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.