To: Piedmont Governor’s School - Science Bowl Team Members
From: Mrs. Propst
Welcome to the Science Bowl Team for the 2012 competition!! It will be a great event and I know you will be
glad you chose to be a part of the team. This is a nuclear particle accelerator facility and we may have the
opportunity to tour the grounds in the afternoon.
1. Seniors - Please prepare a short autobiography of yourself, in 100 words or less—using complete sentences
in third-person point of view. Include information on the following topics: favorite subject(s); honors (e.g.
Valedictorian, etc.); offices held (e.g. President of National Honor Society, class officer, etc.); extracurricular
activities (e.g. JETS Team, Science Olympiad, music, athletics, clubs, etc.); volunteer work; future education
plans (list college/university and potential major); career goal; and any other information you would like us to
place in the 2008 Science Bowl Program. Email this to me by noon on Nov. 22 at spropst@dcc.vccs.edu
2. The Department of Energy has a dedicated website to the science bowl competition. This can be found at
http://www.scied.science.doe.gov/nsb/strategies.htm
This website has valuable information about the competition and several pages of practice questions. You need
to study these questions throughout the months leading to the competition.
3. The rules are included in your packet of information. Be sure you are familiar with the rules before the first
practice. We will be following the rules of competition during practice so we will be prepared for the
competition. The judges are very, very strict on the rules and timing – we do not want to lose points or give any
points away by not being prepared.
4. Practices will be held at my house, 641 High Meadow Circle, Dry Fork, VA. A schedule is attached for each
week until competition.
5. I will give you the parental consent form and student medical information form as soon as they are available.
6. Area of expertise – you need to be thinking about the area in which you are the strongest to focus on for
competition. By splitting up the different categories among the team we can focus on more in depth knowledge
of each subject area. This does not mean you cannot answer questions during the competition for any subject
area but one-two team members will be responsible for studying each area.
The subject areas for competition are:
Astronomy
General Science
Biology
Earth Science
Chemistry
Current Events
Math
Physics
The suggested books to study are as follows:
GENERAL
Living in the Environment - G. Tyler Miller, Jr. - ITP
Asking about Life - Tobin & Dusheck - Harcourt
The NY Public Library-Science Desk Reference – Macmillan - Any Bookstore
EARTH
Environmental Science - Nebel, Wright - Prentice Hall
Earth Then & Now - Montgomery – Dathe - McGraw-Hill
Physical Geology - Mark Crawford - IDG
ASTRONOMY
In Quest of the Universe - Karl F. Kuhn - Jones & Bartlett
Horizons-Exploring the Universe - Michael A. Seeds - ITP
The Cosmic Perspective – Bennett, Donahue - Addison Wesley
PHYSICS
Contemporary College-Physics – Jones, Childers - McGraw-Hill
College Physics 3rd – Wilson, Buffa - Prentice Hall
Conceptual Physical-Science - Hewitt-Suchocki-Hewitt - Addison-Wesley
MATHEMATICS
The Harper Collins-Mathematics Dictionary - E.J. Borowski & J.M Borwein Harper Collins Publishing
Calculus – Farrand, Poxon - Harcourt Brace
Physics: Algebra/Trig – Hecht - ITP
CHEMISTRY
Chemistry - Harold Nathan - IDG
Organic Chemistry - Frank Pellegrini - IDG
General Chemistry - Umland & Bellama - ITP
BIOLOGY
The Living Science - Miller-Levine - Prentice Hall
Human Biology – Chiras - Jones and Bartlett
Biology-The Web of Life – Strauss, Lisowski - Addison-Wesley
If you or your parents have any questions feel free to call me anytime to discuss your concerns.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Susan BH Propst
434-728-0367