science

National Geographic World Championship

National Geographic World Championship is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand National Geographic World Championship rather than just read about it. In short: The National Geographic World Championship (previously called the International Geography Olympiad, which is now the title of another similar competition for older schoolchildren) is a biennial, two-day-long international geography competition typically held in late July or early August. The Championship was first held in 1993, and is sponsored by the National Geographic Society.

Key takeaways

National Geographic World Championship belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect National Geographic World Championship to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of National Geographic World Championship from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The National Geographic World Championship (previously called the International Geography Olympiad, which is now the title of another similar competition for older schoolchildren) is a biennial, two-day-long international geography competition typically held in late July or early August. The Championship was first held in 1993, and is sponsored by the National Geographic Society. Teams of three students plus one alternate are selected from among those who finished highest in their respective countries' national competitions (e.g. the National Geographic Bee in the US, the Olimpíada Geográfica Argentina in Argentina or the Australian Geography Competition in Australia). On the first day of competition, these teams take a written test on which all members confer and work together, then take part in a team geography skills-testing activity, such as using a map to find specified locations in unfamiliar surroundings. The scores from these two events are tallied, and the top three teams advance to the final round on the second day. The final round consists of questions primarily in the style of the National Geographic Bee, as a moderator (since 1993, Alex Trebek) reads questions to one team or one individual at a time. These questions may also involve the use of visual aids such as maps or photographs. Members of the top three teams receive bronze, silver, or gold medals for finishing third, second, or first, respectively. The National Geographic World Championship was initiated by the National Geographic Society in 1993. To be able to participate in the biennial competition (held every other year), a National Geographic approved organization in a country (the “Country Sponsor”), working with the Ministry of Education in the country, must run its own annual nationwide geography competition which is open to most students under 16 years of age, based on school level, regional and/or national competitions. In the US it is called “The National Geographic Bee”. Other nations have different names for their competitions. Student team members must be 16 years of age or younger and not out of secondary school, at the time of the international competition. Each Country Sponsor is responsible for managing its own national competition, including compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. National Geographic has hosted nine international competitions to date. The medals are for recognition purposes and have no significant monetary value.

Rules and regulations Each Country Sponsor can send a team of three (3) students and one adult escort to the National Geographic World Championship. As the event has grown, they must be firm with this number and cannot permit other students or adults to attend the activities associated with the event, other than the final part of the competition on the last day. The adult escort must be fluent in English, be knowledgeable on the subject of geography, and be associated with the national competition in their country. A student may not participate in more than one international competition. Students must be no older than 16 years of age at the time of the international competition.

Locations and winners 1993 Location: London, England, UK

First place: United States (Captain Noel Erinjeri, Michigan; Michael Ring, Rhode Island; Jeffrey Hoppes, Pennsylvania) Second place: United Kingdom (Captain Colm Walsh; Richard Webb; David Hunt) Third place: Russia (Captain Roman Amburtsev; Valerij Perelygin; Roman Fomin) 1995 Location: Orlando, Florida, US

First place: Australia (Michael Lyon, Victoria; Patrick Chan, New South Wales; Michael Molinari, Western Australia) Second place: United Kingdom Third place: Canada 1997 Location: Washington, D.C., US Dates: August 5–6

First place: Canada (Durgesh Saraph, Ontario; Rohan Verghese, Ontario; Armand Gaudry, British Columbia; Pierre-Marc Lanteigne, Quebec) Second place: Argentina Third place: Russia 1999 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Dates: August 10–11

First place: United States (David Beihl, Saluda, South Carolina; Jason Borschow, San Juan, Puerto Rico; John Kizer, Portsmouth, Ohio; Evan Sparks, Germantown, Tennessee) Second place: Canada Third place: Russia 2001 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Dates: August 1–2

First place: United States (Kyle Haddad-Fonda, Bellevue, Washington; Nicholas Jachowski, Pukalani, Hawaii; Steven Young, Reston, Virginia; Joe Henry Legan, Haughton, Louisiana) Second place: Canada Third place: Hungary 2003 Location: Tampa, Florida, US Dates: July 15–16

First place: United States (Captain John Rice, Maddock, North Dakota; Dallas Simons, Nashville, Tennessee; Alexander Smith, Burlington, North Carolina) Second place: Germany (Captain Julian Nitzsche, Bautzen, Saxony; Sebastian Norck, Sonneberg, Thuringia; Sebastian Wildgrube, Meuro, Saxony-Anhalt) Third place: France (Captain Vincent Lafon, Paris; Antony Lee, Les Ulis; Thibaut Decazes, Versailles) 2005 Location: Budapest, Hungary Dates: July 11–14

First place: United States (Captain Andrew Wojtanik, Overland Park, Kansas; Jesse Weinberg, Coral Gables, Florida; Karan Takhar, North Attleboro, Massachusetts) Second place: Russia (Captain Ivan Prokhorov, Murmansk; Vera Efremova, Sterlitamak; Renat Temirgaleev, Orenburg) Third place: Canada (Captain Daniel Siracusa, Burnaby, BC; Nathan Friedman, Kamloops, BC; John Yao, Toronto, Ontario). 2007 Location: San Diego, California, US Dates: August 5–10

First place: Mexico (Captain Angel Aliseda Alonso, Guadalajara; Carlos Franco Ruiz, Zapotlan de Juarez; Emanuel Johansen Campos, Tejalpa) Second place: United States (Captain Matthew Vengalil, Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan; Neeraj Sirdeshmukh, Nashua, New Hampshire; Kelsey Schilperoort, Prescott, Arizona) Third place: Canada (Captain Jonathan Whyte, Toronto, Ontario; Marky Freeman, Thornhill, Ontario; Maxim Ralchenko, Ottawa) 2009 Location: Mexico City, Mexico Dates: July 9–16

First place: Canada (Chris Chiavatti, British Columbia; Peter Brandt, Manitoba; Graham Tompkins, Nova Scotia.) Second place: United States (Kenji Golimlim, Southgate, Michigan; Milan Sandhu, Bedford, New Hampshire; Eric Yang, The Colony, Texas.) Third place: Poland (Piotr Byrski, Łodygowice, Ślaskie; Wojciech Kaczmarczyk, Racibórz, Ślaskie; Gabriel Stachura, Lublin, Lubelskie.) 2011 Location: San Francisco, California, US Dates: July 23–28

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with National Geographic World Championship

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what National Geographic World Championship claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to National Geographic World Championship before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about National Geographic World Championship ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of National Geographic World Championship

In research: National Geographic World Championship appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses National Geographic World Championship in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: National Geographic World Championship is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics National Geographic Bee, National Geographic Society, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for National Geographic World Championship outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study National Geographic World Championship in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what National Geographic World Championship means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain National Geographic World Championship out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is National Geographic World Championship in simple terms?

Why does National Geographic World Championship matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study National Geographic World Championship?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on National Geographic World Championship.