Science Olympiad

This article is about competition for secondary schools in the United States. For others, see International Science Olympiad.

Official logo

Science Olympiad is a primarily American elementary, middle school, or high school team competition that requires knowledge of various science topics and engineering ability. Over 14,000 teams from 48 U.S. states and Canada compete each year. West Virginia, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. did not enter any teams.

History

Science Olympiad began as the Delaware Science Olympiad. A write-up in The Science Teacher of December 1977 caught the attention of Dr. Gerard Putz, who proposed that the program be expanded beyond Delaware. After tests in Michigan at the Lawrence Institute of Technology and Oakland University in 1983 and 1984, Putz and Delaware director John Cairns took their idea to the National Science Teachers Conference in Boston. The first National Tournament was attended by representatives of 17 states, held at Michigan State University in 1985. Since then, the program has expanded to reach 48 states and Ontario, Canada.

Divisions

There are four divisions in the hierarchy of Science Olympiad:

• Division A1 for elementary school (grades K-3)
• Division A2 for elementary school (grades 3-6)
• Division B for middle school (grades 6-9)
• Division C for high school (grades 9-12)

However, the national tournament and generally state and regional tournaments are only for divisions B and C. Division A teams usually have separate tournaments. Note that 6th, and 9th graders have the option of competing in either of the two divisions in which they meet the grade requirements and are part of the competing school. A middle school may however use up to 5 members who have graduated to the next school if they are in 9th grade or lower. Students in lower grades that those in the division the school competes in may also be on the team. Teams are restricted to five 9th graders for division B and seven 12th graders for division C. Students may not participate on multiple teams, i.e. a 9th grader on both a high school and middle school team would not be allowed.

Events

There are twenty-three events in which competitors face off on a single day. Events fall under three main categories: Science Concepts and Knowledge, Science Processes and Thinking Skills, and Science Application and Technology. They are either knowledge-based (i.e. written tests on earth science, physics, astronomy, biology, and chemistry), hands-on (i.e participants perform various lab experiments), or engineering-based (i.e. participants construct a device to do specified tasks).

Knowledge-based events generally have two participants either taking a test or mathematically analyzing data. Examples of such events are Designer Genes, Forensics, and Chemistry Lab.

Hands-on events generally consist of two participants performing experiments or interacting with physical objects to achieve a certain goal. Some examples are Bio-Process lab, Forensics, or Science Crime Busters.

Engineering-based events have a team of two to three participants. They are to construct a device following a specific event's parameters and test the device against others. Examples include Robo-Cross, Bridge/Tower Building, and Storm The Castle.

The majority of events require two team members, though some require more. If one member is unable to attend an event, the other is able to continue, depending on the event, with the competition, though at an obvious disadvantage.

The list of events, and rules for events, change and are updated every year to keep the competition interesting and to limit the advantages of older teams

