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Report & Highlights from Feb-2019 Entries of “Element of the Month (Feb-2019) for *IYPT-2019(HK) {The 5th month}

... & ….< Notes about Coming “ Mar-2019 EOTM*” >

* IYPT= “International Year of Periodic Table [pic]

( 國際週期表年 ) ....... * EOTM = “Element of the Month” (“月度元素”)

>> Organized by the Hong Kong Association of Science and Maths Education (From Oct-2018 to Apr-2019) for ALL Hong Kong Secondary Schools. Only 2 months left. If your students have NOT tried, encourage them to work on at least ONE – may be that’s the ONLY chance that they participate in an meaningful International Celebration! This event has been officially registered at the

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Only 2 Months Left (Mar & Apr) –-> Grasp your chance !!!

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The "International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT2019)" has been proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly and UNESCO in 2017 as it is being considered as “A Common Language for Science” since its discovery by Dimitry Mendeleev in 1869. 2019 happens to be the 150th anniversary of the Periodic Table and deserves a year of celebration. It is one of the most significant achievements in science, capturing the essence not only of chemistry, but also of physics and biology. (…… from ) As 2019 has slipped for two months, more and more events organized by different organizations round the World has been held. You could go for a look and encourage your colleagues and students to participate in some global events or to modify some for your LOCAL celebration. Afterall, your colleagues and students could benefit even if they pay a little effort in the global or local events while taking up their learning at different stages (especially in F.1 Science [Matter] or in F.3 [Chemistry or Science]). Check for more updates at

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Report on “Element of the Month Feb-2019” for IYPT-2019(HK) Competition

… details of the competition could be found at >Chem> EOTM [ “Element of the Month” ]

This is the fifth monthly entry of the EOTM-IYPT-2019(HK) competition and we have already slipped into 2019 – which denotes the proper onset of the “International Year of Periodic Table” as proclaimed by the UNESCO with the simultaneous celebration and memory of the 150th Anniversary of Mendeleev’s periodic law and IUPAC-100.

As expected, the number of entries for February has increased even this is the holiday- and exam-season with also a slight increase in the number of participating schools. Also, the overall standard of presentation remains high with some creative articles. Though formats may be similar to previous entries [already 5 months], the selected data and reason(s) for choosing the element for the MONTH (Feb this time) are more closely linked. This again shows that the means of communicating our knowledge with respect to different sectors is just limited by our imagination with in-depth research. Hence, with the support from the sponsorship, more awards had been issued in this EOTM-IYPT-2019(HK)Feb-entry. As for “reason(s) of choosing the element for February”, most could relate this special season to “New Year”, “celebration”, “Valentine / Love”, “peace wish at the beginning of Lunar New Year”, “Fresh”, “Winter to Spring transition”, .... – revealing that students could subsume other meanings in their academic studies and the context.

All Feb-2019 entries of the competition have been finalized and the results are presented in the table below. For overall comments and highlights of the Feb-entries, please check the section after the results table. IF your students have NOT tried this, the information could help them to draft their EOTM-articles for March and April – 2 Last Chances ONLY! Another means to HELP your students to draft their articles for this competition is a “parameter reference table” related to the Awards of the EOTM for IYPT2019(HK) [please check details in the ending sections]. We would like to take this chance to thanks all teachers’ and students’ support – without which this competition could not work at all. Thus, all other participants will receive a certificate of participation with a souvenir card [sample at end]. All data about this EOTM-IYPT2019(HK) competition will be compiled after April-2019 and be presented in a historical report to the International IYPT-2019. This means that their names will appear in the “Hall of fame” for the IYPT2019(HK) in the Report. The report (or part of it) will also be published in the 2019 Hong Kong Science Teachers’ Journal. { Regulations of this competition could be found at }

Results of “Element of the Month Feb-2019 for IYPT-2019(HK) ” ….

