If this is your first year attending Science Olympiad competitions,
you may be asking yourself what will it be like? While you won't know
the exact format in advance, you can prepare for a few standard formats
and have a strategy in place before entering the competition room.
I
sort the events into three categories: building, process, and study.
Building events are those where you have to construct a device, test it,
and bring it with you to the competition. Process events are those
where you practice a process, and then do your best to perform the
process during the competition. Study Events are those that require
advance study and preparation of notes prior to the competition. This time I will focus on preparing for "Process Events".
Examples of process events include Write It Do It, Experimental Design, Road Scholar, Metric Mastery, Crime Buster. These process events are difficult to do alone and involve a team effort. These events also rely on strong communication skills between team members. Here are a few tips that apply to the various structures of these process events.
1. Decide together how the roles will be divided among the partners. This will require you to know the strengths of each team member and to assign roles to utilize each team members strengths.
2. Practice sample event tasks in your assigned role. Each person should go into the event knowing their role. If only one person knows what the roles are, then time is spent delegating rather than completing the task during the event.
3. After a competition, talk about the task and how your team performance can be improved. You may need to work on a different method for communicating during the competition, or how to handle unexpected parts of a task.
4. While it is not always possible, try to work with the same partners every time you compete in a process event. This will help you learn how to better work as a team, to be efficient in your efforts, and learn to rely on your partners to do their assigned tasks.
5. Write It Do It: One person should be the writer and the other person should be the doer, and practice these roles. Talk about how to be clear in your directions. It can also be helpful to switch roles when practicing just to know what it is like to do the other job. You may not think you can write clear instructions neatly, but with practice you will get better.
6. Experimental Design: Know the rubric. If the event judges will be using the rubric posted on the national site, then make sure you are including all parts of the rubric in your write up of your experiment. Know the difference between an independent and dependent variable, operationally defined and standards of comparison. Assign different parts of the write up to each partner, and practice writing out your part. There is usually not enough time for one person to write everything or to delegate and describe what to write to a team member.
7. Crime Buster: Assign roles to each team member. There will be different components included at each competition, so you have to be prepared for which components are included, and know in advance who will do which parts. When writing up the summary, include all the data you gathered, then identify which data you are using as evidence to accuse your suspect. You often get points for discussing data about all the suspects, not just the actual perpetrator.
8. Metric Mastery: Know how to use a variety of measuring instrument, and know how to read the instruments resolution and how to correctly record a measurement with the correct degree of accuracy. Practice using these instruments to make sure you know how to use them and read the measurement.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Tips for Preparing for Science Olympiad "Building Events"
If this is your first year attending Science Olympiad competitions,
you may be asking yourself what will it be like? While you won't know
the exact format in advance, you can prepare for a few standard formats
and have a strategy in place before entering the competition room.
I sort the events into three categories: building, process, and study. Building events are those where you have to construct a device, test it, and bring it with you to the competition. Process events are those where you practice a process, and then do your best to perform the process during the competition. Study Events are those that require advance study and preparation of notes prior to the competition. This time I will focus on preparing for "Building Events".
1. Read the rules, then read them again. It can sometimes take a few reads to understand all the parameters of the event. Also check to see if you are required to wear goggles. The number designation for the type of goggles required is listed at the top of the rules, and descriptions are available on the national site http://www.soinc.org/eye_protection.
2. Draw out your design ideas on paper and discuss the materials you will need to build your device.
3. There are many videos on You Tube of other teams in past years, and how they went about building their device. There are also videos of devices in action during a competition. This can help give you ideas for your device.
4. Check out hobby shops for kits that can help you get started.
5. Allow time to test your device before competition day. Some events may require a log book for testing trials. Testing your device not only allows you to know how well your device will perform, but it also give the students a chance to practice setting up the device and running it during the competition.
6. Look for rules that restrict where the student can be during the judging of the device. For example, they may have to stay behind a boundary during the launch phase, or they may have to wait to pick up the vehicle until the judges have finished measuring the distance traveled. These sorts of logistics can be worked out during a trial run, and not during a competition which may result is lost points or a lower tier placement.
7. Impound: Check to see if you need to impound your device on the morning of the competition. This means you have to bring your device to the testing room, have it inspected and maybe weighed, fill out the scoring form, and leave the device in the testing room. You usually do not have to impound goggles. If your device requires the use of graphs, make a copy to impound with your device, and a copy for your binder. You may not get your graphs returned to you after the competition.
8. Tiers: Read the rules to see if there are conditions for tier placement. If there is a construction violation (too big or too long) you may be placed in a lower tier before your device is even judged. This means that you will score below all other devices that do not have a construction violation. Then their may be violations during the judging of the device, maybe the student needs to "nudge" something, which is allowed, but takes a deduction of points or a lower tier placement.
9. When you are at the competitions, watch some of the other devices to see how others have built their device. It may give you some ideas on how to improve your design. Remember, never take pictures of another team's device or students on another team.
10. Enjoy the engineering process. Every time you make a design change or rebuild your device, you are learning, and hopefully improving your device.
I sort the events into three categories: building, process, and study. Building events are those where you have to construct a device, test it, and bring it with you to the competition. Process events are those where you practice a process, and then do your best to perform the process during the competition. Study Events are those that require advance study and preparation of notes prior to the competition. This time I will focus on preparing for "Building Events".
1. Read the rules, then read them again. It can sometimes take a few reads to understand all the parameters of the event. Also check to see if you are required to wear goggles. The number designation for the type of goggles required is listed at the top of the rules, and descriptions are available on the national site http://www.soinc.org/eye_protection.
2. Draw out your design ideas on paper and discuss the materials you will need to build your device.
3. There are many videos on You Tube of other teams in past years, and how they went about building their device. There are also videos of devices in action during a competition. This can help give you ideas for your device.
4. Check out hobby shops for kits that can help you get started.
5. Allow time to test your device before competition day. Some events may require a log book for testing trials. Testing your device not only allows you to know how well your device will perform, but it also give the students a chance to practice setting up the device and running it during the competition.
6. Look for rules that restrict where the student can be during the judging of the device. For example, they may have to stay behind a boundary during the launch phase, or they may have to wait to pick up the vehicle until the judges have finished measuring the distance traveled. These sorts of logistics can be worked out during a trial run, and not during a competition which may result is lost points or a lower tier placement.
7. Impound: Check to see if you need to impound your device on the morning of the competition. This means you have to bring your device to the testing room, have it inspected and maybe weighed, fill out the scoring form, and leave the device in the testing room. You usually do not have to impound goggles. If your device requires the use of graphs, make a copy to impound with your device, and a copy for your binder. You may not get your graphs returned to you after the competition.
8. Tiers: Read the rules to see if there are conditions for tier placement. If there is a construction violation (too big or too long) you may be placed in a lower tier before your device is even judged. This means that you will score below all other devices that do not have a construction violation. Then their may be violations during the judging of the device, maybe the student needs to "nudge" something, which is allowed, but takes a deduction of points or a lower tier placement.
9. When you are at the competitions, watch some of the other devices to see how others have built their device. It may give you some ideas on how to improve your design. Remember, never take pictures of another team's device or students on another team.
10. Enjoy the engineering process. Every time you make a design change or rebuild your device, you are learning, and hopefully improving your device.
Tips for preparing for Science Olympiad "Study Events"
If this is your first year attending Science Olympiad competitions, you may be asking yourself what will it be like? While you won't know the exact format in advance, you can prepare for a few standard formats and have a strategy in place before entering the competition room.
I sort the events into three categories: building, process, and study. Building events are those where you have to construct a device, test it, and bring it with you to the competition. Process events are those where you practice a process, and then do your best to perform the process during the competition. Study Events are those that require advance study and preparation of notes prior to the competition. I will post tips on preparing for "Building Events" and "Process Events" at a later time.
Preparing for "Study Events" require time to research and read about the topics included in the rules for that event. Events that would fall under this category include: Anatomy, Dynamic Planet, Disease Detective, Astronomy, Water Quality/Ecology, Rocks and Minerals/Fossils, Forestry, Entomology, Heredity, Shock Value/Circuits, you get the idea. Here are some tips to help you prepare for these types of event.
Study and binder preparation:
Notes should be written out by hand or printed out and organized in a binder for easy reference. Using tabbed dividers can help organize the material in your binder. The opening page of the binder should have the most used information, equations, definitions, diagrams, or images to save time searching through the binder. You could also put this sheet in the outside pocket of the binder too.