Division B events for the 2008-2009 school year

Event	Description
Amphibians and Reptiles	This event tests knowledge about salamanders, frogs, turtles, crocodiles, lizards and snakes. In some cases identification goes down to the genus level, but life history, habitat, and current events are also covered.
Anatomy (Circulatory and Skeletal)	Students take a test about the circulatory and skeletal systems.
Bio-Process Lab	This new event is designed to test both basic and integrated science skills, including operation of a microscope, the usage of a triple-beam balance, determination of statistics such as median and mode, and description of experimental and human errors.
Compute This	Teams will be presented with a problem which requires quantitative data capture from the Internet and the presentation of data in a graphical format.
Crave the Wave	Test on all types of waves (e.g. earthquake waves, ocean waves, sound waves, and light waves).
Disease Detectives (Population Growth)	Students are given data in which they are to do calculations to answer questions which may include where the source of this disease is located, what is the agent, how it can be prevented from spreading, et cetera.
Dynamic Planet (Earthquakes,Volcanoes)	Teams will work at stations that display a variety of earth science materials and related earth science questions.
Ecology (Grassland/Desert biomes)	Students will answer questions involving content knowledge and process skills in the area of ecology and adaptation by examining different ecosystems.
Elevated Bridge	Teams will design, build & test the lightest bridge to carry a maximum load.
Environmental Chemistry	Teams will be asked questions pertaining to environmental chemistry, which may include chemical reactions, characterization, and quantification.
Experimental Design	Given a set of unknown objects, teams will design, conduct, analyze and write-up an experiment.
Fossils	Students will identify, describe, and classify various specimens.
Meteorology (Climate)	This event involves the use of process skills as applied to meteorology.
Pentathlon	Teams will compete in an academic pentathlon to demonstrate their overall understanding of five major science content areas.
Physical Science Lab	Teams will construct a blade assembly based on a CD to generate maximum wind energy. Teams will also be tested on their knowledge of alternative ernergy.
Reach for the Stars (sometimes called astronomy)	This event tests students on their knowledge of stars and other celestial bodies like galaxies and nebulae. Teams will also identify stars, constellations, and deep sky objects and be knowledgeable about their evolutionary stages.
Road Scholar	Students read through a story and answer questions throughout the story while having to interpret the multiple maps given. These maps may be either topographic or road maps, but must represent areas within the U.S. A portion of the test may also require students to draw a 1 mile × 1 mile section map.
Robo-Cross	The object of this event is to design and build a robot capable of performing certain tasks on a prescribed playing field. (i.e, pick up an object on the other side of the room.)
Science Crime Busters	Students use provided material to find unknown materials (e.g. plastics, powders, liquids) and identify them. Science crime busters also have to use DNA, blood samples, hair samples, finger prints, tracks, glass samples, and shoe prints to provide answers and solve a "crime" based on a story.
Scrambler	Teams build a light wheeled device that can travel a specific distance with no motor or fuel, and stop at a wall without breaking an egg that is carried at the front of the vehicle.
Trajectory	Teams will design, construct, calibrate and operate a device capable of launching a hollow projectile onto a target using energy provided by a nonmetallic elastic solid.
Wright Stuff	Teams will design and build a propeller propelled aerodynamic device for greatest time aloft.
Write It, Do It	One student is given a model that the other student can not see; he/she is to write instructions on how to create that model, and after the time is up, the other student is given the set of instructions with the materials and is to try to build a replica of the model.

(Competitions may include other Trial/Pilot events [see below])

Division C events for 2008-2009 school year

Event	Description
Astronomy	Teams identify deep-sky objects and solve astronomy problems.
Cell Biology	Students will demonstrate their understanding of cell biology and biochemistry.
Chem Lab	Teams will demonstrate chemistry laboratory skills related to selected topics.
Disease Detective	This event requires students to apply principles of epidemiology and its relation to human population growth.
Dynamic Planet	Teams will be tested on how much they know about earthquakes and volcanoes in diagrams, questions, and other forms of questioning.
Ecology	Teams must test their knowledge about various aspects relating to grasslands and deserts.
Egg-O-Naut	Students will bring a rocket to the event with an egg in it. Judges will score how long the rocket stays in the air and if the egg does not crack.
Electric Vehicle	Students will construct a vehicle that uses electrical energy as its sole mean of propulsion.
Elevated Bridge	Prior to competition teams must build a bridge that is lightweight and can hold a max amount of weight of 15 kilos.
Environmental Chemistry	Teams will test their knowledge through labs relating to chemical processes in the environment.
Experimental Design	Given a set of unknown objects, teams will design, conduct, analyze and write-up an experiment.
Forensics	Students will identify polymers, solids, fibers, and other materials in a crime scenario.
Fossils	Teams will be tested on their knowledge of fossils and how well they can identify various specimens.
Health Science	Teams will be tested on their knowledge of health concepts, mainly skeletal and circulatory.
Herpetology	This event will test knowledge of amphibians, turtles, crocodiles, lizards and snakes.
It's About Time	Prior to competition students must build a device that can measure any amount of time between 10-300 seconds. They will also be tested on their knowledge of time.
Junkyard Challenge	Teams will partially pre-construct a device with final construction and adaptation onsite to complete a published challenge.
Physics Lab	Teams will demonstrate physics laboratory skills related to selected topics. The 2009 topic is energy and alternative energy. The topic explored in the 2008 event was energy, while the 2007 event included circular motion, moment of inertia, and angular acceleration.
Picture This	Teams will be given a picture to clue to identify.
Remote Sensing	Teams will be tested on remote sensing and human impact on Earth.
Technical Problem Solving	Teams will collect and use data to solve problems.
Trajectory	Prior to competition teams must build a cannon to shoot a ball a distance specified at the competition launch site.
Write It, Do It	A technical writing exercise where students write a description of a contraption and other students will attempt to recreate it using only the written description.

