15th National Koshien of Science Competition
Champion Okayama Asahi High School to Compete at a U.S. Tournament

A single answer is reached through discussion, formulating hypotheses, and repeated trial and error. The National Koshien* of Science is a competition where that process is put into practice through scientific knowledge and team collaboration.

The 15th National Koshien of Science competition was held in Ibaraki Prefecture on March 22. Teams of senior high school students selected from 697 schools nationwide gathered to compete in comprehensive scientific skills through written exams and three hands-on events.

The overall champion was Okayama Asahi Senior High School, representing Okayama Prefecture. They are scheduled to compete in a science competition in the United States in May.
 

• *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.

 

Koshien of Science, a Competition that Puts Science into Practice

The Koshien of Science, a science competition for high school students, is organized by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). Teams address cross-disciplinary challenges in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and engineering. Participants discuss the challenges with their peers, form hypotheses, and tackle challenges through experiments and a process of trial and error. This competition assesses not merely the amount of knowledge, but also scientific thinking and collaborative skills that are applicable to real-world situations.

Oita Uenogaoka High School, SHIMADZU Award Winner

Since the first competition, Shimadzu Corporation and Shimadzu Rika Corporation have supported the Koshien of Science as corporate sponsors. We present the SHIMADZU Award to the school ranked third in overall performance.

This year, it was awarded to Oita Uenogaoka High School, representing Oita Prefecture. Here, we introduce the challenges the students tackled.

A Competition Transcending Domains

Experiencing Wave Behavior in a Water Tank
Hands-on Event (1) was titled “The Wonders of Ocean Wave Speeds.” In this event, surface waves and internal waves were generated in a large water tank, and their wavelengths and propagation speeds were measured. Waves transmit energy rather than transporting particles; participants gain an intuitive understanding of this through hands-on experiments.

Their capacity to understand natural phenomena from a physical perspective is tested, including the reproduction of changes in internal waves due to density differences. This theme is related to the field of disaster prevention, including forecasts of tsunamis and tidal waves, as well as coastal planning.

La Salle High School, representing Kagoshima Prefecture, took first place in this event.

Approaching Unknown Substances through Ion Exchange and Neutralization Titration
Hands-on Event (2) was titled “Ion Exchange Express.” In this chemistry experiment, an ion exchange resin was combined with neutralization titration to determine the solution concentration and the sample’s molar mass.

Ion exchange is widely used in practical applications such as purification of water and food, and recovery of precious metals from waste streams. Neutralization titration is indispensable for measuring food acidity and is widely used in pharmaceutical and environmental analyses when precise concentrations are required.

The event required teams to understand ion exchange mechanisms, operate the equipment, and accurately analyze titration data. Winning depends on a knowledge of chemical stoichiometry, experimental accuracy, and role allocation within teams.

In this event, Ishikawa Prefectural Kanazawa Izumigaoka High School took first place.

Electromagnetic Challenge: Design, Analysis, and Strategy
Hands-on Event (3) was titled “Aiming for the Cup with Electromagnetic Force.” The goal was to send aluminum rings flying into a distant cup using electromagnetic induction. At the venue, participants adjusted circuits and coils created in advance, searching for the optimal launch conditions.

In addition to understanding electromagnetic induction, important factors included structural design and data analysis, as well as strategic decisions such as whether to aim for consistently getting rings into the cup or to scatter many rings across a wide area.

Overall champion Okayama Asahi Senior High School also took first place in this hands-on event. In addition, the team from Ichikawa Gakuen Ichikawa Junior High School in Chiba Prefecture, the winner of the Junior Koshien of Science and the recipient of the SHIMADZU Award, participated as an exhibition team. They succeeded in getting many rings into the cup and advanced to the finals alongside the high school teams.

Written Exam Bringing Together Multiple Disciplines
In the written exam, six participants divide roles and submit a single answer sheet as a team. In addition to foundational knowledge across multiple fields, the exam tests the ability to read new information, integrate it, and solve problems.

In this exam, Todaiji Gakuen Senior High School, representing Nara Prefecture, took first place and finished second overall.

Competing Internationally at the Science Olympiad

Okayama Asahi Senior High School, the champion, will compete in the Science Olympiad, one of the world’s largest international science competitions, held in the United States on May 22-23. The top 120 teams from across the United States gather to compete.

Leveraging cross-disciplinary knowledge and the ability to tackle challenges as a team cultivated at the Koshien of Science, the Okayama team will demonstrate their abilities on the international stage while networking with peers from other countries.

Conveying Science and Manufacturing through Corporate Exhibitions

Shimadzu Rika Corporation, which handles the Shimadzu Group’s science education business, in collaboration with the International Physics Olympiad 2023 Commemorative Association, introduced its initiatives with a focus on the “Physics Exam Lab: Physics Entrance Exam Lab Series™,” which faithfully reproduces physics questions from past university entrance exams as hands-on experiment kits.

Shimadzu Corporation introduced a project that appeared on NHK’s “Night of the Makaizo Society” TV show as one example of measures to apply scientific expertise to actual manufacturing and to tackle challenges through a process of trial and error. The project conveyed how scientific and engineering approaches are put into practice through processes of design and improvement.

Staff from Shimadzu Rika Corporation demonstrating “Smart Cart,” a dynamic pushcart, and “Magnet Train Passing through a Coil,” from the experiment kit at the corporate exhibition corner

Shimadzu will continue to support and encourage the younger generation as they take on challenges and build the future.

Note: Photos and images provided by JST.