If you are only allowed to take in a study sheet, consolidate the key information onto one sheet, which you can take into the competition with you. The most useful things to put on a study sheet are images that require identification, equations, and other information you find hard to remember. As you learn more material, you will be able to remove items you have learned well, and add newer information.
Test formats:
Some test formats include stations, multiple choice paper test, or power point test.
A station test is usually set up at different locations around the room, and each team will spend 2 - 5 min at the station using equipment or analyzing graphs or images. The event judge will them announce when it is time to move to the next station. There are usually between 10 - 15 stations depending on the amount of time per station.
A multiple choice paper test is what we are all used to when taking tests. These types of tests are easy for the event judge to grade quickly.
A power point test is similar to a station test, but you stay in your seat, and the "stations" are presented to you. Each slide will be presented for 2 - 5 min, and you answer the questions on paper in your seat. This type of test works well when there are detailed images to identify or analyze, like Astronomy.
Test taking strategies:
If the format is a station test, one person can be the writer, and the other can look up information in the binder or on the study sheet. Sometimes the writer can write down the question in case you run out of time at that station to look up the answer. That way you can look up the answer at a later station if you have extra time.
For a multiple choice test, ask the event supervisor if you can split the test. If they say yes, rip the test in half, and each team member can go through the test and answer as many questions as they know. After about 15 min, the team members should switch tests and go through answering any questions not yet answered. For the 10 minutes, the two team members can either go over the questions again, or work on the difficult questions together. You don't want to get bogged down by difficult questions, just move on. Don't forget to look at the questions at the end of the test, these may be the ones you know best.
After the competition:
If you attend an invitational where you get your test and an answer key returned to you, go over your test. This is how you will know what to study next - the questions you missed on this test.
I sort the events into three categories: building, process, and study. Building events are those where you have to construct a device, test it, and bring it with you to the competition. Process events are those where you practice a process, and then do your best to perform the process during the competition. Study Events are those that require advance study and preparation of notes prior to the competition. I will post tips on preparing for "Building Events" and "Process Events" at a later time.
Preparing for "Study Events" require time to research and read about the topics included in the rules for that event. Events that would fall under this category include: Anatomy, Dynamic Planet, Disease Detective, Astronomy, Water Quality/Ecology, Rocks and Minerals/Fossils, Forestry, Entomology, Heredity, Shock Value/Circuits, you get the idea. Here are some tips to help you prepare for these types of event.
Study and binder preparation:
Notes should be written out by hand or printed out and organized in a binder for easy reference. Using tabbed dividers can help organize the material in your binder. The opening page of the binder should have the most used information, equations, definitions, diagrams, or images to save time searching through the binder. You could also put this sheet in the outside pocket of the binder too.
If you are only allowed to take in a study sheet, consolidate the key information onto one sheet, which you can take into the competition with you. The most useful things to put on a study sheet are images that require identification, equations, and other information you find hard to remember. As you learn more material, you will be able to remove items you have learned well, and add newer information.
Test formats:
Some test formats include stations, multiple choice paper test, or power point test.
A station test is usually set up at different locations around the room, and each team will spend 2 - 5 min at the station using equipment or analyzing graphs or images. The event judge will them announce when it is time to move to the next station. There are usually between 10 - 15 stations depending on the amount of time per station.
A multiple choice paper test is what we are all used to when taking tests. These types of tests are easy for the event judge to grade quickly.
A power point test is similar to a station test, but you stay in your seat, and the "stations" are presented to you. Each slide will be presented for 2 - 5 min, and you answer the questions on paper in your seat. This type of test works well when there are detailed images to identify or analyze, like Astronomy.
Test taking strategies:
If the format is a station test, one person can be the writer, and the other can look up information in the binder or on the study sheet. Sometimes the writer can write down the question in case you run out of time at that station to look up the answer. That way you can look up the answer at a later station if you have extra time.
For a multiple choice test, ask the event supervisor if you can split the test. If they say yes, rip the test in half, and each team member can go through the test and answer as many questions as they know. After about 15 min, the team members should switch tests and go through answering any questions not yet answered. For the 10 minutes, the two team members can either go over the questions again, or work on the difficult questions together. You don't want to get bogged down by difficult questions, just move on. Don't forget to look at the questions at the end of the test, these may be the ones you know best.
After the competition:
If you attend an invitational where you get your test and an answer key returned to you, go over your test. This is how you will know what to study next - the questions you missed on this test.
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