2012-2013 West Liberty-Salem Science Olympiad Agenda Season Goals and Expectations MS SO Web Site...

2012-2013 West Liberty-2012-2013 West Liberty-Salem Salem

Science OlympiadScience Olympiad

Division B CoachesDivision B CoachesMr. Cameron Spencer Mr. Steve McCallMs. Cara Wolfe Mr. John BenedictMr. Jim Naderer Mrs. Mary BenedictMr. Jim Hoffman Mrs. Penny HigginsMr. John Hance

Season Goals and Expectations

Welcome Back – students and parents! This my 16th year as a Science Olympiad coach.

Our West Liberty-Salem team has made it to the State Tournament for the last 7 years thanks to the support of our awesome community – parent volunteers and students. We expect to make it again this year. Our goal this season is to finish in the top ten in the State - very realistic if we work!

We have lots of field trips and tournaments already planned. We expect our students to work hard and learn a lot.

We (the coaches) want the SO experience to be fun and rewarding; no pressure to win, but winning is fun; enjoy each moment and cheer the team on

MS SO Web Site and Resources

Be sure to visit our web site found under the Middle School link. I will post team rosters, practice schedules, and any important announcements here.

http://wlstigers.schoolwires.net/domain/209

Also be sure to look at the State and National web sites for event resources. I have placed the links on our school’s web page.

Participation Fees

This year’s Science Olympiad team participation fee is $65.00. Same as last year. This payment includes the school’s transportation fee and the team shirt.

Hoodies will be optional for an additional cost. Janice Naderer is embroidering our shirts again this year.

This season we will get our team shirts before Christmas break because our first tournament is Jan 5.

A pizza party will be donated at the end of the season. Checks are payable to West Liberty-Salem Science

Olympiad and are due before Christmas break. Students will not be eligible to compete at tournaments until

payment is received.

Motivations for participating in SO

College prep and free tutoring in advanced subjects for half the school year.

Higher OAA, OGT, SAT, and ACT test scores; easier High School Science classes.

Career opportunities – visit college campuses and learn about their programs (WSU trip, Engineering night, Breakfast of Champions). Visit real career work sites and learn about some amazing technology (SEMEDS, OBCI, Space Day, etc.)

Networking with other students from across the state and country that you may see later in college.

College scholarships! Wright Stuff $1000

Why NOT to do Science Olympiad

SO is NOT a social club. It will be fun most of the time if you enjoy learning, and there is real camaraderie by being on the team. But if you join simply to go on field trips or to socialize with your friends, then you are here for the wrong reasons.

SO is a team. Can you work on a team? Will you try to learn what the team needs and place it above what you yourself want? How will you react if you don’t make the varsity team or State roster?

Will you work hard to earn your spot on tournament rosters and appreciate your opportunities this season regardless of the outcome? Or, will you just expect something to be given to you automatically?

If you do not understand these concepts of respect and work ethic, then SO is not for you!

Team Selection

All students must have and must maintain a C- or higher in all classes. Science Olympiad is an academic team. Failure to maintain grades will result in suspension from the team and all associated field trips.

Try outs are mandatory – they help the coaches determine your interest and commitment level. They should be viewed as a warm-up and extra practice for the season. Science Olympiad tournaments are all about taking academic tests. If you don’t want to take our tryout tests, then you won’t want to compete at tournaments and we will not place on tournament rosters.

Tryout Schedule

See the information letter or web site for a copy of this schedule.

Try Out ScheduleDAY / DATE LOCATION EVENT 3:00-4:00 EVENT 4:00-5:00Thursday, 10-18 HS Media Center Meteorology Reach for the Stars

Water Quality Forestry

Monday, 10-22 HS Media Center Dynamic Planet Shock ValueFood Science Crimebusters

Tuesday, 10-23 HS Media Center Anatomy HeredityKeep the Heat

Thursday, 10-25 HS Media Center Disease Detectives Metric Mastery

Rocks & Minerals

Come to as many tests as possible. The more that you come too, the more valuable you are to the team. Get the rules and go to the national web site to help prepare for the tryout tests. The tests are hard, but don’t feel like you have to do well. We will teach you concepts on these tests during the season. All we want to see is how hard you are willing to work.

Are you participating in other activities?

Are you participating in other winter activities such as basketball, wrestling, cheerleading, boy/girl scouts? If so, this will interfere with Science Olympiad practice time. Although we generally discourage this, in the past we have had students successfully participate in these and SO at the same time.

We can be more flexible than BB with our practice times because we don’t need to reserve the gym. Our season lasts much longer than BB. You would miss our first four invitationals, but would still get to go to the last two, plus Regional as well as all field trips. You are at a real disadvantage in making the State roster though! We can compete with only one team, but you will still be given a chance to earn your spot.

