TORONTO, May 3, 2002 -- It’s the day they’ve all been training for -- the 23rd annual Science Olympics at York University. Celebrating the excitement that young people have for science, this year’s Olympics on Friday, May 10, 9 a.m to 3:30 p.m. will attract a record 1,000 high school students from 65 schools across the province. They have been training seriously for this battle of wits and mettle that takes science out of the classroom and puts it into action.
"The students learn a lot about the real-world application of science, and some important life lessons about competing and taking risks at a time in their lives when they like to think they know just about everything," says Keith Aldridge, York professor of geophysics and founder of the event. "You have to see it to believe how excited these kids get. Some schools even bring cheerleaders."
York Professors in the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science have devised three new sports to entertain players and spectators in a show of the fundamental aspects behind modern scientific and technological advances.
Superbouncer: Student teams will be given the recipe and the chemicals to produce a complex polymer and shape it into a super ball, competing for completion time and the highest bounce. The ball will be dropped through a tube and will have to high-jump a bar set at the height the students think they can make. (217-C, Chemistry and Computer Science building)
Zigzag will put students on an orienteering course around the Keele St. campus using global positioning systems (GPS) technology to track them. (103 Petrie Science building)
Robocode Battle, named for the IBM robot code language that allows you to design a software robot. Each team may submit up to two Robocode robots that will battle it out on a big screen in the main hall of the new Computer Science Building. The finalists will compete in one big heat at the end of the day that promises to be a blast. (Hall A, new Computer Science building)
Teams will also compete in the old favourites:
Catapult: students will fire water-filled balloons from a giant catapult to targets at various distances in a field, demonstrating the fundamental laws of physics and mechanics in projectile launching. (York Common)
Bio-Steeplechase: students will answer multiple choice questions located at a series of obstacles and hurdles in a relay race.(Bethune College dining hall)
Fermi Questions: named for Enrico Fermi, who sought to challenge the logical thinking powers of his students with questions that required order-of-magnitude answers. For example, students could be asked to estimate the number of piano tuners in Toronto, and other similar questions involving simple arithmetic and sensible guessing. (Stong College, 203, 205, 212, 216, 218)
The Science Olympics kick off at 9 a.m. in Lecture Hall A of the new Computer Science building, Keele Campus, 4700 Keele St. For program details see the Website at: www.science.yorku.ca/olympics.
-30-
For further information, please contact:
| Prof. Keith Aldridge | Katrina Angel | Susan Bigelow |
| Dept. of Earth & Atmospheric Science | Liaison Officer | Media Relations |
| Faculty of Pure & Applied Science | Faculty of Pure & Applied Science | York University |
| York University | York University | 416-736-2100, ext. 22091 |
| 416-736-2100, ext. 77705 | 416-736-2100, ext. 30757 | sbigelow@yorku.ca |
| keith@yorku.ca | kangel@yorku.ca |
YU/045/02
