The International Young Physicists' Tournament (IYPT) is a competition among teams of secondary school students in their ability to solve complicated scientific problems, to present solutions to these problems and to defend them in scientific discussions called "Physics Fights".
The precise course of the tournament might look a bit complicated at first glimpse. The following step-by-step introduction is intended to help understanding the structure of the IYPT.
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The International Organizing Committee (IOC) decides about 17 problems to be used for the IYPT. These problems come from different disciplines of physics and are sometimes also interdisciplinary. The problems of the IYPT are not tasks which can be solved within a short time with known methods, like in an exam. They are deliberately formulated in a more open way. They can be viewed from different angles and there are many ways to handle them. The task of the participants (together with their teamleader) during the preparation phase is to get as much knowledge about the problems as possible. There are no restrictions on how to do so. This kind of problems is intended to put the students in the same situation as a regular researcher is in. The solution to the problems and even the way how to get the solution is completely unknown. Therefore the problems for the IYPT are published more than half a year before the tournament. That gives all participants enough time to do experiments, research literature and the internet, maybe talk to some experts, etc. Teamwork and organizing ability certainly play an important role.
One of the most important aspects, if not the most important aspect of the tournament is the preparation phase. The preparation aims at two main goals: On the one hand it is important to gather as much background knowledge on the problems as possible. That is necessary to confidently defend a solution in a discussion against an opposing team or to try to find weaknesses in the presentation of another team. On the other hand it one main goal is to prepare a well-structured Report of all the knowledge acquired.
The tournament itself consists of several rounds which are called "Physics Fights", or just Fights. The first rounds are called the "Selective Fights". They can be compared to the group phase of soccer competitions. All teams participate in the Selective Fights. Since 2001 the IYPT consists of five Selective Fights. The three teams with the highest total sum of points after the Selective Fights reach the Final Fight, which eventually determines the winning team.
At the beginning of the tournament the teams draw lots to form groups of three teams each. If the total number of teams is not divisible by three then one or two groups with four teams are formed. Each of these groups then executes the first Selective Fight (in parallel). After that the teams change groups according to a scheme determined by the drawing of lots. This is necessary because otherwise there would be always the same teams competing in the same group. This procedure is repeated until all Selective Fights have been held.
A Fight consists of three or four so-called "Stages", depending on whether three or four teams compete in the Fight. This is due to the fact that during one Stage each team has a specific role to play. These roles are exchanged after each Stage so that after three (or four, respectively) Stages each team has played each role exactly once. The roles are:
The specific meaning of these roles will be explained together with the course of a Stage.
A so-called "Stage" is a part of a Physics Fight, comparable e.g. to one single run of a skiing race. A Stage lasts about 45-55 minutes and is executed without a break. Between the Stages of one Fight it is custom to have 5-15 minutes break, depending on how much time is available.
At the beginning of a Stage teams and jurors are introduced and the chairman of the jury reads out which team will play which role in this Stage. After this informal part the actual Stage begins. Its course is precisely regulated by the tournament regulations. Each of the phases which will be described here has a maximum duration. These maximum durations may not be exceeded. Usually there is a special monitor available which displays a graphical representation of how much time is left in the current phase. The explanations given in the next few paragraphs shall only illustrate the structure and course of the events in a Stage. For a more detailed overview of the Stage regulations please confer the official tournament regulations which can be found on the official IYPT website (www.iypt.org).
After the mentioned introduction the actual Stage begins with the Opponent-Team challenging the Reporter-Team on one of the 17 problems. The Reporter-Team can either accept the challenge or reject it. If the challenge is rejected the Opponent-Team must challenge the Reporter on another problem. This procedure is repeated until the Reporter-Team accepts a challenge. If a team rejects a challenge too often during the whole tournament this team will lose some points.
If a problem has been selected the Reporter-Team has five minutes for preparation which are usually used to prepare notes, have a final look on the presentation or sometimes to prepare a live experiment for demonstration. After the preparation time the Reporter has a maximum of twelve minutes to present the Report. There are no formal requirements in which way exactly this has to be done.
After the presentation of the Report the Opponent-Team can ask a few clarifying questions. Then the Opponent also gets a few minutes preparation time before taking the stage to present an estimation on the presentation done by the Reporter, stressing its pros and cons. This speech by the Opponent is followed by a discussion between Reporter and Opponent in which the Reporter tries to defend the solution and the Opponent tries to criticize it.
Afterwards the third team, the Reviewer-Team can ask questions to both other teams and then (after a short preparation) present an overview of the performance of the Reporter and the Opponent.
In the end the Reporter may present some final concluding remarks.
And finally the jurors may ask some short questions to all three teams. After that the performances of the teams in the current Stage are graded. The grading concludes the Stage.
Fights with four teams have an additional role: The Observer. The Observer-Team does not take part actively in the course of the Stage. Therefore the Observer team is not graded. The only meaning of the Observer role is to allow groups of four teams to be executed, if the total number of teams is not divisible by three.
After a short break the Fight is continued with the next Stage. The teams exchange their roles until each team has been the Reporter, the Opponent and the Reviewer (and in groups of four teams also the Observer) exactly once.
There are some additional details worth mentioning:
The three teams with the highest scores after five Selective Fights participate in the Final. The Final is executed like a normal Physics Fight with two differences:
The best team in the Final is the winning team. The other two teams in the Final share place 2. 3rd Prize is awarded to all teams which have reached a certain minimum number of points, determined by the Organizing Committee.
Each invited country is represented by one team. Until 2007 the host country may be represented with two teams. The teams consist of five secondary school students. The participation of university students is not allowed. Each team is headed by a Captain who is the official representative of the team during the Fight. Moreover each team is accompanied by two Team-Leaders (teachers).
Many countries have their own national qualification tournaments to determine their national team. E.g. in Austria the Austrian Young Physicists' Tournament is held.
The Jury is nominated and organized by the host country. Team-Leaders may be included in the Jury, however not in Fights in which their teams participate. The Jury grades the teams with integer marks, which are weighted by the role of the teams (Reporter, Opponent, Reviewer).
(*) the number of Nations can be disputed as some countries were midway towards a recognized independence
The following table that shows what National teams have taken part in IYPTs in different years. "H" means that the country hosted the respective tournament. "0", "1", "2", "3" correspond to the number of teams that represented the respective country. The data that needs verification is marked with interrogatory signs (?).
| Country | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armenia | — | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Australia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | H, 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Austria | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | H, 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | H, 1 | 1 |
| Belarus | — | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Brazil | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Bulgaria | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| China | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Chinese Taipei | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Croatia | — | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Obs | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Cyprus | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Czech Republic | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | H, 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Czechoslovakia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Finland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Obs | 1 | 1 | 1 | H, 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| France | 0 | 0 | 0 | Obs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Georgia | — | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | H, 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Germany | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | H, 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Hungary | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | H, 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Indonesia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Iran | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Kenya | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Moldova | — | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mexico | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Netherlands | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | H, 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Zealand | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Nigeria | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Poland | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | H, 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Russia | — | — | — | — | H, 3 | H, 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Singapore | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Slovakia | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | H, 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| South Korea | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Obs | Obs | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | H, 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Soviet Union | H, ? | H, 2 | H, 2 | H, 2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Sweden | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Obs | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Obs | H, 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Switzerland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Obs | 0 | 0 | Obs | Obs | 1 | 1 | 1 | H, 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Thailand | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Ukraine | — | — | — | — | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | H, 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| United Kingdom | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| United States | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Obs | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Uzbekistan | — | — | — | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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