Brisbane Girls Grammar School will host the annual Australian heats and finals for the International Young Physicists Tournament (IYPT) this weekend.
Teams from across Australia will participate in physics fights for their place on the national team to compete in China in July, 2009.
The purpose of IYPT is to develop scientific thinking, research skills, communication skills, and teamwork; it is a unique tournament for high school physics students.
Dr Margaret Wegener, from The University of Queensland's School of Mathematics and Physics, sees the development of these skills as a great foundation for future scientists.
"This is an opportunity for students to challenge themselves (and others) to apply and extend their physics knowledge," Dr Wegener said.
"These students gain skills in explaining and describing their research to an audience; a skill many accomplished scientists struggle with."
A physics fight is similar to a high school debate with teams presenting their research; the opposing team questions their reasoning, and challenges their findings.
Teams are given six months to research their choice of one or all questions from a set list of seven questions.
However, the opposing team can request that a team discuss a question they may not have researched.
Teams can choose not to respond to two questions before they are penalised. This makes the competition strategic as well as academic.
UQ's School of Mathematics and Physics has supported the competition for many years, providing jurors for fights, academic support for team members, and support in transporting teams to international competitions.
Dr Anton Rayner and Dr Margaret Wegener will be jurors at the fights this weekend.
UQ's School of Mathematics and Physics wishes all teams the best of luck in the weekend’s tournament.
The tournament originated in the USSR to foster scientific research and improve international communication in physics.
It has since seen teams from around the world compete to become the youth physicist champions.
IYPT Australia aims to bring the benefits of the IYPT experience to Australian physics students. Australian involvement began in 1998 with a single school, Brisbane Girls Grammar School, representing Australia.
This has expanded to be open to all schools in Australia.
For more information about IYPT visit www.iyptaustralia.com.au.
Media: Lynelle Ross, Communications and Marketing Officer, School of Mathematics and Physics (l.ross@smp.uq.edu.au) tel 07 3346 9935.
