VICTORIAN

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• VICTORIAN
• YOUNG
• PHYSICISTS
• TOURNAMENT
• An initiative of the Australian Institute of
  Physics (Victorian Branch) Education Committee

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Young Physicists Tournament

• An event for
• Year 11 Physics and
• Year 10 Science students

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Young Physicists Tournament

• What do the students do?
• How do the students benefit?
• What is the teachers role?
• How does the teacher benefit?
• How much class time and out of class time is
  needed?
• How is the competition organised?
• Prizes
• Experiences so far.

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Young Physicists Tournament

• What do the students do?
• In a team of three they conduct three open-ended
  experimental investigations,
• initially in class with follow up research in
  their own time or as part of an activities
  program,
• and finally they prepare a PPT report, and

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Young Physicists Tournament

• What do the students do?
• in competition
• They describe and defend their methods, results
  and analysis, and
• They challenge the reports of other teams.

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Young Physicists Tournament

• There are three problems which the team should
  investigate.

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Young Physicists Tournament

• 1. Conductivity of pencil lines
• The lines, drawn by so-called lead pencils,
  conduct electricity.
• Investigate the factors that determine the
  resistance of the line.

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Young Physicists Tournament

• 2. Bouncing ball
• If you hold a Ping-Pong ball above the ground and
  release it, it bounces. The nature of the
  collision changes if the ball contains liquid.
• Investigate how the nature of the collision
  depends on the amount of liquid inside the ball
  and other relevant parameters.

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Young Physicists Tournament

• 3. Rubber motor
• A twisted rubber band stores energy and can be
  used to power a model aircraft, for example.
• Investigate the properties of such an energy
  source and how its power output changes with time

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Young Physicists Tournament

• How do the students benefit?
• They develop
• Experimental research skills,
• Presentation skills,
• Communication skills, and
• Social skills from working in a group.

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Young Physicists Tournament

• What is the teachers role?
• Encourage student participation,
• Monitor progress,
• Supervise, when necessary, out of class
  experimental activities
• Attend competition
• Assist in judging

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Young Physicists Tournament

• How does the teacher benefit?
• Student motivation,
• Increased prestige for teacher, subject and
  school.

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Young Physicists Tournament

• How much class time and
• out of class time is needed?
• Most investigations can be started as part of the
  normal teaching program,
• The topics minimise the need for out of class
  supervision,
• Monitoring of progress may require about an hour
  or two per topic for three topics over the year.

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Young Physicists Tournament

• How is the competition organised?
• Registration
• By the beginning of Term 4 schools will need to
  register each team including the names of the
  students.
• There is no charge,

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Young Physicists Tournament

• How is the competition organised?
• Competition Day
• Dates
• Tuesday, 2nd December for Year 10s
• Wednesday, 3rd December for Year 11s
• Venue Quantum Victoria, Macleod West

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Young Physicists Tournament

• How is the competition organised?
• Competition Day
• The competition is run as a round robin.
• It consists of six 30 min sessions of Physics
  Phytes.
• Two teams participate in a Physics Phyte.

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Young Physicists Tournament

• Competition
• Each team plays one of the two roles

• Reporter
• Opponent

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Young Physicists Tournament

• Competition
• Role of Reporter
• The Reporter presents the essence of the solution
  to the problem, attracting the attention of the
  audience to the main physical ideas and
  conclusions.

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Young Physicists Tournament

• Competition
• The Role of the Opponent
• The Opponent puts questions to the Reporter and
  criticises the report, pointing to possible
  inaccuracies and errors in the understanding of
  the problem and in the solution.
• The Opponent analyses the advantages and
  drawbacks of both the solution and the
  presentation of the Reporter.

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Young Physicists Tournament

• Competition
• Each role has a fixed time for its task and one
  phyte should be completed within 30 minutes.
• Each team has 6 phytes 3 as a Reporter, 3 as an
  Opponent.
• Each of the three students must report on one
  topic and oppose on another.

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Young Physicists Tournament

• Competition
• At the end of the day the two best teams compete
  in a Final.
• The final consists of two phytes with each team
  being in turn, a reporter and an opponent.

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Young Physicists Tournament

• Time allocation
• Activity min.
• Reporter prepares, plugs in USB etc. 3
• Reporter presents, 10
• Opponent asks clarifying questions. 2
• Opponent prepares. 3
• Opponent critiques report, then argues with
  reporter. 10
• Reporter prepares concluding remarks. 1
• Reporter makes concluding remarks. 2
• Jury questions and grading. 4

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Young Physicists Tournament

• Prizes
• A trophy to the school
• A book Flying Circus of Physics to each student
  in the final
• Money A cheque to all students

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Young Physicists Tournament

• Websites
• www.vicphysics.org/vypt.html
• There are resources on the website
• to assist students and teachers with background
  research and
• To assist students in formulating an experimental
  design.

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