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Contact Information: South Dakota Science Olympiad 414 E. Clark St. Dakota Hall, Room 314 Vermillion, SD 57069 phone: 605-677-5248 fax: 605-677-5263 Clark.Bennett@usd.edu Last Modified: 04/17/08 |
South Dakota Science Olympiad is a program devoted to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest in science, and providing recognition for outstanding achievement. Science Olympiad as the name implies is the Olympics for science based events. Team competition is patterned after track tournaments with challenging and motivational events ranging from earth science through physics. Events range from hands-on labs to student built machines, from outdoor events to paper and pencil tests. There is also a balance between events requiring scientific knowledge and understanding, and others requiring process and application skills. Although some events require an individual from one team to compete against other individuals from other schools, most events require teamwork, group planning, and cooperation. The emphasis is on learning, participation, interaction, having fun and team spirit. Schools participating in Science Olympiad will compete with a team of up to 15 students and up to two alternates. There is one major tournament in the state: The South Dakota Science Olympiad State Tournament held at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. The top team from each division in the state advances to the National Science Olympiad Tournament in May of 2007. There are two divisions in the state of South Dakota, a Junior High/Middle School (Division B) and a High School (Division C). In previous years, over 14,000 elementary and secondary teams from the United States and Canada competed in the Science Olympiad program. A membership fee of $90.00 per team must accompany the completed registration form. The membership fee registers your team with the National Science Olympiad allowing you to advance to nationals, covers the cost of awards, rule books, and helps cover administrative costs for Science Olympiad. Division B schools scheduled to compete at the 2008 South Dakota Science Olympiad State Tournament. Division C schools scheduled to compete at the 2008 South Dakota Science Olympiad State Tournament. First, second, and third place medals (gold, silver, and bronze) will be given for each event at the South Dakota Science Olympiad State Tournament. In addition, championship trophies will be awarded to the teams compiling the most total points during the state competition. The winning team (or top two teams if enough teams register) from each division at the State competition will be invited to the National Science Olympiad Tournament. The sites for the upcoming National Science Olympiad Tournaments are: The George Washington University, Washington, DC, on May 30-31, 2008; Augusta State University, Augusta, GA, on May 15-16, 2009; The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, on May 21-22, 2010; The University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, on May 20-21, 2011; The University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, on May 18-19, 2012. South Dakota Science Olympiad Policy on Home School Teams. Starting with the 2006/2007 school year, South Dakota Science Olympiad began extending an invitation to the home school community. While this is somewhat new to South Dakota, several states already have such a program and their home school teams have been state champions and competed at the national tournament. Science Olympiad is a team activity, not an individual one, so a child must be a member of a team. A team consists of up to 15 children with up to two alternates. At this time, such participation is only extended for Division B (grades 6-9) and Division C (grades 9-12). Since there is no official method to determine what grade a home school child is in, we have established that a child's equivalent grade will be determined by their birth date. Thus, a child who will be eleven years old on September 1 will be considered to be a sixth grader and so forth and so on. This calendar age will be used to determine eligibility for Division B or Division C. A child may compete with a higher division team than their age indicates but not a lower one. For example, a tenth grader can only compete in Division C, while a fifth grader could compete in Division B (or even C). If a child has an academic relationship (such as taking a course) with a public or private school, then they can only compete on that school's team. The student may not be a member of a home school team even if that (public or private) school has no official Science Olympiad team. An exception to this rule would involve providing a letter from that (public or private) school's principal stating that the student in question could not compete on that (public or private) school's team whether or not there is a team. It is assumed that a home school team will be composed of children who have a pre-existing relationship of working together on a regular basis. South Dakota Science Olympiad will require a statement from the coach as to the nature of that relationship. An "all star" team assembled by student abilities rather than by their pre-existing regular study relationship would not be allowed. Since this is a new aspect of South Dakota Science Olympiad, we may establish additional criteria as the home school activity materializes and unforeseen problems become known. Our desire is to provide this opportunity to as many children as possible while, at the same time, keeping a level playing field. South Dakota Science Olympiad Policy on Constructed Devices. This policy applies to events that require a device to be constructed and brought to the South Dakota Science Olympiad State Tournament. The student who is primarily responsible for the design and construction of the device must be present in order to operate the device when it is used for scoring. The event supervisor or supervisors may extensively question the lead student as to the design and construction of the device. The questioning may include: the overall design and construction, the component parts, how those parts operate, and their function in the device. Other students on the team may also be questioned. If the students are unable to answer the questions correctly, then the event supervisor or supervisors will have grounds to believe that the students did not design and/or construct the device. The team will be disqualified from the event and scored accordingly. For more information, please contact:
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