Taiwan clinched six gold medals at this year’s International Junior Science Olympiad, topping the medal count among the 44 nations that participated in the competition in Botswana.
The event, which ran from Dec. 2 to yesterday in the capital, Gaborone, included individual and team competitions for students 15 years old or younger in the natural sciences — physics, chemistry and biology.
Six members of the Taiwanese team won a gold medal.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Education
One of the students, Chen Chien-yi (陳謙毅) of National Experimental High School in the Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區), also won the Olympiad’s best theoretical prize and placed second in the overall rankings.
Tseng Wei-fu (曾暐富) of Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School placed third overall.
Taiwan first participated in the Olympiad in 2004 and has topped the medal table 10 times, winning 77 gold medals to date.
The Olympiad is an annual science competition that fosters students’ problem solving and critical thinking abilities, as well as experimentation skills.
Between 30 and 50 member nations participate in the Olympiad each year, with each allowed to send a team of up to six students.
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