Are you participating in other activities?

Can you commit to extra studying outside of regularly scheduled times? Are you a top notch student? If so then talk to me and make sure to give me a practice schedule of your other activity when you get it.

Spring Track is after Regional but before State. In the past several have quit coming to SO practices to run track. This really hurts our team at State. If you run track in the Spring, we can work a compromise. You must talk with the coaches to find study time on your own or some other time of the week.

Event Selection and Practice Schedule

Practices will meet in the MS Hallway in room 43, room 44, room 41, room 40, or the HS library. Each study event will generally practice for one hour each week from 3:00 to 4:00, or 4:00 to 5:00, or 5:00 to 6:00. We will try to practice the same time each week to make it easy for parents.

Team members will be given between two to four study events. They can expect to practice one to four days a week from November through April. We will normally not practice on Wednesdays.

A monthly practice schedule will be given to each student and will be posted on our web site. I’ll try to have our first schedule completed by Friday, 10-26 or Monday, 10-29.


Since our parent coaches help the students build their devises, there will be a few initial weekend practice at the coaches’ homes – usually over Christmas break. This is only for building events. The coaches will call you and arrange the best time for all students.

All study events will practice at the school at regularly scheduled times to help parents form a routine and know when to pick up their child.

I will try to give everyone the events that they want, but everyone cannot do the same event. Last year’s team gets preference. The more SO experience you have, the more likely you are to get the event you ask for.


Everyone wants to do building events, but study events make us competitive at tournaments. If you want to be valuable to the team and want to compete, then chose lots of study events.

Be a TEAM player! Find out what the team needs. Find where we have the fewest people, and try to make yourself valuable to the team. The more you do, the more valuable you are and the more likely you are to make Regional and State rosters.

Field Trips

Watch for permission letters that go home about a week before each trip and tournament. 9th graders, be sure to see me during school or practice.

In the past we have been to/seen: Dr. Gamble – eye dissection Cleveland to see the Bodies Exhibit OSU for Breakfast of Champions WSU for Engineering night WSU for Anatomy clinic (real human cadavers – hearts and

brains) Field Stream Monitoring with Champaign County Water&Soil

Conservation District

Field Trips

This Year: Cedar Bog trips (half the team) – Dr. Jones President of Urbana U,

forestry expert, Tuesday Oct 30, 10:00-4:00; Glaciers trip; Water Quality trip

WSU chemical show and campus tour on Tuesday, December 18th; same as always; leave 8:15, return 2:30

OBCI – February, date to be determined later SEMEDS – Thursday, February 14, leave WL-S 3:00 return 7:30 Space Day at Air Force Museum on Friday, May 3rd Rocks & Minerals Shows: late Dec in Cinn and early April in

Columbus; Big Rock Shop in Xenia and Dayton Gem Society private collection

Field Stream Monitoring? Dr. Gamble eye dissection – do you want to see this again this

year?

Tournaments

Teams of 15 students compete against other schools in 23 events. Schools may register more than one team if they have enough students.

Division B is for grades 6-9 with a max of five 9th graders.

Division C is for grades 9-12 with a max of 12 seniors.

Tournaments

Academic Tournaments Tournaments are hosted by a school or university. They

last all day covering 6 to 8 one hour time periods in which the 23 events compete.

Pairs of students compete in individual events to win medals and ribbons. Individual scores add to an overall team scores. Ex: a first place gold combines with a last place finish means the team finishes in the middle.

This is all about taking hard academic tests. If you are allergic to tests, this not for you!

Tournaments

Academic Tournaments Invitation to Regional to State to National There are seven Regionals in Ohio. Our Southwest Ohio

Regional is on March 16, 2013. The top five teams advance to State.

State is at OSU on April 27, 2013 – top 50 teams. Top two in State advance to Nationals; Last year nationals

at Orlando Florida; this year at Wright State University; different place every year; mega college scholarships given away here! 4 yr full rides given away at nationals.

Tournaments Every State participates in SO which began in 1984. Currently 269

Regional teams in Ohio - over a ¼ of Ohio school districts compete in SO. We are the only one in our area, and we are one of the top programs in the State!

Ohio teams have dominated SO by winning the last five national titles. Solon won and Magsig MS (Centerville) finished 5th in the country last year.

Our tournaments have the toughest competition in the country which is why teams from many states travel here to compete against us.

WL-S teams have made it the State Tournament for the last seven years.

Tournaments

Invitationals are great fun for the students, but a lot of work for the coaches. Coaches run the Invitationals. We write the tests, run the events, and do all the grading. We need parents to help chaperone our students. We need parents to: ride the bus sit in our homebase – part of the day or the whole

day help us grade tests

Please volunteer!

