Fun will be the name of the game at an upcoming Science and Engineering Workshop for gifted students.

Five gifted education specialists from the United States will visit Bermuda this week to help run the workshop offered by the Centre for Talented Youth. The workshop will be on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Saltus Grammar School.

It will feature workshops in robotics, chemistry, forensic science and invention.

Teacher Karen Weeks, who will run the chemistry workshop said: "Science is all about the possibilities. The instructors from CTY will give students the content and context they need, but at the end of the day, the most important job is to spark some ideas."

Over 100 public and private school students are expected to attend.

The free event is the first of its kind to be sponsored by CTY Bermuda, which is part of an international confederation of programmes affiliated with The Johns Hopkins University Centre for Talented Youth (CTY).

Ms Riquette Bonne-Smith, executive director of CTY Bermuda, recruited many of the students for the chance to take part in this workshop.

"We put word out throughout schools in Bermuda and worked directly with parents to find some extremely bright young people who will clearly thrive in a challenging and exciting day of hands-on activities and presentations," she said."

During the day, the specialists from Johns Hopkins, along with local Bermudian educators, will help students design or build projects in workshops, with the opportunity to show off their work before the end of the programme.

More broadly, the day represents a first-of-its kind event for Bermuda students sponsored by CTY Bermuda and is taking place to support Bermuda's efforts to develop the next generation of citizens in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math- known in educational policy circles as the STEM disciplines.

This cluster of academic topics is receiving great attention by the government as all levels in the United States, and at top universities such as Johns Hopkins, know for its world leadership in medicine.

"William Brody, the President of Johns Hopkins University, frequently says that our job at the University is to be able to help the up and coming generation to be able to tackle and solve questions that our generation has not even thought to ask," said Lea Ybarra, executive director of Johns Hopkins' Center for Talented Youth. "That's why it's so important to find and educate every academically promising young child. We can't leave the academic talent of any of our young people on the sidelines," she said.

For more information telephone Riquette Bonne-Smith at 505-2858.