United States Invitational Young Physicists Tournament

The United States Invitational Young Physicists Tournament (USIYPT) is an annual physics research and debate tournament for high school students, held the last weekend in January. School-based teams of four students investigate several undergraduate-level research problems in preparation for the tournament. The competition itself consists of "physics fights," student-led debates over the quality of each team's solution. Teams are judged on their own solutions to the problems and on their ability to engage in evaluation and discussion of other teams' solutions. Rye Country Day School won their second championship in 2017. The Harker School of San Jose, California has earned three championships, the most of any school. The 2017 tournament was held at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia; the 2018 tournament will be at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia.

History

The United States sent teams to the International Young Physicists' Tournament several times in the 2000s, and achieved a second-place finish in 2005.[1] The nonprofit United States Association for Young Physicists Tournaments was incorporated in 2005, initially for the purpose of supporting and training the US team as well as to spread the pedagogical methodology of preparing and conducting the "physics fight."[2] In 2007, the USAYPT organized their own Young Physicists Tournament, inviting school-based teams from around the world to debate over a slate of four research problems. The one-day event at the North Carolina School of Science and Math (NCSSM) included five teams, all from the United States; Woodberry Forest School won the inaugural championship.[3]

The 2008 tournament, also at NCSSM, included the first "international" team: Brisbane Girls Grammar School. They faced Woodberry Forest School, a boys' boarding school in central Virginia. In the final physics fight, Brisbane's Sarah Thang and Samantha Luck outdueled Woodberry's Chris McLamb and Robert Bauer for the title.[4]

For 2009 and 2010, the event was moved to Woodberry Forest School. Raffles Institution of Singapore beat out an eight-team field for the 2009 title.[5] However, the "snowmaggedon" blizzard of February forced cancellation of the 2010 tournament. Instead, two informal mini-tournaments were held in April, one at Woodberry Forest School, one at the Harker School in California.[6]

The USIYPT moved to Oak Ridge Associated Universities for 2011 and 2012, and expanded to a two-day, six-round event.[7] Teams and jurors toured Oak Ridge National Laboratory in between sets of physics fights, viewing the High Flux Isotope Reactor and the Spallation Neutron Source. Official sponsorship in 2011 came from the University of Tennessee department of physics, among others.[8] The Harker School won in 2011;[9] Rye Country Day School of New York won in 2012. Oak Ridge High School won the first-ever Clifford Swartz Trophy for top performance in the tournament's poster session.[10]

The 2014 tournament was held at the Harker School in San Jose, California.[11] The Harker School won the title with playoff victories over Woodberry Forest School and Shenzhen Middle School on the "Magnet Stack" and "Ball Stack" problems. Guilderland High School of New York won the Clifford Swartz Trophy for best poster.

In 2015, the USIYPT moved back to Woodberry Forest School. The final rounds were switched to a pool-play format. The Harker School and Woodberry Forest met twice in those final rounds, with Harker edging Woodberry 79-77 for the 2016 title. Other finalists included Rye Country Day, who were 1/10 of a point off Woodberry's pace; and first-time USIYPT participant Renmin University High School of Beijing, China.

Second-year participant Phoenixville Area High School of Pennsylvania topped the standings after the preliminary rounds in the 2016 USIYPT. They, Harker, Rye Country Day School, and Shenzhen Middle School competed in the final rounds, with Shenzhen coasting to the championship.

At the 2017 tournament at the University of the Sciences, the Harker School was the highest ranked of the six teams who entered the playoff rounds. Rye Country Day School emerged from those rounds with a convincing victory of 77-72 against RDFZ of Beijing, due in part to an especially innovative approach to measuring Planck's constant conducted by Charlie Curnin and Kasey Luo in their high school laboratory[12]. The four presenting members for Rye Country Day School were Charlie Curnin, Jeffrey Chen, Cate Mollerus (captain), and Varun Wadhwa.

The Physics Fight

The USIYPT consists of six preliminary rounds and a set of final rounds. In each round, called a "Physics Fight," a student from the reporting team presents a 10-minute summary of their research into one of the four official tournament problems. Next, a student from another team engages the reporter in a 12-minute conversation about the reporting team's project. This opponent is charged with helping the audience understand the strengths and weaknesses of the report by means of a series of discussion questions. Only after this conversation is complete are jury members allowed to question the presenting students directly. Teams are judged as much on their ability to ask and answer questions in the physics fight as on the quality of their initial presentations. [2]

Teacher education

Unusual among science competitions, the USIYPT aims to improve physics teaching skills as well as student understanding of the subject. High school teachers are participating members of each school's research team. The sponsoring organization chooses problems for each tournament that are "nontrivial, but not impossible," whose solutions are not necessarily unknown to practicing professional physicists, but are generally new to high school teachers and students. Research is expected to be conducted primarily in each team's school, with direction and assistance from a teacher at that school.[13]