Tournaments

Invitationals Invitationals (events we are asking to run)(events we are asking to run)

Northmont Middle School: Saturday, January 5 (Boomilever, Forestry)

Wright state University: Saturday, January 12 (Water Quality, Reach for the Stars)

Magsig Middle School: Saturday, January 19 (Rocks&Minerals, Helicopters)

Solon Middle School: Saturday, February 2 (WIDI)

New Albany Middle School: Saturday, February 23 (Rocks&Minerals, Anatomy)

West Liberty-Salem: Saturday, March 2.We have registered two teams for each tournament except for Solon.We may not have devises for our JV team for the first three

tournaments.Northmont is right at the end of our Christmas break. Look for

permission letters right before break. We will pass out team shirts at the mandatory team meeting on Friday 12-21. Will we have devises for this tournament?

Tournaments

Solon Solon is an overnight trip. We will bring only one team – our varsity

team. JV or noncompeting students may go if accompanied by their parent. By Thanksgiving we will tell you if you are competing at Solon.

Last year, we traveled in a coach bus with Northmont. They picked us up on Friday at 4:30 PM. We arrived at the hotel in Cleveland at 7:30. They charged $35 per person for transportation. This was a good deal and we plan to pursue this opportunity again this year (instead of driving through a snow storm in our own vehicles). Hotel rooms are around $105 per room. We will place four students per hotel room and divide the cost. We can reserve additional hotel rooms for parents that want to come with us. We will need confirmation and payment by Christmas break.

Our Invitational

On Saturday, March 5, 2013, WL-S will host our fifth invitational tournament. This is a great honor for us. We are very proud to show off our school to the academic community.

Last year we had over 1200 people from 7 different states visit us.

We will use our entire WL-S campus. Planning is a year-round endeavor. We need volunteers. Mr. Hance is our tournament director. Please e-mail him if you are able to help.

[email protected] [email protected]

Tournament Rosters

Since we will be taking two teams to most tournaments, we will have a varsity and a junior varsity team.

At every tournament, I am going to put forward the most qualified person in each event that gives our team the best chance of winning.

You must earn your spot on the varsity team. The coaches do not owe you a spot on the varsity roster or State rosters. We NEVER play favorites. The coaches will evaluate your performance at every practice and tournament.

Tournament Rosters

Your spot on the varsity team will be based on: your age your previous SO experience your performance at tournaments including raw scores

at Invitationals if available your attendance and participation at practice your willingness to help the team by filling in at other

events you normally do not do (putting team above self)

Other schools give tests in-between tournaments to determine who makes their Regional and State rosters. We can do this as well if needed.

Tournament Rosters

We can take only one team to State – our varsity team. If you want to break through and make the varsity and

State rosters then out compete someone in a study event at invitationals.

Are you the best person on our team in your study event? Do you work hard and cooperate to make the team better? If so, you will make the varsity roster and State roster.

Every year some students put themselves above team and do not understand this concept. Students that do not make the varsity State roster are still valuable and are still expected to go with us to gain experience for next year.

Tournament Rosters

It’s about the team! The most valuable team members are the ones that can

compete in study events. If you want to compete in tournaments, work at your study events.

Pick an event and own it. Be valuable to the team by being the best in a study event. If someone is better than you in a event, then either work harder and beat your team mate or work on another event to be the best in that one.

Study events win trophies and tournaments and will take us to State and Nationals. If you do not do a study event, don’t expect to be on the tournament roster just because you helped with a building event.

Student Behavior at Practices and Tournaments

You guys are awesome! You are some of the best science students and some of the most mature students in our school. Don’t let us down by being goofy or by horse-playing!

After school during practices: go to a room with an adult; you must be in a room

with an adult all times no roaming the hallways no sitting alone in a classroom or in the hallway

unsupervised If a group is practicing in the library, you may not get

on the computers.


Don’t show up for practice unless you are scheduled.

If you have to wait for a practice at 4:00 or 5:00, join a group with an adult and sit quietly in the back and do your homework or something else.

Practices should be fun, casual, and relaxed, but take them seriously. No goofing off. If you don’t want to work, then go home and play there. Just don’t complain when you don’t make the tournament roster. Please don’t make the coaches yell at you!


At tournaments: At tournaments the coaches are busy running the events.

This is work for us. We cannot watch you and tell you what to do every step of the way. We will prepare you before the tournament, but you have to responsible and get to your events on time with the materials you need.

Remember, you are representing our school. No running around and horse-playing. Keep our home-base cleaned up. When not competing try to stay busy and be useful. Cram for your next event or watch the building events. Keep cell phones in the homebase. You may take pictures of only our team, and remember to turn the flash off. We want to hear positive comments about your behavior.

