00602

8 Feb 2002

Singapore has the largest number of finalists after US at the ThinkQuest Internet Challenge 2001

         Singapore has the largest number of finalists after the United States at the Thinkquest Internet Challenge 2001. Out of the 10 teams in the finals, four are from Singapore. Nineteen teams from Singapore are also awarded the Honourable Mention Awards from a total of 90 international teams. A total of 268 teams from Singapore secondary schools, junior colleges and ITE participated in the competition.

2.      The Ministry of Education will be presenting awards to the four finalist teams and the nineteen teams which are awarded the Honourable Mention Awards at the ThinkQuest Internet Challenge Awards Event 2001 on 9 February 2002 in the MOE Edutorium. Mrs Tan Ching Yee, MOE Deputy Secretary (Policy) will officiate at the event, attended by 300 guests, principals, teachers and students. The four finalist teams and a coach will showcase their entries and share their ThinkQuest experiences. Please refer to Annex A for details on the finalists and Honourable Mention winners from Singapore.

3.      ThinkQuest Internet Challenge is an annual international web-based competition for students aged 12 to 19. The entries are categorised into five different content categories: Arts and Literature, Interdisciplinary, Mathematics and Science, Social Science, and Sports and Health. In the 2001 Challenge, the competition began in May and ended in September.

4.      Launched in the United States in 1995, ThinkQuest Internet Challenge has since attracted 50,000 young web designers from 100 countries who have together contributed over 3,000 educational websites ranging from Shakespeare to space exploration to holistic health practices. These websites can be found in the ThinkQuest Library at www.thinkquest.org/.

5.      The competition brings together teenagers of different backgrounds, continents and cultures, to create educational websites. Team members communicate and collaborate via email and chat sessions. They assign themselves tasks ranging from research to graphic and web design, and work with an adult coach to bring their website from conception to culmination. The website creations of the finalists are posted and accessible at http://www.thinkquest.org/library/ic_2001_win.html

6. For more information, please visit our ThinkQuest Internet Challenge website at http://www1.moe.edu.sg/thinkquest1.

Annex A

Finalist Teams for ThinkQuest Internet Challenge 2001

Honourable Mention Teams for ThinkQuest Internet Challenge 2001