{"id":2931,"date":"2026-08-25T11:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T23:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/?page_id=2931"},"modified":"2026-08-25T11:21:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T23:21:06","slug":"how-to-investigate-an-iypt-problem-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/?page_id=2931","title":{"rendered":"How to investigate an IYPT problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It can be daunting to start an investigation when there are no instructions.  But here is an outline of the process that can be applied to all of the 17 problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">Identify the phenomenon that the problem describes and what physics causes it to take place. There is likely to be more than one physics topic involved, for example, gravity and waves.\u00a0 These theories may be outside of your school physics curriculum.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">\u201cIdentify the variables.\u201d Break the problem down into the different physics features causing the phenomenon; for example, mass, brightness, size or speed. How does changing the value of variables change the phenomenon?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">Design, build and carry out (a series of) experiments that\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 21.6308px; letter-spacing: -0.1px;\">reproduce and record the phenomenon, and<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 21.6308px; letter-spacing: -0.1px;\">allow you to take reliable and precise data readings, and<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 21.6308px; letter-spacing: -0.1px;\">allow you to investigate the variables and how changing variables,\u00a0 changes your results, and<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>show that you any assumptions you make are correct.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">Analyse the data mathematically and represent it graphically. If possible, use a spreadsheet to help manipulate and plot data easily.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">Propose a theory or explanation for the phenomena by combining theory from the various physics topics involved. If possible, model this mathematically and\/or digitally.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">Discuss where your model\u2019s theoretical predictions differ from your experimental data. It is rare that theory perfectly fits experimental data.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">Refine your experiments by repeating repeat steps 1 to 6<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">Prepare a PowerPoint presentation of your work to use on Tournament Day. You will need to include\n<ul style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 21.6308px; letter-spacing: -0.1px;\">Good quality photos and videos that clearly show your key points<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 21.6308px; letter-spacing: -0.1px;\">References for facts and information NOT obtained from your experiments.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 21.6308px; letter-spacing: -0.1px;\">Acknowledge who has helped you and how.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 21.6308px; letter-spacing: -0.1px;\">Details of where you have used technology, (aka experimental equipment), including AI, to assist your research.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Practice giving your presentation to real people, using their feedback to improve it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-accent-1-color has-text-color has-link-color has-x-large-font-size wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Remember: All of this needs to be done well BEFORE Tournament day!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It can be daunting to start an investigation when there are no instructions. But here is an outline of the process that can be applied to all of the 17 problems. Remember: All of this needs to be done well BEFORE Tournament day!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2932,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2931","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2931"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2939,"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2931\/revisions\/2939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iypt.org.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}