Virginia Science Olympiad Coach s Handbook (2017-18) This handbook is intended as a supplement to the annual National Science Olympiad Rules Manuals and to the National and Virginia Science Olympiad websites.
Table of Contents Welcome... 1 Background: National Science Olympiad and VA Science Olympiad... 1 Important Dates and Deadlines... 2 Divisions... 2 Teams... 2 SO Membership Registering a Team... 3 Benefits of Membership the tournaments... 3 Expectations... 4 Organizing a team... 4 Some Tips for Generating Student Interest... 4 Thinking About Team Members... 5 Some Tips for Organizing your Help... 5 What Can Helpers Do?... 5 Events... 6 Understanding Rules and Clarifications... 6 Assigning Events... 7 Training the Team... 7 Where to find resources... 8 Tournament Countdown... 8 Regional Tournament Day... 9 State Tournament... 9
Welcome Welcome to the journey that is Science Olympiad! Whether you are an elementary school group with involved parents or a high school club looking to try some engineering events for fun, there is a similar learning curve for getting started. We have many coaches who have been through the steps you will find yourself taking and they have generously provided their input here, as well as templates on the website. For the creation of this manual, a special thanks goes to the SO programs of Alabama, Tennessee, and New Jersey for their coaching manual templates, as well as Anita Sahai, Ann Gray, and Meredith Haines for their Virginia-specific content. Background: National Science Olympiad and VA Science Olympiad National Science Olympiad or SO is a national non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 science education, increasing male, female and minority interest in science, creating a technologically literate workforce and providing recognition for outstanding achievement by both students and teachers. These goals are achieved by participating in Science Olympiad tournaments and non-competitive events, incorporating Science Olympiad into classroom curriculum and attending teacher training institutes. The National Science Olympiad Website: www.soinc.org Virginia Science Olympiad (VASO) is a non-profit which seeks to engage and challenge students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through various levels of team-based competitive tournaments in Virginia. In order to advance and develop science education, the primary mission of VASO is to: Increase K-12 student interest and success in the sciences Improve community perception of science and recognize talented students and dedicated teachers in science education through teamwork and competition Conduct events so as to improve the quality of science education Organize regional and state VASO tournaments and provide encouragement and information to potential participants Encourage and develop relationships between science educators, science students, and science-related industry Represent and cooperate with National Science Olympiad Provide financial support through fundraising efforts for the foregoing purposes Coordinate with commonwealth and local agencies and organizations to promote and build support for VASO The VA Science Olympiad website: www.virginiaso.org Page 1
Important Dates and Deadlines Registration (September Nov 17, with a late fee for those after Nov 3) New Coaches Clinic (late October) very valuable for those new to coaching Building Event Open House (in mid-november) come talk to event supervisors or experts about the building events Invitational Tournaments (December February, two VA Div. C ones and one VA Div B, others out-of-state) Regional Tournaments (late January March) State Tournament (April 14 at UVA) National Tournament UC Fort Collins, Colorado - May 18-19, 2018 Divisions There are primarily two Science Olympiad competition Divisions: Division B grades 5-8; and Division C grades 9-12. Division A organizes a tournament for students in grades 3-5 but has its own timetable and information. See the Division A portion of the VASO website for more information on its activities. Teams Science Olympiad is a team endeavor students do not participate individually in Science Olympiad. A student may only join a team sponsored by the school they attend. Science Olympiad is generally run as an after-school activity, and may have unlimited participants at the school level. However, each competition team can consist of a maximum of 15 members. (Schools may choose to send less than 15 members on a team and may choose to compete in less than all of the events.) Some specific team limitations: Division C schools are only allowed up to 7 high school seniors to participate on each team. Students from a school with multiple teams can only be a member of one of those teams at any given time. For schools fielding teams in multiple divisions (A, B, or C) a student may participate in only one division during a competition season. Home schooled teams are also allowed under specific guidelines please contact us for details. The school represented by a team must be the school of primary enrollment for all team members. Primary enrollment at a school is determined by what school holds the student s records and matriculates the student, and students may only be primarily enrolled at a single school that school through which they are meeting the Virginia Department of Education general education requirements. Recruitment of students attending other schools is prohibited. (Further Team information is at http://www.virginiaso.org/teams.php and http://www.virginiaso.org/policies/team-composition.php) Page 2
