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At the tournament, teams present their findings in a “science battle” format. One team acts as the Reporter, presenting their investigation and conclusions, while another team takes on the role of Opponent, questioning the methods, evidence, and reasoning behind the presentation. A Juror oversees the discussion and ensures the scientific debate remains constructive and focused.

Teams earn points for both presenting their own scientific work clearly and convincingly, and for critically analysing and questioning the work of other teams. Students must think on their feet, defend their ideas, and respond to scientific questions in front of judges and peers.

The Year 9 Science Tournament celebrates curiosity, teamwork, and scientific thinking, and provides students with a fun opportunity to develop skills in investigation, reasoning, communication, and scientific debate.

Templates to support students to create their presentations along with scoring guidelines are available.

An example of a problem might be: “Put as many drops of water as you can onto a 10 cent coin. Investigate the parameters that affect the number of drops of water the coin can hold before spilling.”

Click here for full details.

Rules

Each school team is composed of up to four students plus one teacher/mentor.

Three teams participate in a ‘science fight’. In each stage of the fight one team will act as a  Reporter and present the solution to the problem. Another team will act as an Opponent that will critique the presentation. The third team in this stage acts as
Observer.

During the fight, the students of a team can communicate only with each other. Team leaders and spectators cannot interact with the students during any one stage. Before the beginning of a fight, the jury and the teams are introduced.

During the tournament each team member can report and oppose only one problem. The performance order of a fight: (maximum time in minutes shown)
• Presentation of the report – 10min
• Questions of the Opponent to the Reporter and answers of the Reporter – 2min
• Preparation of the Opponent – 3min
• The Opponent takes the floor – 4min
• Discussion between the Reporter and the Opponent – 6min
• Clarifying questions from the Jury – 3min
• Awarding of marks – 2min
• Juror feedback to the teams – 3min

Total time of stage is 33 minutes

Break between stages is only 5 minutes if all the allocated time is used.

The Reporter presents the essence of the solution to the problem, attracting the attention of the room to the main physical ideas and conclusions. The Opponent puts questions to the Reporter and criticises the report, pointing to possible inaccuracy and errors in the understanding of the problem and in the solution. The Opponent analyses the advantages and drawbacks of both the solution and the presentation of the Reporter. The Opponent can raise new physical concepts that clearly apply to the work of the Reporter but cannot present his/her own solution. During a fight only one member of a team takes the floor as Reporter or Opponent. Other student members of the team are allowed to pass notes to the person on the floor, make brief clarifying remarks or help with the presentation technically.

2026 Problems / Entries

This year’s problems and entry form will be live on 1 June 2026.