|Award |Student (Level) |School |Element presented (Title^^) |

|Best presentation |Ye Hui Yi (F4) |YCH Lan Chi Pat Memorial Secondary|“Be” – Be my Valentine |

| | |School | |

|Outstanding award(#) |Chu Lok Yi (F3) |St. Paul’s Convent School |Lead, please lead me to your World |

|Outstanding award |Suen Hoi Ying Amanda |Maryknoll Convent School (Sec. |The Valentine’s Element: Vanadium |

| |(F4) |Section) | |

| | | | |

|Merit 1(#) award |Hau Chin Man (F3) |St. Paul’s Secondary School |The Hope of Our Future: Helium-3 |

|Merit 1 award |Ha Duy Linh |Delia Memorial School (Hip Wo) |Gold – the element of Prosperity |

|Merit 1 award |Yuen Ho Yee (F5) |True Light Girls’ College |The most sociable element – Fluorine |

|Merit 1 award |Chu Ching Hang (F4) |Shau Kei Wan Government Secondary |Periodic Choir (He) |

| | |School | |

|Merit 1 award |Too Aza (F3) |St. Paul’s Convent School |The underdog of the year -- Selenium |

|Merit 1 award |Wong Ching Yi (F3) |Chiu Lut Sau Memorial Sec. School |The element which is closely related with |

| | | |China - Sulfur |

|Merit 1 award |Lam Man Ching (F5) |Chiu Lut Sau Memorial Sec. School |Gd: It it a good thing? (64) |

|Merit 1 award |Wan Tsz Ching (F5) |Chiu Lut Sau Memorial Sec. School |Student Profile of Sulphur |

| | | | |

|Merit 2(#) award |Ng Pui Yin |Stewards Pooi Kei College |Beryllium |

|Merit 2 award |Choi Cheung Kwan (F4) |Kwun Tong Government Sec. School |Contribution of Iodine |

|Merit 2 award |Ho Man Ying (F4) |Kwun Tong Government Sec. School |Our Essential Friend (O) |

|Merit 2 award |Wong Wing Lam (F4) |Buddhist Tai Hung College |Element File (Fe) |

|Merit 2 award |Chan Siu Hin (F4) |Buddhist Tai Hung College |Silicon in the World |

|Merit 2 award |Ho Mei Sze (F5) |True Light Girls’ College |Arsenic |

|Merit 2 award |Lam Kelly Kin Ting (F5) |True Light Girls’ College |Mendelevium (Md, 101) |

|Merit 2 award |Wu Hei Man (F4) |POCA Wong Siu Ching Secondary |Titanium |

| | |School | |

|Merit 2 award |Tai Wing Hei (F4) |POCA Wong Siu Ching Secondary |Helium |

| | |School | |

|Merit 2 award |Chan Hey (F4) |POCA Wong Siu Ching Secondary |Sulphur |

| | |School | |

|Merit 2 award |Lai Pak Him (F5) |HKCCCU Logos Academy |Sulphur WANTED! |

|Merit 2 award |Yau Yeuk Laam (F5) |HKCCCU Logos Academy |Antimony: A History |

|Merit 2 award |Charlie Au Yeung |St. Rose of Lima's College |B.. B... Bismuth |

|Merit 2 award |Young Man Tung |St. Rose of Lima's College |Iron |

|Merit 2 award |Hsu Jui Yu Jenny (F3) |St. Paul’s Convent School |Amazing Aluminium |

|Merit 2 award |Chu Tsz Wai Jamie (F3) |St. Paul’s Convent School |The Story of Carbon |

|Merit 2 award |Sin Pui Kwan Jessica (F3) |St. Paul’s Convent School |Zinc Everywhere |

|Merit 2 award |Chui Ka Hei Hilary (F4) |Maryknoll Convent School (Sec. |The Annual Plutonium Report |

| | |Section) | |

|Merit 2 award |Cheung Ka Wai (F5) |Chiu Lut Sau Memorial Sec. School |Student Profile of Sulphur |

|Merit 2 award |Ku Kiu Lam (F5) |Chiu Lut Sau Memorial Sec. School |Promoting Platinum |

|Merit 2(#) award |Chien Yuk Ling (F3) |CCC Heep Woh College |The most awesome celebrity - Oxygen |

|Notes: | |

|(#) |>> Due to the high standard in the overall presentations, with the support of the sponsors, the number of merit |

| |awards have been raised. The merit awards are expanded with 2 levels – “Merit 1” will have a higher honour than |

| |“Merit 2”. |

| |>> The Best and Outstanding articles will be posted in relevant link at . |

|(^^) About “Title” of the |-- Some titles in the above table have been bold and highlighted. They are examples of brilliant ideas and some |

