Philosophy: Events are designed to challenge students that meet and exceed the Sunshine State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards. Unlike teaching in the classroom, where teachers strive for profiency in the content, in a Science Olympiad Tournament the content in lab and research activities are designed to rank students across a bell curve. In a classroom, it is normal to have many students earn a 100% (or a 0% for that matter!) but a group of students who successfully achieve 100% at one of our competitions make it impossible for us to rank from 1st to Last Place. More importantly, we want students to compete in these events in an authentic way that engages them in deep learning of content.

Parents are an important part of this process and their involvement in helping students learn the events is critical. Yet, there is a limit to what parents should do and what students should be doing. We encourage parents to help but not do!

"Events are designed to challenge students that meet and exceed the Sunshine State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards. Unlike teaching in the classroom, where teachers strive for proficiency in the content, in a Science Olympiad Tournament the content in lab and research activities are designed to rank students across a bell curve."  Read more at eso.floridascienceolympiad.org

RULES MANUAL

A IS FOR ANATOMY: Teams will demonstrate knowledge of human organs and organ systems.

This is a binder event

BACKYARD BIOLOGIST: Teams will be assessed on their knowledge of living organisms that they may encounter in their own backyard. The
focus for 2024 will be shrubs and insects.

This is a binder event
Link to Resources and Sample Test (from prior year)

BALLOON RACERS: Teams will build a balloon powered car (“racer”) that will move down a track in a straight line during a race against other teams. This is a PREBUILD EVENT
A great video for starting ideas

CAN’T JUDGE A POWDER: Students will test and characterize one pure substance and then, based only on the data they collect, answer a series of questions about that substance. Students will NOT be asked to identify the substance. The emphasis of the event is on the quality of the data collected, answering questions about the powder, and providing data to support their answers.

CIRCUIT LAB: The event will challenge student’s knowledge of direct current (DC) circuits using low voltage batteries. Wall socket (AC) current will not be used.

CODEBUSTERS: Teams will cryptanalyze and decode encrypted messages using techniques for historical and advanced ciphers.

ENERGY MATTERS: Teams will be asked questions and/or will conduct experiments at stations as they relate to the properties of energy. Safety goggles are required.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Teams will be asked to design, complete, and write up an experiment.

FOSSIL FRENZY: This event focused on their knowledge of geologic time, dinosaur fossils and the process of fossilization.

KEYED TO SCIENCE: This event focused on classification and using tools for classification.

METRIC MANIA: Teams will demonstrate their understanding of metric measurements by estimating and measuring length (meter), mass (gram), fluid volume (liter), angles, and temperature (Celsius) and making calculations based on these measurements.

MYSTERY ARCHITECTURE: At the beginning of the event, teams will be given a bag of building materials and instructions for designing and building a device that can be tested. This is an ON-SITE BUILD EVENT.

PRECISION PING PONG PROPULSION: Students will build and calibrate their own free-standing (not hand held) launching device to propel ping pong balls at a target that is placed within a given range. This is a PREBUILD event.

ROLLER COASTER: Prior to the competition, teams design, build, and test a roller coaster track to guide a sphere that uses gravitational potential energy as its sole means of propulsion to travel as close as possible to a target time. Students MUST bring and wear impact resistant safety goggles. This is a PRE-BUILT EVENT.

STARRY, STARRY NIGHT: Teams will demonstrate knowledge of astronomical concepts relating to stars and planets.

It is simple to enter: A coach registers a team for the competition. When a coach registers for the competition you will also be able to download a free set of the rules from Florida Elementary Science Olympiad website. The rules manual contains the guidelines for each of the 15 events in which the students will compete. For example, the rules for Physics Lab will guide the students to prepare for content that may be in Energy, but does not give the specific lab the students will be required to perform onsite at the competition. They must have a broad understanding of the concepts, as well as the skills to perform an experiment quickly and accurately.
While you can begin to prepare, you will need a team number to schedule events precisely for your team. After we receive payment, your regional site will provide a team number.

During the course of the competition, students are required to complete the lab, research or compete with their engineered device within a 50 minute period. Students will typically compete in 3-4 events during the day.
In each of the 15 events, teams are evaluated by judges who determine how well students complete the task based on the rules described for each event. For example, in the engineering events, have the students created their device with the correct dimensions, materials, and within the limitations of the rules? Judges not only evaluate their performance and achievements but also provide advice so students improve for future competitions.

All of the events are team based. At least two students work together on each event, whether it is lab based, research based, or a prebuilt event.
Science Olympiad is the only competition highlighted in the National Science Education Standards (1996) as an excellent example of linking inquiry and assessment. In addition, Science Olympiad has been highlighted in the 2007 National Governors Report as a national model to learning science and mathematics. Each year, we correlate the events to the Sunshine State Standards. Starting in 2008, they are correlated to the New Sunshine State Standards.

In the tradition of sporting events, Science Olympiad awards medals/ribbons to the top performing students in each event and trophies to the top performing teams. Students take pride not only in their performance but also to their contribution to the team's performance. Often, students depart the competition with a strong sense of accomplishment, looking forward to next year, yet their ranking may indicate a quite different response would have been expected! Science Olympiad builds a love of science and learning that goes beyond all other academic programs.

This rich experience provides students with something that no other competition does: It encourages teamwork, problem solving, and critical thinking.

Competition Clarifications

*If more than 24 teams sign up there will be section 3.

*Teams from the same school must be in the same block.

Event clarification

*If an event supervisor indicates there is a violation on the device, the student can fix it PRIOR to the close of the impound time period (9:50). The event supervisor will not indicate what is specifically wrong, just that there is a violation.

*For binder events, there is a limit of one binder per team.