Results

Year Location Champion Second Place Swartz Trophy
2007 [3] North Carolina School of Science and Math Woodberry Forest School Rye Country Day School
2008 [4] North Carolina School of Science and Math Brisbane Girls Grammar School Woodberry Forest School
2009 [5] Woodberry Forest School Raffles Institution Woodberry Forest School
2011[9] Oak Ridge Associated Universities The Harker School Rye Country Day School
2012 [14] Oak Ridge Associated Universities Rye Country Day School Woodberry Forest School Oak Ridge High School
2013 [15] The Harker School Shenzhen Middle School The Harker School Nanjing Foreign Language School
2014 The Harker School The Harker School Shenzhen Middle School Guilderland High School
2015[16] Woodberry Forest School The Harker School Woodberry Forest School Nanjing Foreign Language School
2016 [17] Randolph College Shenzhen Middle School Rye Country Day School Nanjing Foreign Language School
2017 University of the Sciences Rye Country Day School RDFZ Beijing Vanke Meisha Academy

List of Participating Schools

Rye Country Day School, New York, USA – 10 tournaments, 2 championships

Woodberry Forest School, Virginia, USA – 10 tournaments, 1 championship

The Harker School, California, USA – 8 tournaments, 3 championships

Shenzhen Middle School, China – 6 tournaments, 2 championships

Nanjing Foreign Language School, China – 5 tournaments

Pioneer High School of Ariana, Tunisia – 5 tournaments

Wildwood School, California, USA – 3 tournaments

Oak Ridge High School, Tennessee, USA – 2 tournaments

Brisbane Girls Grammar School, Australia – 2 tournaments, 1 championship

North Carolina School of Science and Math – 2 tournaments

Oregon Episcopal School, Oregon, USA – 2 tournaments

Vistamar School, California, USA – 2 tournaments

Guilderland High School, New York, USA – 2 tournaments

High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, China - 3 tournaments

Princeton International School of Science and Mathematics, New Jersey, USA - 3 tournaments

Phoenixville Area High School, Pennsylvania, USA - 3 tournaments

High School of Jur Hronec, Slovak Republic – 1 tournament

Calverton School, Maryland, USA – 1 tournament

Raffles Institute, Singapore – 1 tournament, 1 championship

Madeira School, Virginia, USA – 1 tournament

Pioneer High School of Manzeh 8, Tunisia - 1 tournament

Georgian English-Spanish School, Tbilisi - 1 tournament

Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, USA - 2 tournaments

Cary Academy, North Carolina, USA - 2 tournaments

Qingdao No. 2 High School, China - 1 tournament

Vanke Meisha Academy, China - 1 tournament

References

  1. ↑ "IYPT Archive". 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  2. 1 2 Oldaker, Bruce; Jacobs, Greg; Bibilashvili, Tengiz. "Introducing the USAYPT– Do research in your high school then debate your results with other schools". The Physics Teacher. American Association of Physics Teachers. 48 (1): 48–51. Bibcode:2010PhTea..48...48O. doi:10.1119/1.3274364.
  3. 1 2 "USAYPT holds annual February tournaments" (PDF). United States Association for Young Physicists Tournaments. 26 February 2007. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  4. 1 2 "USAYPT Holds Annual February Tournament". The Physics Teacher. American Association of Physics Teachers. 46 (May 2008): 295. Bibcode:2008PhTea..46..295O. doi:10.1119/1.2909749.
  5. 1 2 Oldaker, Bruce. "USAYPT Holds 2009 Annual February Tournament". The Physics Teacher. American Association of Physics Teachers. 47 (5): 270. Bibcode:2009PhTea..47..270J. doi:10.1119/1.3116833.
  6. ↑ "2010 USAYPT Young Physicists Tournament". 2010. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  7. ↑ Munger, Frank (27 January 2011). "Young Physicists Going Head to Head". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  8. ↑ Munger, Frank (1 February 2012). "Young Physicists Converge on Oak ridge". Knoxville News Sentinel; Atomic City Underground. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  9. 1 2 Oldaker, Bruce. "USAYPT Holds Annual Tournament". The Physics Teacher. American Association of Physics Teachers. 49 (6): 352. Bibcode:2011PhTea..49..352O. doi:10.1119/1.3628260.
  10. ↑ Munger, Frank (6 February 2012). "N.Y. School Wins Young Physicists Tourney". Knoxville News Sentinel; Atomic City Underground. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  11. ↑ "USIYPT2013 national tournament". United States Invitational Young Physicists Tournament. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  12. ↑ "this is copied from Greg Jacobs". physics.randolphcollege.edu. Retrieved 2017-04-10.
  13. ↑ Oldaker, Bruce; Jacobs, Greg; Bibilashvili, Tengiz. "Introducing the USAYPT: Do research in your high school then debate your results with other schools". The Physics Teacher. American Association of Physics Teachers. 48 (1): 48–51. Bibcode:2010PhTea..48...48O. doi:10.1119/1.3274364.
  14. ↑ "2012 USAYPT Young Physicists Tournament -- 2-3 Feb 2012". United States Association for Young Physicists Tournaments. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  15. ↑ Jacobs, Greg (May 2013). "USAYPT Holds February Tournament". The Physics Teacher. 51 (5): 311. Bibcode:2013PhTea..51..311J. doi:10.1119/1.4801368.
  16. ↑ Jacobs, Greg. "USIYPT 2015 - results, and problems for 2016". jacobsphysics.blogspot.com. Greg Jacobs. Retrieved 2 Feb 2015.
  17. ↑ Jacobs, Greg. "US Invitational Young Physicists Tournament -- results from 2016". Jacobs Physics. Greg Jacobs. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
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