|articles & Insights to |with inspired creative HEADINGS to draw our attention about links between the study of the Periodicity and |

|Teachers for planning further |Applications with this EOTM & IYPT aims. Students and teachers should check the major essence of the IYPT-2019 when|

|related activities |drafting their articles in coming EOTM (still have Feb to Apr). Teachers may also have insights about how we could|

| |introduce elements and periodicity to students in our lessons and / or coming activities. |

| |-->> Also, in order that students could have more focused parameters in drafting their articles for this EOTM |

| |competition, a “parameter reference table” related to the Awards is included in the LAST Section of this Report. |

| |-->> Further, an overall Final Grand Report (after Apr-2019 entry) will be concluded with your students’ |

| |contribution and effort in making this International Celebration of IYPT a success. |

Congratulations to all award winners and thanks all teachers and students in supporting the event. The “Element of February for IYPT-2019(HK)” would thus be “Beryllium”.

As the activity is to encourage all teachers and students to participate in this meaningful and historical global celebration, all other participants will also have “Certificates of Participation” and their names will appear in the Final overall Report of IYPT-2019(HK) in the Association Journal (to be published in Aug/Sep-2019). The situation will be similar to the grand global celebration in IYC-2011 (IYC = International Year of Chemistry) in Hong Kong and around the World ().

The HKASME organizes this “Element of the Month for IYPT-2019(HK)” competition for Secondary School students for 7 months (from Oct-2018 to Apr-2019) is to catalyze and celebrate the IYPT-2019 in Hong Kong. We hope all participants could continue their sharing and have their zeal for scientific exploration continue to grow strong. Due date for the next Mar2019-entry is 6/3/2019 -- ONLY 2 months left! Encourage your students to take part in this remarkable and historical global scene and they could have their footprint stamped in their life portfolio.

>> More Updates -- from the IYPT-2019 .... ==> Check the Events ...

Hence, you and your students are encouraged to discover everything about IYPT2019 via the official website () and join the global celebrations! Stepping into 2019, more and more institutes have their IYPT-activities posted on the official website: Events Our EOTM-IYPT activity has also been registered. Though most local activities are limited to their academics and students, we could always learn from others and have similar activities drafted in our schools or communities. You are also reminded that you could initiate IYPT activities in your class, school or community to enrich and enhance your students’ learning horizon from local to global context. Please check the following channels for updates and changes. Such events might also fit in your School’s STEM plans with interdisciplinary ideas.

IYPT2019 ; IYPT2019 ; IYPT2019

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Highlights from Feb-2019 Entries of EOTM for IYPT-2019(HK) …..

As the activity will continue for months up to Apr-2019, teachers and students may like to gain different ideas from the February participants. Below are some highlights from the Feb-EOTM-IYPT2019(HK) entries.

A) General performance and some screening issues in Feb-entries of EOTM_IYPT-2019

In general, the quality and variety of presentation have improved over the months. Most students could highlight “selected” features of their chosen element in the presentation within a limited space (one A4) by using a wide range of communication formats and contextual ideas. Yet some students still neglect the criteria in the screening in the following aspects. In order to enhance students’ performance in the LAST 2 months of EOTM, a “parameter reference table” is provided for reference in drafting their articles and / or in other learning activities.

A-1/ About the “Title” --> Still a few % did NOT give a meaningful / outstanding “Title”. This is to remind students (and teachers) that an attractive title could help them to focus on their research. Remember that “communication” is two-way. The title is important for readers to gain first insights before detail encounter of the actual article.

A-2/ About the reason(s) of “chosen element FOR THAT MONTH” (remember the title of the competition) --> Though most had given reason(s) for the chosen element (and some are quite good), it is surprised that some had NOT included those reasons in their presentation ==> WHY the element serves to be the “Element of the Month (Feb. for this entry)” ?! It is quite remarkable that some had given an A4 page of reason – similar to another article!

