IUPAC and the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) have launched the Arabic version of the Periodic Table Challenge. The challenge is targeting young people and students around the world and an Arabic version of the challenge will extend participation from the MENA region.
The English version of PT Challenge 2.0 was launched early last month, and since then, over 15 000 tests have been taken from 110 countries/regions. Arabic is the second language for this challenge. The challenge provides basic information about periodic table elements in the form of multiple-choice questions divided into different levels: beginners, intermediate and advanced. At the end of the challenge the players are able to find all the correct answers, to enrich their knowledge of the chemical elements. The original PT Challenge took place last year, the International Year of the Periodic Table (IYPT2019), and was highly successful.
Prof. Mahmoud Sakr, ASRT president said “the launch of the periodic table challenge in Arabic is part of ASRT’s endeavor to promote scientific culture in society”. He added “looking at the map of PT challenge participants, we noticed the weak participation from the Arab region. We hope that an Arabic version of the challenge will allow better participation from the Arab region.” Prof. Sameh Soror, the supervisor of scientific and culture relations at ASRT and responsible for the preparation of the Arabic version of the challenge said “providing the challenge in the Arabic language was an initiative from ASRT, as part of its role to promote scientific culture all over the Arab world. It reflects its care to offer a fair chance for Arab youth to participate in such festive international activity regardless of any language barriers.”
The ability to incorporate multiple languages is a noticeable enhancement of the PT Challenge platform. This initiative represents a step towards the long-term goal of having a multi-language Periodic Table Challenge to better reach IUPAC global communities. Beside Arabic, the multi-language pilot will soon offer the PT Challenge in Chinese and in Spanish. For the Chinese version, the translation is being provided by the Chinese Chemical Society (Lidong Han et al) and for the Spanish version, the translation is prepared by Sergio Menargues and Javier Garcia Martinez. Prof. Christopher Brett, IUPAC president said “It is very encouraging to see the huge enthusiasm and interest that has been generated worldwide by the PT Challenge and will certainly be enhanced by its being available in other languages”.
If you have an interest in supporting an effort to have a language that is important to your involvement in the Periodic Table Challenge, made available to the global science and chemistry community, please contact Dr. Lynn Soby <[email protected]>.
To participate in the challenge and to get an IUPAC certificate, visit https://www.iupac.org/periodic-table-challenge.
(announcement published in Chem Int Oct 2020)