UBC 46th Physics Olympics was the largest Physics Olympics event ever! Every year, early March I have an opportunity to write about the the event that is very near and dear to my heart – the UBC Physics Olympics . This allows me to share how much pride I feel for BC physics teachers who inspire their teams to participate in the event and who spend the entire Saturday and many days prior to that to help students do science and experience what science is all about. You can read about the event on the UBC Physics Olympics web site mentioned above.
Here I would like to reflect on the experience of this year’s event. Just to describe the scope of the event – we had 76 teams, 927 students participated in the event, a number of schools had 2 teams of 15 or more students, 100+ teachers, coaches, parents and future physics teachers, more than 80 volunteers from the departments of Physics and Astronomy and Curriculum and Pedagogy, as well as many spectators. We had so many people that we had to have three large auditoriums at the end of the day to hold the final award ceremony. However, the event is not just about numbers. The most amazing thing about it is that the event is a hands-on event and not a written theoretical competition. All the students participated in the hands-on labs, solved Fermi Questions, did Quizzics – answered conceptual physics questions and did two pre-build challenges. It was unbelievable to see the excitement of the students when they showed their contraptions and cheered each other during the events. It was a truly team science event that the students will remember forever.
We will be posting all the results on the UBC Physics Olympics web site soon! Many thanks to all the teachers, students, volunteers, organizers, and their families!
Mr. Ian Newton and his students.
Eric Hamber Secondary School had two teams and both of them did exceptionally well!
Cool-it-down pre-build judges – Prof. Valery Milner and his amazing volunteers.
Port Moody Secondary School students were the Overall Winners! Their physics teachers – Mrs. Hester Greenwood and Mr. Jin Pyo (in the front row) are both UBC Graduates. Big congratulations to the students and to the teachers!
Mrs. Hester Greenwood and Mr. Jin Pyo and their students from Port Moody Secondary School and their students. 46th UBC Physics Olympics overall winners.
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