international Young Physicists Tournament

"The 23rd International Young Physicists Tournament (IYPT ) will be held this summer in Vienna, Austria from the 9th to 16th of July. What is the IYPT? Founded in the Soviet Union, it was designed to engage high school students in conducting inquiry investigations on a variety of challenging physics topics, communicate their results and undergo peer review. Each summer 17 investigatory questions are posted on the iypt.org site, permitting students to begin researching the topics. Participating provinces can host a contest to select a provincial team to advance to Canadian team finals. Ultimately each year, five students and two teachers from across Canada will travel to the site of the IYPT, meet, greet and compete with elite physics students from across the globe. The opportunity exists to host the 24th IYPT and that will be discussed. The session participants will sample the rigor and excitement of these hands-on minds-on inquiry challenges – many of which can be easily adapted to classroom inquiry labs. In addition, strategies for bringing Canadian students into this international contest will be considered. With the growing prominence of Canada in international physics, this is another opportunity to showcase Canadian excellence.

Don Franklin has been involved with IYPT since 1999. He has taken a team to 2001 in Helsinki, been an International Juror in Odessa, Ukraine(2002); Upsalla, Sweden(2003); Brisbane, Australia(2004); and Winterthur, Switzerland(2005). Currently retired after 44 years of teaching, I teach one class of Pre-Pharmacy Physics at Gordon College in Barnesville, Georgia. Member of American Association of Physics Teachers and American Physical Society. Former Chair of the International Committee for AAPT.