Fierce Competition at National Junior Koshien of Science
Team from Saitama Prefecture Wins SHIMADZU Prize

Shimadzu Corporation and Shimadzu RIKA Corporation, which is involved in physics and chemistry education equipment and other businesses, cosponsored the 12th National Junior Koshien^* of Science competition held from December 13 to 15, 2024, in Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture.

The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), hosted the event to provide a forum for junior high school students from throughout Japan to cooperate with other team members in competitions of science and mathematics in order to experience how fun and interesting science can be, notice the connections between science and our actual daily lives and actual society, and realize the significance of learning about science.

Due to its shared commitment to those goals, the Shimadzu Group, which operates based on a corporate philosophy of “Contributing to Society through Science and Technology,” has been providing support for both the Koshien of Science (held since 2012) for high school students and the Junior Koshien of Science (held since 2014) for junior high school students ever since the events were first established.

• * Koshien originally refers to a baseball stadium in Hyogo prefecture or the Japanese High School Baseball Championship held at the stadium. By extension, it is also used to mean a national tournament.

 

Enthusiasm and Excitement Just Like in the Koshien Baseball Stadium

The 3-day event kicked off with energetic voices of students shouting, “Start the competition!”

The 12th junior competition started with over 25,000 entries of seventh and eighth graders competing in preliminary heats and 282 students in 47 teams advancing to the national playoff tournament. Most of the teams were composed of a mix of students from neighboring schools.

Surprisingly, many of the students were reportedly not members of science or manufacturing-oriented school extracurricular activity clubs, but rather typically affiliated with exercise or humanities-related clubs. During the event, the students could be seen busily calling to each other as they built their devices, laughing and exchanging high-fives in response to good maneuvers in the practical skills competition, and occasionally reacting passionately, excitedly, or even crying with frustration as friends and family members watched their performance with bated breath. The atmosphere in that space full of science-loving junior high school students battling to be recognized as the best in Japan was truly like the Koshien baseball stadium.

The Competition Realizes the Expression “Science is a Practical Knowledge”

Cooperating as teams for the written test

The National Junior Koshien of Science competition includes a written test and a practical skills test. The written test includes “questions from multiple fields, such as science and mathematics, related to daily life and actual society or a combination thereof.” Questions require “integrating knowledge students have already acquired with new information indicated as necessary for the competition.” All the questions on the written test would be considered very advanced and difficult even for working adults.

However, unlike typical academic questions, they are characterized by many links to the global environment or society. It is even consistent with the statement by Shimadzu’s first President that “Science is practical knowledge. Knowing only theory is meaningless if it doesn't serve people's needs.”

Competing in the “Slope, Bump, and Jump!” event while realizing the laws of physics

The practical skills tests involved teams of three students conducting experiments, making things, and so on. The winning team is determined by the total number of points from each skill test. This year’s winner was the Ibaraki Prefecture team. In addition to the overall score, certificates were also presented to teams with the top score for each skills event.

Shimadzu Corporation and Shimadzu RIKA Corporation presented the SHIMADZU Prize to the Saitama Prefecture team that achieved first place in the “Slope, Bump, and Jump!” skills competition.

That competition is determined by the distance an object flies from a cart rolling down a slope when it bumps into a stopper due to momentum. Given that the materials, tools, and slope angle that can be used are prespecified, the teams of three junior high school students build carts and flying objects based on a design they considered in advance.

Manufacturing factors also had a major effect on results

Team characteristics varied widely, with some teams showing extensive advance preparation, other teams working together cooperatively, with more advanced students encouraging less experienced students, and some teams with wonderful ideas but struggling to create what they designed. There were also a variety of flying objects, such as bouncy balls or paper airplanes, flung or shot out by a crossbow or other mechanism. Each time a record was broken, the crowd erupted in applause, maintaining a heightened sense of excitement to the very end, despite the three hours it took to build their designs and finish the practical testing.

The Saitama Prefecture team (combined team from Saitama Prefectural Ina Gakuen Junior High School and Kawaguchi Municipal Junior High School Attached to High School) that won the Shimadzu Prize used a bow-and-arrow design. In addition to the astonishing soaring flight, the structure also attracted significant attention.

Shimadzu Corporate Sponsor Exhibit

Members of the winning team also visiting the Shimadzu RIKA Corporation booth

After the competition, junior high school students who participated in the national competition spent time interacting and chatting as they visited the various corporate sponsor exhibition booths. At the Shimadzu RIKA Corporation and Shimadzu Corporation booth, Shimadzu RIKA displayed a smart dynamics cart kit that can be assembled to learn about mechanics (such as action and reaction forces) by using internal sensors to measure force, position, velocity, acceleration, and other quantities.

To the attending teachers, explanations of the Shimadzu Hands-On Analysis School were offered. Shimadzu started the school to provide opportunities for elementary, junior high, and high school students to become interested in science. The Shimadzu Group remains committed to continue fostering a sense of curiosity in children and engaging in activities that broaden their scope of interests.