By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
LITTLE Mia Eastman had a big idea.
The Fyans Park Primary School bright spark came up with a water recycling idea that seems obvious once it’s laid out.
And her big idea could send Mia jetting off on a big trip to NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre later this year after she was announced as one of 12 finalists of a littleBIGidea competition.
The national competition, aiming to foster creativity and innovation in students from grades three to eight, attracted more than 1300 entries.
Mia’s littleBIGidea entry tapped into the idea of using rain water to fill a car’s window cleaning water tank, recycling a precious natural resource.
Mia envisaged fitting a separate tank to capture the rainwater running off the windscreen and connecting it to the vehicle’s windscreen-cleaning tank, using rainwater instead of tap water.
With the average car’s windscreen cleaning tank holding approximately three litres of water, judges considered Mia’s recycled water storage system would make a positive environmental impact.
littleBIGidea judges include James O’Loghlin, former host of the ABC’s The New Inventors, Christie Burnett, editor of popular parenting blog Childhood101.com, and Bernard Caleo, presenter of Origin’s Energy for Schools shows.
“It was fascinating to review all of the littleBIGideas submitted by students to see what they believe will make life better or easier in the future,” Mr O’Loghlin said.
“After reading hundreds of entries it is clearly evident the next generation of Australia has an exciting, creative and innovative vision for the future.
“I’m really looking forward to meeting Mia and the other 11 talented finalists.”
Three overall winners earn a trip to Florida USA to visit innovative hotspots including the Kennedy Space Centre, Epcot Theme Park, Walt Disney World Florida and Ripley’s Believe it or Not.
Other prizes include $1000 in education grants for each of the nine runners-up, $4000 to spend on energy upgrades for the 12 finalist student’s schools, plus tickets to an education conference for the teacher nominated by each of these students.
Origin will host the judging of winners at a littleBIGidea Forum on 3 October at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum.
