The seventh edition of the Moroccan “Space Race” … more than a thousand participants and 12 winners

Since I got acquainted with the competition, and I have dreamed of participating in the space camp in the United States, because it is a great opportunity for any student who is passionate about science to learn more about the field of space and its sciences.”

This is how Ahmed Abu Taher (16 years old), a student in the first year of a baccalaureate in mathematical sciences (French), who won the competition, spoke from the city of Al-Feathers in the Eastern Grand Atlas of Morocco. Read also Arab Astronomy Observatories .. A long history of spying on the sky An amazing opportunity for astronomers … a large asteroid passes through Earth today To monitor it with your family and children .. These are the most important astronomical events of Ramadan Practically: Introduce your child to astronomy during Ramadan

The results of the seventh edition of the competition “Space Race”, organized by the Maghreb Scientific Association, in partnership with the United States Embassy in Morocco, were announced on Sunday, April 25th, with the participation of 1027 participants, and 12 candidates won the “Space Camp” grant.

This year, the organizing committee reached nearly 1027 entries, and 12 candidates successfully passed all stages of the competition and won the “space camp” grant, organized annually at the American Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville Alabama, in the United States, in addition to a cultural trip to the capital (Washington).

Remote villages participate for the first time

“The special thing this year in the competition is that the competition can reach distant villages and towns, as we have received many partici pations from small towns and villages,” said Hussein Atariqi, vice president of the Maghreb Scientific Association, in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net.

“What’s more, the list of winners in recent years is no longer limited to students in major cities, and for the first time the list of winners includes contestants from the city of Laayoune as a representative of southern Morocco. The winning students come from the public sector (42%) and the private sector (58%),” he added. The percentage of females reached 75%, while the percentage of males reached 25%.

Ahmed Abu Tahir, the winner from the city of Al-Rish, said in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, “I am proud that I was able to represent my region in this competition despite some obstacles. But I am very happy with winning this because I was able to compete on the national level despite the lack of resources in the region in which I live.”

Encouraging young people to simplify science

Regarding the size of the participation, Al-Hussein Atariqi said, “The student interaction was overwhelmingly positive, which was reflected in the large number of posts we received this year, which exceeded a thousand entries, and the number of visits to the competition site exceeded one million.”

Watching the winning videos and the posts that have reached advanced stages of the race confirms that the majority of the participants are able to distinguish between reliable sources of information and other sources that display the information without reaching a large level of credibility.

Youssef El-Amin, a member of the jury in the competition, says, “The competition motivates students to explode their scientific and creative energies, and to integrate them into video templates,” adding that “the level of mastery presented by students in the videos exceeds what is expected, and the topic here is related to high school students at most, as They provide accurate scientific content in a solid scientific language and fluent English.

Student Ahmed Abu Tahir said, “My participation in this competition was very fruitful, as I was able to develop my scientific knowledge in addition to getting to know young people who share my passion for research and learning. I also had the opportunity during the competition phases to develop my personal skills such as scientific analysis and criticism.”

Hussein Atariqi says, “The scientific content provided by the students is improving significantly, as the participants benefit from reading the experiences of their colleagues in previous years. So we are in the process of accumulating years of experience in the field of scientific communication, and we are also working hard on our part to develop the competition conditions and add new ideas every year.” “. Advertising

He added, “The participants’ good scientific level and their proficiency in the English language were praised by the members of the jury this year, which included Professor Suad Al-Hajjaji, Vice-Dean of the College of Sciences in charge of scientific research and partnerships, and Professor Muadh Al-Dhahabi, lecturer at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, and Dr. Youssef Al-Amin. Member of Morocco Scientific and Researcher at the Spanish National Research Institute.

Fact-finding skills

The competition, like all projects supervised by the Moroccan Scientific Association, aims to spread scientific knowledge, push students and youth to pay attention to science first, and to work on acquiring scientific analysis skills and methods of searching for information from its reliable sources.

Hussein Atariqi indicated that the competition focuses heavily on relying on the scientific resources used in the creation of the video, and requires the contestants to mention the approved sources. And all participants who rely on non-scientific sources or mention information without mentioning the sources are excluded, which is considered academic fraud.

Hussein Atariqi ends his speech by saying, “We believe that this annual scientific event has so far managed to achieve all the established goals, and we always strive to develop it every year. United States of America.