SO Membership Registering a Team Science Olympiad requires that every team competing in any Science Olympiad tournament (Invitational, Regional, State or National) must be a member (i.e., must be registered). When you register a team (or teams) with VASO, we pay a portion of your registration fee to the national organization. Thus, you are both a member of VASO and the national organization. Instructions for registering a team are found on our website. Download and read the registration packet carefully; it will give you a timeline for the year regarding the expectations that VASO has for each team/school. Division B schools may only field 2 teams, while Division C schools may field 3 teams. New schools in either division may field only one team their first year. This allows VASO to accommodate anticipated growth. The membership fee varies based on the number of teams a school is registering, as well as whether the teams take advantage of the early registration discount, and can be found on the registration page of the website. Schools with a large percentage of free and reduced lunch students receive a discount. Pricing information is on the website. The deadline for membership registration is November 17. Benefits of Membership the tournaments Registration fees cover participation in a regional tournament. The fee also covers the participation fee for future tournaments (the state tournament and the national tournament) if the school qualifies to attend. Plan for tournaments to be an all-day affair, starting early in the morning and ending with an awards ceremony in the evening at the end of the competition. Medals are awarded to students for placing 1 st -6 th place in their events. In addition, teams are awarded overall points based on their summation of their performance over all the events. Scoring detail is on the website. Virginia will host three Regional Tournaments in spring 2018. All teams from a school must attend the same (one) regional competition, and the school will have some say in which one their teams attend. Also, a school may be eligible to send one team to the Virginia State Tournament if they qualify at a regional. Qualification is based on the score of the highest-placing team from that school at the regional tournament. Specific information on this will be available in the fall. The winning team of the Virginia State Tournament for each division (B & C) will be invited to compete in the National Tournament, this year hosted at UC Fort Collins in Colorado. Independent groups sometimes run practice tournaments called Invitationals. These are optional tournaments that teams may choose to attend to give them more practice at the events or to have more competition experience. Membership entitles a team to attend these tournaments, which are held all over the US. Note, though, that Invitationals do typically require their own registration fee and each Invitational determines its own criteria for participating and slate of events to run. Page 3
Expectations Are you aiming to be competitive or just getting a taste of the Science Olympiad? Maybe you want some of each, and can create teams to match the expectations of the students with teammates of similar aspirations. In any case, establishing these goals early on, and revisiting them as the season progresses, is a good idea. Our New Coach page has several sample agreement forms for consideration. Organizing a team A school s Science Olympiad organization typically consists of the involved students, a head coach, possibility an assistant coach, event mentors, and support volunteers. If the head coach of a team is not employed by the school that the team represents (the most common being a parent head coach), VASO also requires a school liaison employed by the school to sponsor the team. School-based liaisons vary in their participation with teams - some choose to be very hands-on with the team, for example, but that isn t required. The school liaison must receive the VASO emails, keep in touch with the coach about what is happening on the team, be a link between the school administration and the coach, and step in if there are any problems with the team. School liaisons are also great for collecting forms, handling money, ordering or supplying materials, providing a meeting place, and being an unbiased voice for difficult decisions like team selection. School liaisons are not required to go to tournaments or be part of mentoring events. For coaches, the structure of a team depends greatly on the age level of the participants. High school teams are often student-led, with the coach providing structure and guidance. Elementary school teams that choose to participate in Division B will often require that a parent volunteer mentor an event in order for their child to participate. As a coach, you will want to think about your expectations and communicate those clearly. Our New Coach page has several sample initial meeting formats for parents and for students. Although there are some coach-only teams, a coach will benefit a great deal from the help of others, especially your fellow teachers. Early on, you will want to determine the interests and talents of your student group, as