(Competitions may also include Trial/Pilot events†)

Trial/Pilot events (the former refers to academic events, while the latter refers to building events) are, at Regional and State tournaments, events that are specific to that state that are being considered as events for the next year. At Regionals and States, these events MAY count towards the team's score. At Nationals, however, there is a completely different set of Trial/Pilot events, sometimes known as "alternate events" because the people entering them do not have to be on the official team. These DO NOT count towards the team's score, but ribbons and medals are awarded.

Team structure

Teams are hosted by the school from which the participants attend. A teacher, parent or student, usually a volunteer, coordinates the team in practice and preparation for the competition. Often there are others who coach individual events as well. A team can consist of up to 15 students and any amount of alternates; some states allow more students per team. In the middle school level, only 5 ninth graders are allowed to compete on one team, and at the high school level, only 7 twelfth graders are allowed per team. Homeschool groups may also form teams to compete.

Although teams may have an unlimited number of alternates, it is implicitly stated within the rules that competitors present at the event must have completed all of the work on their event. This is specifically aimed at building events. It is illegal for teams to have their alternates as "builders" and their formal team members as "thinkers". Judges at the event are allowed to ask any question of the machine or contraption in an effort to keep the scenario above from occurring. Nonetheless, competitors, coaches, and entire teams are expected to have integrity and abide by this rule.

A lot of strategy usually goes into the forming of a team. Since events go on as the same time as other events during a competition, and creates conflicts, the coach or coordinator must make decisions based on the competitor's specialty and ability in order to correctly place them. Sometimes, usually during the reformation of competitors when a team advances a level, a competitor who wasn't originally planned to compete in a certain event is put into it to fill the certain event slot.

Scoring

The winner of the competition is determined by each team's overall score. Each school is ranked in every event based on that event's rules. The team's overall score is then calculated by adding together the rank of the school in all events (e.g. 1st place receives 1 point, 2nd place 2 points, etc.). The team with the lowest overall score is declared the winner. However, it should be noted that some state competitions choose to score the competition by awarding more points per place (e.g. 13 points for 1st place, 12 pointsor 2nd place, etc.) and having the team with the most points being declared the winner.

There are several ways to break a tie (draw):

• Before a competition, the event organizer decides on several events to be used as tie-breakers. If two teams get the same score overall, the team that rates highest in that one event will take the lead.
• Another method for tie-breaking is based on medals where the team with more first place medals wins, if both teams have the same amount of first places, it moves to second place medals and so on.
• A third way of tie-breaking is to use a team's score in trial/pilot events. The team with the best combined score in trial events would win the competition when this method is used.

Competition levels

Science Olympiad competitions occur at a regional, state and national level. Normally, the top few teams advance from regional competition to state; the exact number depends on how many regions there are and how many teams compete. For example, the regional Science Olympiad competition in Albany, New York, which is held at The College of Saint Rose typically will send the top three finishing teams to the state competition. However, an additional team or teams can be sent to the state competition if one of the top three has been victorious (or has gone to the state competition) multiple times in a row. In most states, the top team advances from state to the national competition. Some states with a larger number of teams are able to send two teams to the national competition to represent their larger presence. About 120 teams compete at the national level each year (60 from Division B and 60 from Division C); the number has changed over the years to accommodate growing participation and is dependent on the number of teams attending a particular state's state tournament.

Some states, including Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Indiana, Michigan, and Nebraska hold Invitational tournaments. These competitions serve as "practice rounds" for qualifying tournaments, and are hosted by individual high schools and/or colleges. These are also often organized by schools themselves and usually occur some time in January or February. Teams can participate in Invitationals from multiple states depending on availability. In some states, only a few events are held. However, Ohio and Illinois generally hold Invitational tournaments which mimic regional competitions in their competitive intensity.

National Tournament

The National Science Olympiad competition is held in May at a different university in a different state every year. Teams either stay in student dorms or nearby hotels.

