2008 Freemasons Big Science Adventures

This year’s competition, the 2008 Freemasons BIG Science Adventures, required students to make a 5-minute DVD on a choice of topics around Darwin and evolution.  They were given quite a range of choices from looking at New Zealand’s unique plants and animals through to the examining religious ideas in Darwin’s day and other interesting ideas between. 

From 1 July 2008 through 2009, the world will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s birth and the bicentenary of the publication of On the Origin of Species, hence the topic of this year’s competition.

Schools throughout New Zealand, registered over 50 teams and we received many superb DVD productions, some following the standard wildlife film genre, some creatively exploring the dramatic styles of a kid’s TV show or Hollywood movie-style trailer.  We are constantly impressed with the amount of work that young people put into their films and the resourcefulness and creativity the teams employed.  Very complicated scientific ideas were explained simply and clearly and history was brought to life.

Two major prizes in 2008:
A two-week trip to the UK in July/August to follow in Darwin's footsteps and an adventure-packed voyage to the Sub-Antarctic islands in December.

• Details of the 2008 Competition
  
• View previous years' winning entries hosted by hotscience
• View White Earth Melting: a short film about last year's winning team on their trip to Greenland.