International Biology Olympiad
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The International Biology Olympiad (IBO) is a science olympiad for high school pupils. All participating countries send the four winners of their National Biology Olympiad to the IBO, accompanied by usually one team leader and two observers/jurors.
The aims of the IBO are to promote a career in science for talented students and to stress the importance of biology in our current society. It also provides a great opportunity to compare educational methods and exchange experiences. This is useful information to improve biology education on a national level. Since the organization of every National Olympiad requires the cooperation of many institutions, such as ministries of education, industry, teachers' associations, universities and schools, communication and cooperation between those institutions is promoted and intensified. And last but not least, the IBO stimulates contact between students and teachers from many countries in a friendly environment. To demonstrate this last aim, both students and teachers swear an oath of behaving according to the principles of Fair Play.
All participants are ranked based on their individual scores. These are based on the results of a theoretical and a practical test, each making up approximately fifty percent of the final score. Gold medals are awarded to the top 10% of students, silver medals are awared to the next 20% of students and bronze medals are awarded to the next 30% of students. Despite the oath on fair play, one student has been caught cheating and was disqualified.
The IBO's official languages are English and Russian. To provide equal opportunities for all participants, the tests are translated prior to the testing days. This is done by each country's own team leaders and jurors. This means they hold specific information on the tests before the participants should know. Therefore, teachers and students are lodged in separate accommodation. Only after testing they meet.
The importance of winning a medal differs greatly between countries. For students from South East Asia for example, winning a gold medal guarantees access to a university of choice and a fellowship. In several Western European countries and the United States, a medal brings no advantages of that kind to the student. This difference is probably reflected in the final results: many gold medals go to Asian students. Whereas some others might cheer if just one team member wins bronze, to them winning bronze would be a personal disaster. In spite of this, however, some countries whose students are much less pressured than in South East Asia have achieved outstanding success. For example, the team from the United States was ranked first in 2004 when they made IBO history by winning four gold medals.
Competition
The competition itself is composed of a theoretical and practical element. The theory exams cover a wide range of Biology: Cell Biology, Plant Anatomy and Phyisiology, Animal Anatomy and Physiology, Ethology, Genetics and Evolution, Ecology, and Biosystematics. The marks are usually scaled so that the theory and practical components each have a weighting of about 50%.
Past and future IBOs
Each year, the IBO is organised by a different country.
- Former Czechoslovakia, Olomouc in 1990
- Former Soviet Union, Machatskala in 1991
- Former Czechoslovakia, Poprad in 1992
- Netherlands, Utrecht in 1993
- Bulgaria, Varna in 1994
- Thailand, Bangkok in 1995
- Ukraine, Artek in 1996
- Turkmenistan, Ashgabad in 1997
- Germany, Kiel in 1998
- Sweden, Uppsala in 1999
- Turkey, Antalya in 2000
- Belgium, Brussels in 2001
- Latvia, Jurmala-Riga in 2002
- Belarus, Minsk in 2003
- Australia, Brisbane in 2004
- China, Beijing in 2005
- Argentina, Río Cuarto in 2006
- Canada, Saskatoon in 2007
- Kazakhstan in 2008
- Korea in 2009
- India in 2010
- Republic of China (aka Taiwan) in 2011
External links
Official IBO page (http://www.ibo-info.org/)
Websites of individual IBOs
- Kiel 1998 (http://www.ipn.uni-kiel.de/aktuell/ibo/ibo_web1.htm)
- Uppsala 1999 (http://teacher.ru.orebro.se/ibo/program.htm)
- Antalya 2000 (http://www.ibo2000.org.tr)
- Brussels 2001 (http://www.ibo2001.be)
- Jurmala-Riga 2002 (http://www.ibo2002.lv)
- Minsk 2003 (http://www.ibo2003.bsu.by)
- Brisbane 2004 (http://www.ibo2004.org.au)
- Beijing 2005 (http://www.ibo2005.org.cn/)