed their research project
presentations over the weekend in the competition which is held
for students in the 12-19 age group, normally junior and high
school students. A sixth-grader, however, is taking part in the
contest and expects to win a prize.
"I am not sure which prize but I sure hope that I will win
something," Dian Qur'ania Rachmawati, 11, from Yogyakarta told
The Jakarta Post yesterday.
A child with an insatiable curiosity, Dian asked her father to
conduct joint research with her on jungking, creatures similar to
crabs. She believes their excretion has a property to heal
jellyfish stings.
She recounted how her mother was once stung by a jellyfish and
a passerby told them to find jungking to heal the pain.
"As parents, we can only support our children and supervise
them in doing what they really want to do," her father Agus
Wahyudi, a junior-high school biology teacher, told the Post.
Usually accompanied by Dian's mother and a younger sister, the
father and daughter frequented the Pangandaran beach for four
months to conduct their observations and write the report.
"She is only an elementary school student, but a bright one,
and I only helped her when she faced difficulties because of her
limited knowledge," Agus added.
Dian said she enjoys Indonesian language lessons and hopes to
become a medical doctor. She said she preferred reading at home
to playing outside with friends.
She cried when she could not answer the questions posed by the
panel of judges during her presentation last Thursday. She said
she was not feeling very well and that she was disappointed
because she had hoped to perform better.
"I told her winning is not important," Agus said.
Astrid Susanto Sunario, a professor of sociology and a judge
in the contest, told the Post that she was impressed by Dian's
courage in presenting her study.
According to Astrid, the criteria for winners include the
contestants' knowledge of the subject matter, authenticity and
creativity.
A senior-high school student from Indonesia's easternmost
island, Merauke, expected her research, titled "Marind's
indigenous people's dependence on nature and reluctance to
conduct trade", to bring about changes in her society.
Beatrik Sam Kakay said the natives of Marind are used to
nature's abundant provisions and never thought about renewing or
conserving the resources. "They are not lazy people, they just
don't think about the future as migrant ethnics on our island
do," she said, citing the Javanese or Chinese newcomers.
Beatrik said that many of her elders disagreed with her
suggestion, saying that conducting business is not part of
Marind's tradition.(14)