|
UWA Linguistics is the host for the WA arm of this national competition for secondary school students in years 9-12. OzCLO is the Australian Computational and Linguistics Olympiad, a state and national competition for secondary students. It introduces students to language puzzles from which they can learn about the richness, diversity and systematic nature of language, while exercising natural logic and reasoning skills.
Linguistics is a wide-ranging discipline that explores the nature of human language. It's concerned with what languages have in common and how they are different, how they are structured, how they are learnt, how they are used in different cultures and societies, and how they change over time. The particular focus in OzCLO is on logical thinking as it relates to discovering how languages work. (See the sample problems in the Preparation Package, downloadable below). No prior knowledge of other languages, linguistics or computer programming is necessary and the competition doesn't require the use of computers.
OzCLO started in 2008, attracting teams from schools in Victoria and New South Wales, and expanded in 2009 to cover most other states. Linguistics at UWA is organising the WA State Round again in 2010 and is looking forward to our best and brightest secondary students going on to compete in the National Round. We’re also hoping that the top team will travel to Sweden to represent Australia at the international competition later in the year. The competitions in the other states will be held at the University of Melbourne, the University of Sydney and the University of New England, the Australian National University, the University of Queensland, and the University of Adelaide. The website for the national OzCLO organisation <click here> contains additional information. Who?The program is designed for students from Years 9 to 12. Past experience shows that there is appeal across humanities and science interests. Students who like language and languages, maths, computers, or natural sciences are likely to be interested in this competition. In fact, any secondary school student who enjoys the sample problems in the OzCLO Preparation Package is a potential contestant! Secondary students don't usually know much about linguistics and computational linguistics, so they might not know if they are interested until they try the sample problems themselves.
In the competition, all teams will complete the same tasks, but teams will be ranked within their age level: Junior (Years 9-10), or Senior (Years 11-12).
There will be a limit on the number of teams competing. So get in early! Any secondary school can enter two teams of four students each. The two teams from any school can be both Junior, both Senior or one of each. A third team can also be wait-listed in case an additional position becomes available. What?The State Round will be a two and a half hour session. The successful competitors will be announced a week or so later and will receive prizes and certificates. They will of course also be invited to go on to represent WA in the National Round.
An optional training session for students and their teachers will be held two weeks before the State Round. At that session we will - explain the details of the competition
- tell you what linguistics, computational linguistics and language technologies are all about
- provide sample problems and give tips for solving them!
Where?All sessions will be held at the University of Western Australia. The specific venues on campus will be announced later. When?Expressions of interest are welcomed as soon as possible.
Registrations will need to be submitted by Friday February 12th. The dates for 2010 are: - Training Session: Wednesday, February 17th 12:30-2:30
- State Round: Thursday, March 4th 12:30-3:00
- National Round: Wednesday, March 24th 12:30-3:00
How?Expressions of interest are welcomed as soon as possible. For further information, please contact Dr John Henderson in Linguistics at UWA: 6488 2870 or john.henderson@uwa.edu.au.
You can register for free by completing the form available below and sending it to: Linguistics@uwa.edu.au or
OzCLO
Linguistics (M258)
University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Hwy
Crawley WA 6009
Schools which require sighting of UWA’s Certificate of Currency of insurance should contact insurance@uwa.edu.au. All participating students will be contacted through their teachers, as registration will be through the schools.
If you'd like to learn more about the history of the competition, see <www.ozclo.org.au>. |