Taiwan took third place in the International Earth Science Olympiad in Thailand, after the team won two gold medals, one silver and one bronze, the Ministry of Education said.
Taiwan was behind only the US and Japan in the competition, which took place from Wednesday last week to Thursday.
It was the lowest ranking the nation has received in the competition since taking second place last year and previously securing the top spot for 10 consecutive years.
Photo: CNA
The team was made up of four high-school students, two of whom — Chung Cheng-cheng (鍾承成) from Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School and Tsai Cheng-hsuan (蔡承軒) from Taichung Saint Viator Catholic High School — secured gold medals.
Liu Cheng-han (劉承翰) from Taichung Municipal First Senior High School won silver and Jen Chin-yang from Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School won bronze.
Individually, Chung and Tsai were ranked eighth and ninth respectively among 139 students from 38 nations, while the other two students were ranked 21st and 46th, the ministry said.
A group of more than 10 professors led by National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) professor Chang Chun-yen (張俊彥) conducted a series of tests and training exercises to select the team members from among 493 aspirants, the ministry said.
This year’s questions were difficult for the students, especially ones that had several possible answers, said NTNU earth science professor Mii Horng-sheng (米泓生), who led the delegation.
The questions focused heavily on logical reasoning, which is a weakness for many Taiwanese students, Mii said, adding that few high schools in Taiwan have rock and material identification lessons, which is also an important part of the competition.
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