New Zealand geography students win three medals

university-of-waikato

Wed Aug 18 2010 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

New Zealand geography students win three medals

Wednesday, 18 August 2010, 9:54 am
Press Release: University of Waikato

Media Release
August 17, 2010

New Zealand’s top geography students have picked up two silver medals and a bronze at an international competition.

The four students represented New Zealand at the 8th International Geography Olympiad held in Taipei, Taiwan from July 29 to August 4.

The team – Nat Christensen and Andy Dysart (John McGlashan College); Connor McIver (Riccarton High School); and Callum Dudson (Shirley Boys’ High School) – placed seventh out of 27 teams from around the world.

Waikato University Associate Professor Lex Chalmers, who was part of the Olympiad International Task Force, says the team achieved New Zealand’s best ever Olympiad result. “This achievement shows the strength of geography teaching in New Zealand,” the geography lecturer says.

As part of the Olympiad, students were taken to an unknown 10ha site in the Guandu Nature Park in Taipei and were tested on field skills, cartography, multimedia, and writing geographical analyses. Dr Chalmers set the key question for the fieldwork exam.

The International Geography Olympiad is designed to bring together talented geography students aged 16-19 years from around the world to promote, stimulate and encourage high quality geography education worldwide.

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