“I Would be Happy if my Team Solved the Problem this Way!” International Jury Highly Appreciated the Training of High School Students from Belarus
Belarusian team won a bronze at the International Young Naturalists’ Tournament (IYNT VI) held in Tbilisi on July 5 to 12. The trip was funded by the Science Around Us Foundation
Fifteen teams from nine countries, namely Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Russia, and Switzerland took part in the sixth annual International Young Naturalists’ Tournament held in the capital of Georgia from July 5 to 12, 2018. The Swiss team became the absolute winner of the Tournament, while the second place was shared by the teams from Sofia, Bulgaria, and Komarovi, Georgia. The Belarusian team Pagonya took the 7th place in the ranking, which allowed it to take the third final place and get the bronze medal.
The five days of the Tournament gave the students a chance to participate in scientific and experimental battles aimed at solving open interdisciplinary problems in natural sciences; they took on roles of speakers, opponents, and reviewers, defended their scientific views. The tasks the participants faced at the Tournament go far beyond the limits of a particular discipline, be it chemistry, physics or biology. This allows to put together knowledge often fragmented by the school curriculum, as well as to demonstrate critical and scientific thinking skills, ingenuity, team work, the ability to hold a discussion on selected topics with opponents from different countries.
This year, our country was represented by students of BSU Lyceum: Maria Tamashuk, Maria Zhuiko, Kseniya Shymborskaya, Aleksey Boris, Anastasiya Svintsilava, Lizaveta Bandaryk and their tutors – Sofia Anisimova and Volha Uhnachova. The high level of training of our students was appreciated by the participating teams and jury members. After the fourth qualifying battle, which challenged the participants with solving and preparing the presentation of such a solution to the public during 45 minutes of work in the laboratory, Mark Bitterley, head of the Swiss team, member of the jury, commented on his awarding 25 points out of 30 possible: “I would be happy if my team solved the problem this way!”
Such competitions let us see a very high potential for the development of our children. Experts with deep knowledge in various fields of chemistry, physics, biology, and mathematics who are familiar with the basics of programming and speak English are becoming increasingly popular and highly paid in the international market as well as in Belarus. The experience gained during the Tournaments will allow our children to relate with their peers from other countries, to look beyond the horizon they see from their school window, and to determine the trajectory of further movement towards achieving their goals.
In 2019, Belarus will host the 7th International Young Naturalists’ Tournament. We have no doubts that our team will be able to demonstrate even higher rates on their native soil, and the Tournament itself will provide excellent training material for teachers and jury members.
Links: