Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Uncle Science Olympiad Needs You

Posted by timothy on from the uncle-with-the-chem-lab dept.

Devlin-du-GEnie writes "I'll be judging an event for Florida's state Science Olympiad this coming weekend. It's kind of like a track meet of science and engineering. The participants are middle- and high-school students from all over Florida. (There are also two elementary school divisions.) I judged an event last year. It was incredibly rewarding to see kids fiercely competitive and engaged with problem solving. It's chock-full of geekly joy." Read on for some more details, including how you can get involved in the program.

The menu of events includes:

  • Bottle Rocket
  • Cell Biology
  • Chemistry Lab
  • Designer Genes
  • Disease Detectives
  • Dynamic Planet
  • Experimental Design
  • Robot Ramble
  • Storm the Castle (catapaults!)
  • Naked Egg Drop
Regional and state olympiads take place around the country. They always need volunteers to judge and help out. Check out the national Olympiad site and see what you can do to help. Their 20th anniversary national event is this May about 90 miles west of Harrisburg, PA."

1 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. Re:An Innocent Question by Overdrive_SS · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I participated in Physics Olympiad in 8th grade(which would be about 10 years ago now). You obviously knew all of the events ahead of time, but as the above poster said, most were done at the meet I suppose you could call it. And each team member knew which event he/she would be participating in.

    There was a paper airplane toss, you had to build it at the meet, but you could spend as much time before hand coming up with what you thought was the perfect plane. The winner was the plane that flew the farthest. I think you only got one try at it too.

    There was a contest to build a bridge with a specified number of popsicle sticks that had to meet certain height and width criteria and the winner was the bridge that held the most weight.

    I do remember there being one event where you made an insulator. It had to be a specific size and had to hold a beaker of a specific size, otherwise it was up to you what to do with it. The winner was the one that lost the least heat in an hour or two. That one was built at home, since it would be hard to construct it so quickly.

    Then there was a test and also a jeopardy game. The categories and suggested reading were given ahead of time, but not specific answers.

    Anyways, these things are a lot of fun. I remember a catapult toss as one of the events and an egg drop. Those were both made beforehand as well. I think the teacher was responsible for insuring that the students actually did the work and not anyone else.

    Oh, and in case anyone cares, my team brought home the gold here in NW Florida. Still have my little ribbon somewhere. Physics rules!