Summer Science Olympiad: High School students coach Middle Schoolers

Science Olympiad Medals

Science Olympiad Medals

Explore Science Olympiad topics this summer and help your student try a self study event.  We’re fortunate this summer to have high school students coaching middle school students interested in Science Olympiad .

Great Science Olympiad resources include:

SoInc.org      SciOly.org    NJ Science Olympiad

Start by having your student peruse likely regional Science Olympiad events to see what might be interesting and pick their top choices.

Teams are often up to 15 students in 3 Divisions:

  • A – grades 3-6, 1 team per school
  • B – grades 6-9, 2 teams per school
  • C – grades 9-12, 2 teams per school

Our Middle and High School have teacher-led, school sponsored teams which start meeting in ~October for competitions starting in January.  Elementary students might form a team for a Saturday competition in May.

Perusing a rules manual might be useful.  Science Olympiad is primarily self-study rather than taught and has 3 types of events:  study, build and laboratory.

We hope to help our kids discover and explore their deeper interests in Science this summer! Keep in mind that Creative Compensation Opens Opportunities for Teens and encourages them to participate as role models.  Smart Carpools can help make the coordination practical and school clubs can help keep kids interested in STEM.

 NJ Science Olympiad Events for Division B  (6th – 9th grade) 2015

For more detailed info see: New Jersey Science Olympiad

Biology
Anatomy knowledge of anatomy and health with focus on skeletal, muscular, and integumentary systems
Bio-Process Lab lab-oriented biology event
Disease Detectives knowledge of disease, injury, health and disability in populations or groups of people with a focus on population growth
Biology Blitz knowledge of common names, phylum/division or class and facts about organisms
Chemistry
Crime Busters figure out a crime using paper chromatography and analysis of unknown solids, liquids, and plastics
Food Science knowledge of the chemistry of food
Physics
Reach for the Stars knowledge of the properties and evolution of stars, open clusters and globular clusters, and normal and star-forming galaxies
Crave the Wave knowledge of waves and wave motion
Earth Science
Meteorology understanding of everyday weather
Dynamic Planet complete tasks related to physical and geological oceanography
Green Generation knowledge of history and consequences of human impact on our environment, solutions to reversing trends and sustainability
Invasive Species knowledge and identification of invasive species in local and national ecosystems
Fossils knowledge and identification of fossils
General Science
Experimental Design given a set of unknown objects, team will design, conduct, analyze, and write-up an experiment
Picture This one draws a term, the other guesses
Write It Do It one writes up how to build a contraption, the other recreates it using only the description
Road Scholar knowledge of state highway maps, topographic maps, road atlases, and satellite/aerial images
Build Events
Air Trajectory device to launch projectiles into a target accurately
Wind Power propeller system attached to a CD that generates the greatest voltage from a gentle and strong breeze
Elevated Bridge bridge with highest structural efficiency (mass held divided by mass of bridge) that can span a given opening
Elastic Launched Glider elastic launched glider capable of the maximum time aloft
Mission Possible Rube Goldberg-like device to complete a Final Task using a sequence of consecutive energy transfers
Scrambler device that uses energy from a falling mass to transport an egg quickly and as close as possible to a barrier without breaking the egg
Bottle Rocket rocket designed to stay aloft for the greatest amount of time
Mystery Architecture teams will be given a bag of building materials at the beginning of the event and asked to design and build a device that can be tested

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Cecile Seth

Trying to make our world better. Mom to 3. Recovering Management Consultant. MBA. STEMshoots.com Founder.

2 Responses

  1. November 22, 2016

    […] make the most of existing clubs and opportunities and create our own options when we needed to  strengthening existing clubs , attending events at local museums and going on STEM field trips.   I do whatever I can to fan […]

  2. March 6, 2017

    […] students (and their parents) may want to keep a file themselves.  Maybe even write an article or two and submit it to your local […]

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