well as your adult event mentors whether they are parents, teachers, or community volunteers. Emphasize that participation in Science Olympiad requires the efforts of many volunteers, including both science and non-science roles. When you collect your student contact info, start the collection of information about potential volunteers, including those who might help raise funds for your team expenses or team parents who can organize the food effort at a tournament. Some Tips for Generating Student Interest Have an SO display and/or demonstration at a PTA meeting to generate interest. Recruit a volunteer hobby videographer/photographer to develop a video of your team s road to the Science Olympiad. This will be a great resource for the future. Advertise the possibility of being on the SO team by using bulletin boards, daily announcements, school newspaper, etc. beginning several weeks prior to the organizational meeting. Have science teachers do SO demonstrations in their classes. At that first meeting, describe or demonstrate some events to build student (and parent) interest and introduce the coaches. Page 4
Thinking About Team Members In some small schools or most first-year schools, you may have some difficulty finding enough students to make a full team. This is normal (and allowed). However, at many schools there is so much interest that the number of participating students must be limited. Consider the following: Ask prospective team members to indicate, in priority order, which five or so events they would be most interested in to be sure you can staff all the events. While ability is valuable, a student s commitment to come to practice and competitions is equally desirable. A mix of students is good include some quick thinkers, some builders, some who love to study science facts. It is okay to start small (fewer than 15 students) but, eventually, it is good to have 2 to 4 alternates in addition to a full team. Consider your school s transportation requirements as you select the number on the team and who will go to the tournament. Consider fielding two teams if you have at least 25 students. Some schools use a science test to narrow the field of candidates, others watch them in hands-on events, and others do a combination. Whatever method you choose, we encourage you to be as clear as possible to candidates (and their parents) regarding the method. Some Tips for Organizing your Help Many teams have one or more assistants. Never forget that SO is a team effort for coaches as well as students. Not all event mentors require a science background, e.g.: Road Scholar, Write It/Do It, social science events. Recruit older students (like HS) to train younger students (MS and ES). Parents can free-up coaches by helping with event mentoring (especially Division B), team travel (for training or competition), logistics (including coordinating other volunteers), and fund raising (try local utility companies and service organizations such as Rotary, Optimists, etc. as well as PTA). Local colleges and universities will sometimes help students in specific disciplines (e.g.: a geology department may help with rocks, fossils, and minerals). Consider local retirees, especially scientists and engineers. Look to local nurses and physicians for health related events. Don t forget that the emphasis for students is on their events. Don t have team members so occupied by fundraising that it impacts their event preparation. Be sure to thank all contributors and volunteers in writing. Students should help with this. What Can Helpers Do? VASO has a liberal design and advice policy, however anyone other than members of the 15- person competition team is forbidden from constructing anything on competition devices. Coaches are requested to read VASO policies (http://www.virginiaso.org/policies.php) and share appropriate information with their students and helpers. In particular, see: Constructed Devices (http://virginiaso.org/policies/constructed-devices.php) Design, Advice and Mentorship (http://virginiaso.org/policies/advice-mentor.php) Parent Participation Policy (http://virginiaso.org/policies/parent-participation.php) Page 5
Events A Science Olympiad tournament consists of up to 23 events in five event categories: Life, Personal, and Social Sciences; Earth and Space Science; Physical Science and Chemistry; Technology and Engineering; and Inquiry and Nature of Science. Events vary from year to year, with each year s tournament schedule consisting of a mix of a previous year s events and new and rotating events. The specific focus and rules for recurring and rotating events change each year. SO events are designed to recognize the wide variety of skills that students possess. Some events focus primarily on knowledge of scientific facts and concepts and others emphasize science processes, skills and applications. Also, Science Olympiad events align with national science education content and process objectives (see: http://soinc.org/align_natl_stand). The goal is to reinforce and extend classroom learning while giving students curiosity the opportunity to flourish. To enhance the educational experience of Science Olympiad teams, the VASO board sometimes substitutes or modifies events to be run at Virginia tournaments. VASO may also modify the schedule. (This is important because a student cannot compete in two events that occur at the same