About Science Olympiad Continued...
Science Olympiad (SO) is a science tournament held every February on Florida Atlantic University’s Boca Raton campus. Around 300 other regional tournaments are also held at around the same time on campuses of other universities all around the country. SO involves hands-on team competition between local high school (division C) and middle school (division B) teams in different areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). There is also an elementary school competition (ESO, Division A) that takes place in May. Click here for this year’s dates.
The event lineup changes slightly from year to year in order to expose students, their families, and even their teachers to the wide range of opportunities and experiences available to students and graduates of STEM programs. Nationally, last year’s Olympiad involved around 7800 teams and over 300,000 students competing in 300 regional tournaments in all 50 states. The regional tournament held last February at FAU included 60 teams and nearly 800 students.
A Science Olympiad tournament includes 20 - 25 different events in biology, chemistry, geosciences, physics, and engineering. Each school team consists of up to 15 students (but fewer is OK and not uncommon), plus one or two teacher-coaches; many schools enter only one team, but some schools come with more than one team. Typically, two students from the team will compete in any given event, although those same students may compete in other events as well, and the partnerships are often different from one event to the other. This creates a “track and field” type competition, in which students compete in some events that they are very good at, and other events where they may only be average. Events are knowledge-based (i.e. written tests, sometimes in the format of a lab practical with stations); hands-on (i.e. participants perform various lab experiments); or engineering-based (i.e. participants construct a device to do a specific task), with many events involving some combination of these. Medals are given to winners in each event, and the top three teams with the best showing in all events receive trophies. The top performers from the regional events move on to the state tournament, and the top performers from each state tournament move on to a national event. At both the state and national levels, scholarships are awarded in addition to the individual medals and team trophies.
There are two aspects to the structure of the Science Olympiad that not only make it a unique competition among competitions, but also present STEM in a very realistic way. The first is that it is a multi-discipline event. This allows students the security of competing in events in which their skills may be strong and their confidence high, while at the same time compelling them to take on challenges that are not quite so comfortable. The best case scenario is that they come away with a new interest or even a passion. The worst case scenario is that they learn a little bit about how to work effectively outside their “comfort zone”, something their career will certainly require of them, at least occasionally. The second aspect is that the participants are organized into teams. Each student will typically be part of several different two-person teams during the competition. In some events, she or he may be the stronger of the two, and in other events the weaker. Students quickly recognize during practice leading up to the event, and especially on the day of competition, that the contribution of even the “weaker” member is not only important, but necessary for success. This situation, just like having to perform outside one’s “comfort zone”, is part of the “real world.” In addition, both of these unique aspects of the Science Olympiad’s structure provide an opportunity for students who may not be confident enough to participate in a single-discipline event where they will be on their own, to get involved. The structure of the Olympiad, by design, brings many students into the world of STEM who might otherwise never consider giving it a try.