2024 School Magazine

Junior Young Physics Tournament (JYPT)

The Junior Young Physicists’ Tournament (JYPT) is a physics competition founded by BGGS Head of Physics, Mr Alan Allinson, and is open to students in Years 7 to 10 in the Asia Pacific Region. Similar to the International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT), JYPT allows students to foster their love for physics through research and experimentation. At the beginning of the year, students selected a challenge from five open-ended physics problems and created a presentation of their findings in preparation of the Tournament. At each ‘Physics Fight’, the presentation is delivered to the jury and opposing team, and the opposition is given time to ask questions, critique the presentation, and then discuss physics with the reporter. With the guidance of Ms Carmen Keating, Mr Alan Allinson and Ms Amy Lubrano, we were able to enter two teams of five this year: BGGS Blue and BGGS White, who placed 6th and 3rd respectively. At the conclusion of the competition, guest speaker, Allissa Li (2013)—who competed in JYPT in 2011 and as part of the Australian team for IYPT in 2012 and 2013—delivered a speech. She talked about the importance of curiosity, consistency and the resilience developed through competitions like JYPT and how these become important dispositions in life as a Physicist and in other STEM careers.

She encouraged us to build connections within the small STEM world, and to value them. For a Physicist, curiosity is as important as intelligence. Angel Li (10G) BGGS Blue Team Captain

The International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT) is a scientific competition that mimics the real-world scientific research and the process of presenting and defending the results obtained. Every year, five secondary students across Australia are selected to represent the nation in the international stage. As a participant of JYPT last year, I continued my passion for scientific research and participated in the selection process. This year, I selected the problem ‘Shooting Rubber Band’, which investigated the motion of rubber bands when shot after being stretched non uniformly and the maximum travel distance that resulted. With the assistance and support from Mr Alan Allinson and Mr Anthony Lumsden, a range of experiments were performed; particularly, we used a high-speed camera to capture the motion of the rubber band at different stages of release. Overall, I placed sixth across the nation during the selection process. While I was not able to participate in the international stage, I have developed valuable scientific research skills throughout the competition. I am now starting to research for IYPT 2025 and looking forward to the new physics journey. I would like to thank the coordinator Mr Alan Allinson, for his continued support in physics research and Mr Anthony Lumsden for his help with all the experiments. Lauren Liang (11L) International Young Physicists’ Tournament (IYPT)

Physics Olympiad

The Physics Olympiad is a two-hour exam format competition that puts students’ logic and reasoning skills to the test. Consisting of challenging problems with theory beyond the scope of content taught in the classroom, it was a great opportunity to learn new concepts and extend our physics knowledge. After weekly lunchtime training with Mr Alan Allinson, we were equipped with formulas and problem-solving mindsets to conquer the exam. The questions pushed us to think more critically about the way motion, forces, waves, and many other topics apply to various situations (including slithering snakes and building Lego towers). While we did have a fire alarm during the exam, it was a great experience, and we encourage everyone to participate next year! Grace Gong (11O) and Sunnie Lin (11M)

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL 2024 | 101