International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO) is a competition in science for students who are fifteen years old. IJSO aims to promote interest in science among school students, exposing them to problem solving, critical thinking and experimentation. Over the years IJSO aims to positively impact science and mathematics education at school level. The short articles here are based on the questions prepared for the selection of IJSO students who represented India at the International competition on several occasions. I have included some of the topics in which I contributed the major portions. It also contains problems discussed with my colleagues and occasional inputs from the team members of JSO who are acknowledged at appropriate places. The other problems discussed by other team members will be discussed in a separate compilation.
The articles go beyond the question-and-solution format by describing the thought process behind the questions, the detailed explanation of the solution and many other related descriptions. Hence, some of the assumptions in the topics deviate from reality but are not un-realistic and the further analysis is based on those simplistic assumptions for school children.
The target audience is the class VII and X students and their teachers with the purpose of introducing them to challenging topics of nature which involve several different concepts of science and mathematics, often at the same time. My intention had been to expose the students to concept of integration of different sciences, a key feature of IJSO.
During my leadership, several interesting problems were designed for the selection process of the Jr. Science Olympiad students who represented India at the international event every year. During this period Indian teams did exceptionally well at the IJSO. In 2007, the first year, three students participated and all three received silver medals. In 2008, a full team of 6 students represented India and the team received 5 silvers and one bronze medal. This later turned out to be the only bronze medal India ever received in IJSO under my leadership. The performance of the team peaked in its last 5 years. Out of 30 participants, India received 25 gold and 5 silver medals. In these years the world ranking of India was 1", 2nd, 1st, 3nd and 2nd, respectively. These glorious years of IJSO were also marked with Experimental Gold Medal and Experimental Silver Medal. I also had my share of personal achievement when I was selected as the vice-President of IJSO from 2012-2015 and then as President of IJSO from 2015-2022.
Though the chapters in this book are based on questions of JSO, they aim to strengthen the learning process of the students. Hence, the articles are intended to make interesting observations in science which can help students enhance their knowledge base, which will help them in tackling not only competitive exams of various kinds but also prepare them for real-life situations in their future career.
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