{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.017241379310344827, 'fraction_numerical': 0.009852216748768473, 'mean_word_length': 5.3023255813953485, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
A new science competition for secondary school students: the First European Union Science Olympiad

The first European Union Science Olympiad (EUSO2003) took place at Dublin City University in April 2003. In this paper we discuss the philosophy behind and implementation of this new competition, and the role third-level institutions can play in making science more attractive to second-level students via competitions of this nature. Emphasis is placed on the interdisciplinary nature of the experiments, the team-working skills required and the potential for stimulating the uptake of science at second and third levels. We use an experimental problem on photosynthesis, which has a strong physics component, to illustrate our ideas and methodology and assess the overall success of the first EUSO competition.