Event Review and Coach Introductions

EVENT; COACH; DESCRIPTION1) Anatomy; Jim Hoffman; Teams will be tested on their knowledge of anatomy

and health concepts including nervous and digestive systems. 2) Boomilever; Jim Naderer; Students will build a cantilevered wooden

structure. The structure is attached to a test wall. Weight is added to a point on the structure. Structural efficiency is determined by load supported/mass of boomilever.

3) Crime Busters; Cara Wolfe/Cameron Spencer; Teams will identify the

perpetrators of a crime or crimes by using paper chromatography and analysis of unknown solids, liquids, and plastics found at the scene of a crime.

4) Disease Detective; Jim Hoffman; This event requires students to apply

principles of epidemiology to a published report of a real-life health situation or problem. This year’s emphasis is environmental quality.


EVENT; COACH; DESCRIPTION5) Dynamic Planet; Cameron Spencer; Teams will work at stations that

display a variety of earth science materials and related earth science questions. This year’s emphasis is glaciers.

6) Experimental Design; Cameron Spencer; Given a set of unknown

objects, teams will design, conduct, analyze and write-up an experiment.

7) Food Science; Cara Wolfe/Judy Condrad; Using their understanding of

the chemistry and physical properties of baking ingredients, teams will answer questions at a series of stations.

8) Forestry; Cara Wolfe/Sally Engle; This event will test student knowledge

of North American trees that are on the Official National Tree List.


EVENT; COACH; DESCRIPTION9) Helicopters; John Hance; Students will construct and test free flight

rubber-powered helicopters prior to the tournament to achieve 10) Heredity; Jim Hoffman; Students will solve problems and analyze data

or diagrams using their knowledge of the basic principles of genetics. 11) Keep the Heat; Cameron Spencer; Teams must construct an insulated

device prior to the tournament that is designed to retain heat. Students must also complete a written test on thermodynamic concepts.

12) Meteorology; Cameron Spencer; This event involves the use of

process skills as applied to meteorology. This year’s emphasis is everyday weather.


EVENT; COACH; DESCRIPTION13) Metric Mastery; Cameron Spencer; Students will demonstrate an intuitive

feeling for estimating then measuring metric units including mass, volume, area, surface area, force, distance, time and temperature.

14) Mission Possible; Jim Naderer; Prior to the competition, participants will design,

build, test and document a "Rube Goldberg-like device" that completes a required Final Task using a sequence of consecutive tasks.

15) Mousetrap Vehicle; Jim Naderer; Teams will design, build and test a vehicle

using one mousetrap as the sole means of propulsion to reach a target as quickly, accurately and close to their predicted time as possible.

16) Reach for the Stars; Mary Benedict; Students will demonstrate an understanding

and basic knowledge of the properties and evolution of stars, open clusters and globular clusters, and normal and star-forming galaxies.


EVENT; COACH; DESCRIPTION17) Road Scholar; Steve McCall; Requires the accurate interpretation and

understanding of various map features using a variety of road and topographic maps.

18) Rocks and Minerals; Cameron Spencer; Teams will demonstrate their

knowledge of rocks and minerals. 19) Rotor Egg Drop; Cameron Spencer or Jim Naderer; A team will

construct a helicopter device which uses one or more helicopter rotors to safely transport a raw chicken egg from a specified height to the floor.

20) Shock Value; John Benedict; Students will compete in activities

involving basic understanding of electricity, magnetism and simple electrical devices.


EVENT; COACH; DESCRIPTION21) Sounds of Music; Cara Wolfe/Penny Higgins; Prior to the competition,

students will build two instruments based on a 12 tone tempered scale, prepare to describe the principles behind their operation and be able to perform a major scale, a required melody and a chosen melody with each.

22) Water Quality; Cameron Spencer; The event will focus on evaluating

aquatic environments. This year’s emphasis is freshwater/estuaries. 23) Write It/Do It; Cara Wolfe; A technical writing exercise where students

write a description of a contraption and other students will attempt to recreate it using only the written description.

Interest Forms

Please turn in interest forms only if: you are serious and committed to being on the

team you have and will maintain an A, B, or C in every

class – can you keep your grades up with the extra work?

Don’t turn in this form unless you are serious about being on the team. Don’t join and then quit later!

Final Thoughts and Questions

Thanks for being so patient tonight – a lot of info to cover. We have some amazing young people in our school. We

hope we can challenge them this year and help to prepare them for the future.

Remember to come to as many tryout tests as possible. If you are interested but can’t make it to many because of your schedule, talk to me or one of the coaches.

I will try to post a team roster by Friday 10-26, before the first practice on Monday, Oct 29.

Any final questions for me or any of the coaches?We expect to have another fun,

exciting, and busy season!

2012-2013 West Liberty-Salem Science Olympiad Agenda Season Goals and Expectations MS SO Web Site...

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