The Science Olympiad 2012 competition is on Wednesday, March 7. The bus will leave Dallas High School by 7 am, so be early. Remember to bring whatever you need to compete in your events!!!
Science Olympiad is a competition consisting of 23 different events. Students participate in the events in teams of two. The competition is held in March at the Penn State Lehman Campus. THis year the events are:
Anatomy & Physiology - This event encompasses the anatomy and physiology of selected body systems, this year limited to respiratory, excretory and digestive systems.
Astronomy - Teams will demonstrate an understanding of the basic concepts of math and physics relating to stellar evolution and type Ia supernovas.
Chemistry Lab - Teams will demonstrate chemistry laboratory skills related to selected topics.
Disease Detective -This event requires students to apply principles of epidemiology to a published report of a real-life health situation or problem. (Food Borne Illness)
Dynamic Planet - Teams will work at stations that display a variety of earth science materials and related earth science questions. (Earth's Fresh Waters)
Experimental Design - Given a set of unknown objects, teams will design, conduct, analyze and write-up an experiment.
Fermi Questions - A Fermi Question is a science related question that seeks a fast, rough estimate of a quantity which is difficult or impossible to measure directly. Answers will be estimated within an order of magnitude recorded in powers of 10.
Forensics - Students will identify polymers, solids, fibers, and other materials in a crime scenario.
Forestry - This event will test student knowledge of North American trees that are on the Official National Tree List.
Gravity Vehicle - Teams design, build and test one vehicle and ramp that uses gravitational potential energy as the vehicle's sole means of propulsion to reach a Target Point as quickly, as accurately and as close to their predicted time as possible.
Helicopters - Students will construct and test free flight rubber-powered helicopters prior to the tournament to achieve maximum flight times.
Microbe Mission - Teams will answer questions, solve problems and analyze data pertaining to microbes.
Optics - Teams compete in activities and answer questions related to geometric and physical optics.
Protein Modeling - Students will use computer visualization and online resources to guide them in constructing physical models of proteins and in understanding how the structure of the protein determines the function. For 2012, students will model proteins involved in the regulation of apoptosis as they explore the discovery and treatment of a rare (one in a billion) genetic trait discovered through genome sequencing.
Remote Sensing - Teams use maps and remote sensing technology to explain human impact on the Earth.
Robot Arm - Prior to the competition teams must design, build, document and test one robotic device to move scored items.
Rocks and Minerals - Teams will demonstrate their knowledge of rocks and minerals.
Sounds of Music - Prior to the competition, students will build two different instruments of any type 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.
Technical Problem Solving - Teams will gather and process data to solve problems.
Thermodynamics -Teams must construct an insulated device prior to the tournament that is designed to retain heat. Teams must also complete a written test on thermodynamic concepts.
Towers - Team members design and build the most efficient tower.
Water Quality - The event will focus on evaluating aquatic environments.
Write It/Do It - 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.