Of course, some still could not give a remarkable reason for their choice – especially NOT linking their drafts to our competition title “Element of the Month (next month is March)”. With hints given before, most students could relate “February” to various kinds of celebrations and meaning behind the scene. For example, February has several meaning – most mentioned about “Lunar New Year”, about “Valentine’s Day & Love”; and / or other meanings they could think of, like “fresh”, “winter to spring”, “TWO”, ..... Sometimes, the reasons may be personal due to their special life encounters and also with a grand view of further science expectation. This is NOT a simple “searching exercise” about properties of elements, but stick to the theme and essence that the Periodic Law could affect us in all walks of life. Hence, thinking about what the coming month “Mar-EOTM-2019” mean for you and / or science and have your chosen element fixed and linked. We are waiting for your more brilliant ideas in the course of scientific endeavour -- ONLY 2 more months to go (March & April)!

A-3/ About presentation --> Most format of presentation still follow the traditional list of properties and / or some retrieved figures. Actually, the list of title in the awards of this Month [Feb] (See Table above) showed that there are endless ways of presenting your ideas – e.g. “dialogue”, “portfolio”, “news report”, “calendar events”, “cartoon”, “blogs”, “contrasting links”, “peotic”, etc. Anyway, the limit of such formats is your imagination with your deeper thoughts in linking the elements with our daily life and scientific research. We are glad to see that students keep on trying different ways to present their ideas – especially those linked to applications and sustainability.

Other than the formal page, students could also extend their presentation and communication with techniques on the 2D page. That includes: background figures, background and foreground colours, watermarks, special logos / effects, .... etc. All such efforts could stimulate students’ learning with a multi-dimensional perspective that fits into the 21st Century Skills {creative expanded spaces – information / message could be delivered with “color”, “special logos”, etc... }. Teachers could really gain insights from such GOOD students’ presentations and enhance our way of presenting the instructional materials in our forth coming activities!

However, two extremes in the presentation format that may not be a good means. One extreme is a batch of words without paragraphs or columns or sections. The other extreme is just a simple list of facts or properties. Students should learn to have multiple perspectives of thinking and relating different parameters with the given context.

Lastly, we would like to remind teachers and students again that the major focus of this competition is the themes given in the IYPT-2019 proclamation – “mainly about the systematic science studies and contributions to development of the human race with the periodic table as a universal language and tool” plus our title “Element of the Month (Next is March)”.

As this is the fifth entry of the competition, some students had already learnt how to present the most outstanding features in order to have “most items” included in a refined 2D-space. We would like to stress once again that the screening of the EOTM-IYPT is NOT JUST based on the article presented; that also involves the reason(s) and other meanings behind your chosen element for the month. We hope that this competition is NOT just a way for students and teachers to participate in a remarkable and historical international event; BUT ALSO hope students could practice and expand their 21st Century Skills areas – especially “in-depth thinking”, “creativity” and “communication skills” in this exercise!

(A-4) Parameter reference table concurred from the past presentations for Students’ and Teachers’ reference to draft their articles in the coming EOTM and / or other learning activities in their life. One may consider the design of the article with the following Level objectives (5 being the top one) and the related award scheme. Of course, there is no upper limit to the performance as students’ creativity and communication skills is borderless.

|Level |Item(s) involved |

|5 |+ (2) + (3) + (4) plus effective presentation formats with meaningful items / identities |

|4 |+ (2) + (3) plus a sound and attractive “TITLE” |

|3 |+ (2) plus suitable presentation strategies and formats (e.g. news, letter, peotic style, ....) |

|2 |Plus links to clarified context (The Month) – e.g. festival, personal meanings, ... |

|1 |Selected properties / features of the CHOSEN element |

|Award Level |Remarks |

|Outstanding |Items in all levels |

|Merits |Items in Level 1 to 4 |

|Participation |Items in Level 1 to 3 |

B) Some statistics from the Feb-2019 entries – this will be cumulated and be presented in an overall report in our Teachers’ Journal in 2019.

(B-1) Participants’ study level – F.3 and below (29%), F.4 (32%), F.5 (37%), F.6 (0%)

As this competition has no limit to the level of participants because we believe that all F.1 to F.6 students could have the chance of presenting their ideas and they could learn on a needed base once they grasp the principle of the periodic system. You may notice that, compared with the previous entries, there is a significant % of increase in the lower forms. This is surely due to the fact that most F6 students are preparing for their DSE. And, for lower form students, they may begin to touch on the study of materials related to elements and hence, the periodic table. All we need is to introduce the beauty of the Periodic Table and the periodic law as a useful tool for scientific studies which has sustained the long years of applications since 1869. As for how that could utilize elements to raise our standard of living in the material and spiritual world is up to the users – we all humans with the help of continuous scientific research in different areas of applications. And, some lower form articles are much better presented than the higher forms!

