Rye Country Day School Takes 1st Place in International Physics Competition

RYE, NY — Students from the Rye Country Day School took first place in an international physics tournament.

High school students from across the country and around the world gathered for the 10th annual United States Invitational Young Physics Tournament on January 28 and 29, 2017.

Students from seven states, China and Tunisia competed at the University of Sciences in Philadelphia, BA.

Competing students faced off in head-to-head physics fights. Each round, a team of four students presented their solution to one of four open-ended research problems and then were challenged, evaluated and questioned by the opposing team of students.

The students were tasked with defending their solution and continuing discussion about the solution.

The winners were determined by a panel of judges who decided which teams earned the most points.

The problems were not tasks which could be solved within a short time with known methods, like in an exam.

Instead, they were more complex, open-ended questions that could be solved from different angles.

These problems were published several months before to give all participants enough time to work with physicists and mathematicians to conduct experiments and hone their scientific thinking skills.

Photo credit: Submitted.