“What I noticed when I first joined the school was the passion for the RACI Titration Competition.”
Written by Elaine Bergmann and Michelle Jeavons
Published 11 November 2021
The Titration Teacher Challenge is an opportunity for educators and their scientific technician staff to demonstrate their individual expertise by doing the same analysis as that done by students in the Titration Final. The 2021 winner was Kazuyuki Hosokawa from Beenleigh State High School (Qld) whose result was spot-on. 42 entries were received, with 24 competitors submitting a result. Of those, 7 achieved a result of Excellent standard. Their rank order can be found on the Titration Teacher Challenge webpage here.
RACI congratulates these contestants on their individual results.
Interview with Kazuyuki Hosokawa
Q. What helped you achieve such a great result?
A. I actually joined the school a month before the Titration Competition. I’m from the university sector and was with QUT for 15 years. In fact, I was a former research student of the current RACI President, Prof Steven Bottle. Although it’s been a while since I participated in the Titration Competition – the last time I did it was as a Grade 12 student over 20 years ago – the process of titration was relatively familiar to me so I thought, I might as well go for it.
Q. What made you want to participate?
A. What I noticed when I first joined the school was the passion for the Titration Competition. The school appears regularly in regional and national competitions – as you enter the science building you see all of these RACI trophies and plaques. This can be largely attributed to one teacher, Ms Jan Robbins, who has carried this passion for chemistry and the competitions over many years. It’s what really motivated me to enter. Now all of the teachers are talking about entering the competition as a group next year as part of our professional development.
Q. Why did you choose Chemistry?
A. When I left high school, it was either physics or chemistry. When I got to university, chemistry felt more engaging; more hands-on. As soon as I started my undergraduate chemistry, it was literally titration after titration.
Q. Do you have any tips for teachers wanting to participate next year?
A. Don’t overthink it. It’s just looking for that endpoint, so be cautious but don’t overthink or over stress about it.
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The Beenleigh State High School, Qld team finished in 2nd place in the 2021 Titration Competition. I think the first place winners, North Sydney Boys High School, will have stiff competition to retain the title next year! Congratulations again to everyone who participated.
To find out more about the Titration Competition, click here.