The International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT) is a scientific competition between teams of secondary school students from around the world. The event mimics real-world scientific research and the process of presenting and defending the results obtained. In January, two teams from DGS participated in the Hong Kong Young Physicists’ Tournament (HKYPT), a scaled-down version of IYPT and won gold medals. With the aim to gain more experience and meet other Chinese teams, our team of three Secondary 4 girls participated in the China Young Physicists’ Tournament (CYPT), held at the Beijing Normal University from 15-19 March.        

Each year, there are 17 open-ended research problems from the IYPT to be used in competitions. One match of the competition lasts for about 1 hour, where the reporter first presents their research and conclusions reached. Then the opposition evaluates and further discusses with the reporter, aiming to give constructive criticism and gain deeper understanding of the problem. A reviewer concludes the discussion and offers some advice, and the final scores are awarded by a panel of judges who are physics professors.

In the scaled-down HKYPT, teams have only 1 round of competition, presenting on one topic and opposing another, without the need to review any. CYPT follows the format of IYPT, with a total of 5 rounds and 15 matches. As such, teams have to prepare for all questions, since the opponent decides the reporting problem. Therefore, we had a lot to prepare for after HKYPT, from doing experiments and conducting theoretical research, to preparing presentation slides and scripts. Additionally, as CYPT is conducted in Mandarin, we had to translate all our slides from English as well. Through this process, we learnt a lot of out-of-syllabus physics concepts and research skills, including literature review, error analysis, data analysis, and also using a variety of software and programmes.

The experience of the competition was fruitful as we exchanged ideas with mainland students. The different approaches we took were inspiring and led to in depth discussions that furthered our understanding of physics. This unique format of presentation and discussion emphasized the importance of clear logic flow and communication, which was something that we understood a lot more as the competition progressed.

As it is the first year that DGS has participated in this series of competitions, CYPT was definitely a valuable trip for us to gain experience and exposure. In the end, we placed 10th overall, and Alice Ng won the best female student award. Throughout the competition, it was emphasized that the aim was not to debate and argue for the “right” answer, but to engage in a discussion that furthered understanding. The absence of correctness is definitely a contrast to physics olympiads and more closely aligns with scientific research, where the aim is to reach a conclusion to a problem that does not have a well-established answer.

We thank our teacher in charge, Mr WK Yeung for the guidance and coaching throughout the process. We must also thank Mrs Lau for supporting us and allowing us the opportunity to broaden our horizons.