(B-2) Entries without “Title” = 12% …. Still quite a difficult issue for students and teachers?

Also, about 18% just use the element name as title. This leaves room for teachers to encourage students to think a step further in their learning with elements other than just fact-finding and retrieving. The updated 3D framework for K-12 Science Education (promoted by the NSTA) has emphasized “cross-cutting” as one of the dimension of learning. The push of students to think deeper into the drafting of the title for their article design could help them to think divergently and correlate their learning with all different sectors of knowledge. You may like to show the titles to your students in the “Awards Table” and let them think or imagine how could those be derived at.

(B-3) Entries without reason = 0% …. Yet, some just give a very vague reason. E.g. amazing, just like it, etc. If you have checked that the updated “Submission Form” has changed the “reason column” from just “reason(s) for choosing the element” to “reason(s) for choosing the element FOR February”. This may alert students to address this screening item more. Hence, several articles actually had submitted another page to explain why they choose that element for Feb. Of course, we wont discourage students to do that as they should decide their own way of presenting their ideas.

(B-4) Language presentation: 12% in Chinese …. This does not mean that Chinese presentation would be subordinate to those English. And, eventually we have ONE picked article that won the Best presentation for this month in Chinese.

(B-5) Chosen Elements:

Group |I |II |III |IV |V |VI |VII |VIII |T.M. | |% |10 |10 |10 |6 |9 |16 |4 |6 |34* | |*Inner transition metal series = 7%.

Again, this statistics is just for reference. There is no indication of any preference or encouraging different focus in your choice of element for the competition. Afterall, the special features that students could think of depends on really what they could like to deliver to the audience and in part – be contributive to this remarkable year of IYPT-2019.

* One special feature in this Feb-entries is that quite a number of students chose “inner transition metals” as their choice for the Month. That include the lanthanides and actinides with atomic number (58 to 71) and (89 to 103) respectively. They chose that mostly because they think people are ignoring them and would like to introduce it to others.

(B-6) Presentation style:

Similar to previous entries, many students have used both graphics and text in presenting their ideas. Though there were not much “new” style found in this Feb-entries, there still quite a number of good presentation with varied themes highlighted. Anyway, the perspectives of presentation could be multi-level and multi-purpose – not just about the use of “words”, but could be a combination of word, graphics and / or setting of the page-frame, e.g. using different coloured letters and / or different style to represent something.

C) Note about coming entries – Just TWO months to go !!! ... Mar and April....

(C-1) There will be different deadline for different months. There may be some minor changes for each month but the basic framework will not change – check the aims of the original IYPT-2019 proclamation. Hence, the regulations and submission form will be different for different month. The “Mar-2019” related documents will be posted online for use at . The deadline for March Submission is 6/3/2019 .

(C-2) Please direct all entries and information, including the “submission form”, “students’ articles”, etc. to the email box : iypt2019@

(C-3) If you submit your entries after the deadline (e.g. 15/2 for Feb-Entry), your entry will be transferred to the next month (if available). Please keep note of the due date for each month’s entry.

(C-4) Again, just to remind students that the choice of element with their own reasons matter for the awards. What would March mean for you and your students? Let them imagine and find links between their choices and features of the relevant choice. We would like to wait and welcome all wonderful ideas in the March entries.... Learning never ends with such wonders!

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Awaiting your further brilliant ideas for the March-entries for the EOTM-IYPT-2019(HK)!

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Celebrations of the IYPT in other parts of the World ...

e.g.1/ Periodic Table of Young Chemists ... global – at IUPAC-100..

Per.Table of Young Chemists --- This has been ongoing for a while. And, there are quite a number of nominations with videos online. This may stimulate your students in learning science by experiencing all such young chemists at work. .

e.g.2/ Stories from the Periodic Table --

You may find different ideas from others’ stories related to the Periodic Table.

For more events around the World – please go to



The Hong Kong event “Element of the Month” is also registered on this official site of IYPT.

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