The SYNT 2017 at the Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz FHNW ended successfully. The winners are Nina Klee and Simran Raheja from the team Diatomics (41.3 points). Nadine Benvenisti and Emma Otis from the team Photosympathise lost the final narrowly (39.6 points).
All the rankings can be found here
The very first "Swiss Young Naturalists' Tournament" took place last Saturday at the FHNW in Brugg. The 33 participating students aged between 11 and 16 spent months preparing for the tournament. Some of them built a machine to create tornados, others investigated the glowing of tonic water in UV light or tried to produce a sound from metal tubes with a bunsen burner.
In two rounds of "Science Fights" each participant was once in the role of the reporter and in the other round in the role of the opponent. Whereas the reporter had to present the theoretical and experimental findings of his or her research, the opponent had to analyse and discuss the work presented before. "The special format of this science competition requires not just scientific knowledge but also project management and rhetoric skills as well as team work from the participants." says Florian Koch, member of the organising committee.
The best two teams after the preliminary rounds qualified for the final. There Nina Klee and Simran Raheja from the team Diatomics managed to convince the jury and took the gold medal. For six of the participants the journey continues: They will represent Switzerland at the 5th IYNT, taking place this summer in China. Eric Schertenleib, spokesman of the organising association, concludes "Overall we are very happy with the outcome of the first SYNT. We have seen extraordinary presentations and vivid discussions among the participants. We are curious to see how the competition will develop in the years to come."
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