Ireland is about to host Europe's first science Olympiad, testing students' knowledge of physics, chemistry and biology, writes Dick Ahlstrom
A new science competition is about to pit some of the Republic's best students against contestants from six other countries. It will give our students a fresh opportunity to add to the winning ways seen in other competitions of the science Olympiad movement.
The international science Olympiads in biology, physics, computer programming, chemistry and mathematics started more than 30 years ago, with the Republic involved since the early 1990s, according to Dr Michael Cotter, a science lecturer at Dublin City University.
He is also director of the new European Union Science Olympiad, a competition he proposed to other EU states some years ago. His brainchild gets its first outing at the weekend, when students from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK arrive to participate in the inaugural European Olympiad, from April 6th to 13th.
Cotter has organised Irish entrants to the international competitions in physics, biology, chemistry and programming for some years. (University College Cork organises the mathematics Olympiad.) He floated the idea of an EU contest because he found European competitors just weren't up to international standards. "The gold medals always went to the large countries, and the European countries weren't doing so well," he says. Top prizes typically went to Iran, China, Korea, Taiwan, Russia and the US.
Irish involvement in the international events is on a 32-county basis; our award haul since 1994 isn't too bad, he believes: 29 gold, silver and bronze medals so far. But he thought European competitors might benefit from a competition of their own. "I put the proposal to the Germans, the English and others as I went to these events," he says. "The response was: Great idea, why don't you pursue it?"
He approached Noel Treacy, as Junior Minister for Science, who agreed to help with initial funding. Cotter also wrote via Treacy to the other EU science ministers, seeking support. Everything was ready to go last spring, but the foot-and-mouth outbreak suspended the kick-off for a year.
Cotter wanted the new competition to be different from the international event. He combined the separate Olympiads into a single contest that combines expertise in chemistry, biology and physics. "I also wanted to gear this towards the younger students, those 17 and under," he says. The internationals usually involve secondary students in their final year.
Because of separate UK and Irish involvement, he decided on a Republic of Ireland rather than all-Ireland team and changed from one practical and one theoretical test to two practical tests.
The Republic is fielding three three-person teams, with Germany and the UK also fielding three teams. Belgium and the Netherlands will have two each and Sweden and Spain one. The individual groups will face one test on Tuesday and one on Thursday, with four hours to solve each.
Each test will combine the three natural sciences in a single question that will require a collection of answers, not just one. "They will be given a problem to solve and will be marked on how they solve the problem," says Cotter. "The winners will get the first ever gold, silver and bronze European Union Science Olympiad medals."
There were several arguments in favour of the EU event as a complement to the international Olympiads, he believes. "The main purpose is to give students an opportunity to excel at their own level." This should help raise European standards to the international level.
Cotter also hopes it will encourage more students to stay with science as they make critical decisions during transition year. Participants are mostly fifth- and sixth-year students; a fourth year might be tempted to remain in science by the prospect of a spring trip to compete in a European capital.