time.) Events selected for Virginia Science Olympiad are posted on the virginiaso.org website. Each event has its own page (http://virginiaso.org/events.php) on which is a description of each event, as well as VASO changes, event clarifications and links to resources. VASO event rules supersede National event rules at Virginia regionals and State meets. Be advised that organizers of Invitational meets also frequently choose to modify the National schedule, so it is not safe to assume the same event lineups at all tournaments. VASO often chooses at the State tournament to offer one or more trial events in addition to the competition events scheduled in a given year. Trial events do not count toward team points in tournaments, although medals will be awarded. Trial events allow alternates to compete, although members of the 15-person competition team may compete in trial events as well. Understanding Rules and Clarifications REVIEW THE RULES CAREFULLY to avoid disqualification or score reduction. Sometimes a rule change or clarification is needed. It is important to check the VASO website to stay up to date on the clarifications or changes. In addition, the rules may need to be modified based on logistics and/or the level of competition. For example, a host site may not have the facility to accommodate specific rules. Many of the rules in the events are complex. As students prepare for an event, keep up to date on all VASO clarifications. During our tournaments, we will enforce clarifications issued by ONLY by VASO. Visit the VASO event pages frequently; all VASO clarifications are listed on the individual event pages. There is also a page that lists all of the clarifications for ease of viewing and printing. Virginia has a system for submitting clarification questions. That can be found on the website. Page 6
Assigning Events You have a maximum of 15 competitors per team to cover up to 23 events. Each event has two people competing on it, although an occasional event will have three competitors. That means that most competitors will need to be on three events if you want to cover all of the events. Discovering what is entailed in all those events take a while. To help guide student event selection, perhaps give a general breakdown of events into Design/Build, Research, Thinking on your Feet, Lab, etc. Some ways to have students input their choices: Give top 5 events overall in order of preference. Indicate all the events students might be willing to do, limiting their top 5 to no more than perhaps 2 in any one category. Have students give their top three choices in each category, starring one event (out of all their choices) that is the one they have set their heart on. Look at the tournament schedule. Events are scheduled in periods and competitors cannot compete in more than one event per time period. Have the students rank their choices in each event period. When scheduling events, there are several things to keep in mind: Students with a wider background in a variety of science areas are easier to schedule. The first pass is to schedule a student into his/her strong event, if possible. Consider scheduling back-up team members to be present in case an originally scheduled team member can t make it. This is not always possible, but the coach can ask team members who are free to check events during that free time to make sure they are covered. Event assignments might have to be fluid for a while. For example, you may know the event conflicts for one tournament, but not another (although VA works to keep the conflicts the same for our regional and state tournaments). You may have students try things out for a month and then come back to you with reasonable change requests. You may event wish to assign events, but not partners or teams for a while until you have more information to draw on to make decisions. Warning students will be anxious to know their partners, get started and take ownership! Training the Team Training regimens vary from school to school, but might involve before-school, afterschool, club periods, and/or week-ends. Create a Blackboard class (Fairfax County) for Science Olympiad, which can serve well as a means of communication and sharing of resources. It is best to train at school, but small groups will often work on specific events at their homes as this helps involve parents. This is particularly useful for construction events. The training schedule is somewhat determined by the number of helpers. Organize events into each discipline (biology, chemistry, earth sciences), process skills (nature quest, write it-do it, etc.) and building (trajectory, mission possible, etc.) and have each group arrange their own training schedule. The students must learn to work as a member of a team and to be cross-trained in other than their prime events and flexible enough to work with anyone as a partner. Students should keep notebooks for all academic/knowledge events for handouts, etc. This gives them an organized method to study independently. Page 7
