2014 Science Olympiad Events
TEST EVENTS:
Life, Personal, and Social Science
Anatomy and Physiology
• Anatomy and Physiology is an event which
tests students' knowledge about the anatomy
of a human body. Division C will test on three
body systems: nervous (brain and sensory
organs), integumentary (skin), and immune.
Tests involve multiple choice questions,
true/false, short answer, and identifying body
parts.
Disease Detectives (Environmental
Quality)
• Disease Detectives focuses on epidemiology,
that is, the study of diseases and how they
spread. The 2013-2014 focus topic is
environmental quality. Tests involve analyzing
why and how specific diseases spread from
various scenarios. It’s important to know
multiple concepts of epidemiology along with
applying those concepts to specific examples.
Entomology
• Entomology is an event in which competitors
must be able to identify insects from 30 orders
and 100 families (Division C only). You should
have a good amount of knowledge on general
insect information. On most tests, questions
about behavior, structure, human impact, and
any characteristics of certain insects may be
asked.
• Similar to last year’s Forestry event
Designer Genes
• Designer Genes is based on genetics and
molecular biology (introns/exons,
mitosis/meiosis, leading/lagging strand, etc).
Tests involve true/false, multiple choice, and
some short answer. It’s important to not just
know the information but also apply it to
scenarios.
Water Quality
• Water Quality tests the ability to identify aquatic
organisms and the understanding of the
indicators of water quality. Topics that may be
included are aquatic ecology, water cycle,
nutrient cycling, waste water treatment, aquatic
food chains and webs, community interactions,
population dynamics, harmful species, etc.
• Along with the test, it is mandatory to make a
hydrometer.
TEST EVENTS:
Physical Science and Chemistry
Chemistry Lab
• Equilibrium & Chem Reactions/Stoichiometry
• This is a two-part event which tests students’
knowledge on topics such as stoichiometry,
reaction types, oxidation and reduction,
aqueous solutions, equilibrium, periodicity
and basic thermodynamics.
• Tests involve multiple choice, true/false, short
answer, and an experiment with follow up lab
questions.
Forensics
• Chemistry event that involves identification of
powders, polymers, fibers, and hair samples,
blood serum and fingerprint analysis, and
interpretation of chromatography.
• Given a scenario and some possible suspects,
students will perform a series of tests. These
tests, along with other evidence or test
results, will be used to solve a crime.
Materials Science
• Materials Science tests knowledge of the
properties and characteristics of metals,
ceramics, polymers and composite materials,
with a focus on material characterization
techniques, intermolecular forces, and surface
chemistry.
• Two part test containing multiple choice
questions and short lab experiments
TEST EVENTS:
Inquiry & Nature of Science
Experimental Design
• In experimental design, you will be given
several materials and asked to perform an
experiment on a certain science topic. You
have to design an experiment and outline all
parts of the scientific method in explicit detail.
It's judged on how detailed you are and if your
experiment is plausible.
Technical Problem Solving
• Students will apply scientific theories and
principles related to the current topics in the
solution of the problems. Students will be
asked to collect data, make measurements,
and determine specific values to solve a
problem using probeware that has been
provided, set up, and demonstrated by the
supervisor. Experimental measurements and
calculations may be required in written
portion.
Write It Do It
• A student is shown an object built from, but not
limited to, such items as science materials,
inexpensive materials (e.g., straws, push pins,
Styrofoam balls, paper cups Popsicle sticks, etc.)
or commercial sets (e.g., Googoplex, K'nex, Tinker
Toys, Lego, etc.)
• The student has 25 minutes to write a description
of the object and how to build it. There will be no
advantage to finishing early. Only numerals,
words and single letters may be used.
BUILD EVENTS:
Boomilever
• This event asks you to build a device that
holds 15kg of mass
• It must attach to a wall and must be loaded on
the other side.
ATTACH
HERE
Load here
Boomilever
Bungee Egg Drop
• New 2014 Event
• A device is pulled from a bungee cord with an
egg in it.
• The goal is to stop the device as close to the
ground as possible without breaking the egg.
The team with the largest displacement wins
Bungee Egg Drop
Elastic Launched Glider
• Teams are to create an aircraft that launches
using elastic and flies like a normal plane.
• The team with the longest airtime wins.
Mission Impossible
• This is a new event for 2014.
• Basically, it’s a Rube Goldberg machine that
does a number of specified things (in the rule
book) in the shortest amount of time.
Scrambler
• Teams are to build a car that stops before a
wall placed at a certain distance.
• The device must also accommodate an egg
and it must not break throughout the run.
• The team that gets the closest to the wall
wins.
BUILD EVENTS:
Engineering Knowledge Events
• These events have a building component and
a test component.
Maglev
• Teams are to build a device that hovers over a
track using magnets and is propelled by a
single propeller.
• THIS EVENT ALSO HAS A TEST COMPONENT
ABOUT MAGNETS.
Circuit Lab
• The first half of this event consists of an exam
covering Physical Circuitry (the science part,
no IC or Logic knowledge required).
• The second half is done on a prototyping
board (PLD or Breadboard). You may need to
know logic or the function of IC chips for this
section.
Circuit Lab
Compound Machines
• This is a new event for this year.
• The first half consists of an exam about
compound machines and will ask you to
calculate forces on the objects in the
machines (Think physics).
• The second half will be a lab investigation
using compound machines (think physics lab
exams).
Questions?
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