The competition officially begins with opening ceremonies on the day before Saturday's competition (a Friday). Usually a notable speaker, such as a Nobel Laureate, will give a speech. Following this is the traditional Swap Meet, when all the teams bring bags of state memorabilia to trade with other teams from all over the country. The most popular items include hats, license plates, and t-shirts.

Saturday includes several time blocks (this year 6, plus the "impound" time slot at the beginning of the day). Each block includes a 50-minute section for each study event, plus time for competitors to get from one event to another.

That night, a semi-formal Awards Ceremony is held. It opens with a short speech, which is followed by the awarding of medals for the top six teams in each event, including trial events (events that do not count to the overall team score). At the end, the top ten teams are awarded trophies.

In some national tournaments, scholarships are awarded to the top teams in each event. In 2005's competition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, first-place winners received waivers for a four-year undergraduate tuition. Extra prizes are also given out for certain events: in Disease Detectives (Division C), the first-place team is given t-shirts and a trip for the two competitors and their coach to tour the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention facility in Atlanta, Georgia. For the 2006 National Competition the host, Indiana University, awarded $7000 annual scholarships to Division C 1st place finishers who decide to attend the university for their freshman year.

The 2008 National Tournament was held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. It was hosted during the last weekend in May of 2008. The winners of the high school division, repeating their win a third time, were the students of Troy High School from California.

The 2009 National Tournament was held at Augusta State University in Augusta, Georgia. It was hosted on the weekend of May 15-16, 2009. Solon Middle School captured its second title, repeating as national champions. Centerville High School capped the Ohio dominance by winning 1st place for the first time in the school's history. The theme of the competition was "The Silver Age of Science" due to the fact that it was the 25th anniversary of the Science Olympiad.

Future hosts of the national tournament include 2010 - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2011 - University of Wisconsin at Madison, and 2012 - University of Central Florida.

Past national champions

Division B

Year	School	State
1985	Slauson Intermediate	MI
1986	Slauson Intermediate School	MI
1987	Gompers Secondary School	CA
1988	Irmo Middle School	SC
1989	Irmo Middle School	SC
1990	Irmo Middle School	SC
1991	Grandville Junior High School	MI
1992	Jenison Junior High School	MI
1993	Thomas Jefferson Middle School	IN
1994	State College Junior High School	PA
1995	State College Junior High School	PA
1996	J.C. Booth Middle School	GA
1996	Thomas Jefferson Middle School	IN
1997	J.C. Booth Middle School	GA
1998	J.C. Booth Middle School	GA
1999	J.C. Booth Middle School	GA
2000	J.C. Booth Middle School	GA
2001	J.C. Booth Middle School	GA
2002	Rising Starr Middle School	GA
2003	J.C. Booth Middle School	GA
2004	J.C. Booth Middle School	GA
2005	West-Windsor Plainsboro Middle School	NJ
2006	J.C. Booth Middle School	GA
2007	West-Windsor Plainsboro Middle School	NJ
2008	Solon Middle School	OH
2009	Solon Middle School	OH

Division C

Year	School	State
1985	Seaholm HS	MI
1986	Seaholm HS	MI
1987	Irmo High School	SC
1988	Haverford HS	PA
1989	Irmo High School	SC
1990	Irmo High School	SC
1991	La Jolla High School	CA
1992	La Jolla High School	CA
1993	Grand Haven High School	MI
1994	Grand Haven High School	MI
1995	Harriton High School	PA
1996	Troy High School	CA
1997	Grand Haven High School	MI
1998	Solon High School	OH
1999	Troy High School	CA
2000	Troy High School	CA
2001	Harriton High School	PA
2002	Troy High School	CA
2003	Troy High School	CA
2004	Fayetteville-Manlius High School	NY
2005	Harriton High School	PA
2006	Troy High School	CA
2007	Troy High School	CA
2008	Troy High School	CA
2009	Centerville High School	OH

External links

• I-SWEEEP: International Sustainable World (Energy,Engineering, and Environment) Project Olympiad
• Official Science Olympiad National Home Page
• List of 2008-2009 Events
• Science Olympiad Student Center
• Aryan Classes ANSO: Aryan National Science Olympiad - Conducted in India
• Integral Association of Amateur Mathematicians and Scientists - Conducts Science olympiads for Students in India Region