For many events, quick recall is important so if reference materials are allowed, organize them to be used quickly. For device building events, encourage divergent and numerous efforts. Try to keep the training as much fun as possible (music, snacks, etc.). Set goals like everyone getting a medal or ribbon or qualifying for the State Tournament. Consider activities to bring the entire team together periodically, such as field trips, pizza parties, swim parties, etc. Where to find resources To prepare for this competition, coaches should consult the Rules Manual and the event help found on the VASO website at http://virginiaso.org/events.php. The national event pages have many resources, and you can find links to those on each VA event page. You can also visit other states websites to find resources and practice tests. Here are some additional links: http://www.sciencenc.com/ http://scioly.org/ Please keep in mind that many of these websites and tests incorporate old rules and topic focus that are no longer in effect. However, they still serve as good resources and samples. You can also purchase material from the National SO Store (http://store.soinc.org/). Here you can find training materials that include old test packets from previous national tournaments as well as DVDs and CDs with lessons. Tournament Countdown All teams from your school will attend the same regional tournament. As soon as VASO announces the dates, lock them in with your participants early on. Each registered school may be required to run and/or write an event at the Regional and/or State Tournament (depending on the number of registered schools). Additionally, schools will be required to provide additional volunteers (see the Registration materials) at each tournament to help with registration, scoring, concessions or other tournament administration as needed by the tournament directors. Finding a test writer can be daunting, but we encourage your to look to parents, teachers, and community resources. If you must travel overnight for the tournament, there are additional logistics suggestions on the website. Having an all-hands meeting to go over tournament logistics a couple of weeks before the tournament is a good idea. Be clear about who is bringing the goggles, where are all the lab aprons, do we have enough non-programmable calculators, etc. Include reminders to parents about penalties for interference by spectators. Ask participants to re-read their event rules and clarifications and to print up a list of must have and allowable items. A few other tips: Keep in mind that your first tournament is part of the learning process. You may not want to compete in every event, especially if you have a small team, but you are encouraged to participate in as many events as possible to learn for the next year. Page 8
Prepare a master schedule for your school - who is where and when. Each student should have a copy and it would be good to brief him or her before arriving at the tournament. Maps will be available at the tournament. Organize materials for each event in bags so the required materials (pencils, goggles, etc.) are ready to take on tournament day. Regional Tournament Day Device Impound: Only regular team members and registered alternates may impound a device. The team member(s) does NOT need to be the student participating in the individual event. Parents, teachers, and others with the team are not allowed to impound. See more information in impound on the VASO website. Arbitration: An arbitration committee will be available throughout the day to assist with issues that may arise. Individual event appeal forms will be available in coaches packets. A team coach must complete the form and submit it to the event supervisor; it will then go to the arbitration committee. Posting Scores: Scores will be posted on the VA website. Scores do not become official until several days after the tournament. Don t forget that the most important task is to get the students and their equipment to the correct room and on time. Arrive at the tournament in ample time to register, learn of any changes, impound devices, etc. Teams that arrive late have a hard time catching-up. Many devices are fragile and do not travel well so consider having them ride in a parent s vehicle where they are less vulnerable to damage. The most stressful part of the day may be the first hour as the coach checks in, locates rooms, unloads equipment, gets devices impounded, sets up base camp, etc. The more that can be done in advance, the easier the day. Adult assistants can be especially helpful then. You will be assigned a base camp area where team members can come between events and where messages can be exchanged. Bring paper and markers, try to keep someone on duty at all times, perhaps with snacks. Also, have extra pencils. Try to debrief students when they come out of an event or as soon thereafter to see what they can remember about it. A form can help accomplish this. Your team should be prepared for events that may not run exactly as they envisioned. They should simply do the best they can under the circumstances. Encourage students to thank event supervisors who are volunteering their time. Thank the tournament director for his or her efforts. State Tournament If offered, alternates may compete in trial events (where medals are awarded but no credit is given toward the team score). You will notice more people (teams are more likely to be full strength). You will notice tighter scheduling (teams enter every event). Competition is much tighter and rule violation penalties stringently followed. The top team in each division is invited to the National Tournament. We welcome your interest in Science Olympiad. We look forward to seeing you at competition. Page 9