VietNamNet Bridge – All six students on Vietnam’s team in the 15th International Junior Science Olympad (IJSO) held in Botswana from December 2 to 10 pocketed medals, including four gold medals and two silvers, the Vietnam News Agency reports.

Vietnam’s team at the 15th IJSO - VNA/VNS Photo

The medals headlined the country’s best result in its nine years of participation in the competition, with the team securing third place out of 44 countries and territories behind Chinese Taipei and Thailand.  

Tenth grader Nguyen Manh Quan from Hanoi – Amsterdam High School for the Gifted won a silver medal in Best for Theory while the group of Nguyen Le Thao Anh, Vu Quynh Chi and La Trieu Duong won a gold medal in Experiments.

According to Ho Quoc Viet, Vietnam’s team leader, leading scientists set challenges that required skills of deduction and analysis. This year’s questions focused on the ecological and environmental problems of Botswana and the world.

Participants took three 180-minute tests including a multiple-choice test, a theory test and practical experiments on the topics of Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

Speaking at a meeting with the Vietnam team, the Vietnamese ambassador to South Africa and Botswana Vu Van Dung congratulated the students on their achievements and expressed his hope that they continue with excellent performances at other competitions.

Held for the first time in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2004, IJSO has been hosted in different countries around the world to challenge, stimulate and encourage students to perform their talents and pursue their passion in natural sciences.

The competition also offers educators a chance to share their experiences to improve education quality and accelerate global science education. 

Source: VNS