All of Mr. Baarstad’s seventh grade students are required to participate in an in-school competition to prepare for the annual regional Science Olympiad held at Minot State University in March. This project will be a major portion of their 9-weeks grade and have the weight of one test.
Students will be given Thursday, January 10 and Thursday, January 17 as in-class work days to design their event. These in-class work days are graded so be sure they bring materials to work on. If they forget their materials I can't give them a grade.
Students are required to supply the materials that they will need for their projects. Then they will be expected to finish their project on their own by Thursday, January 24. On this day their projects will be judged, and the winners will advance to the regional Science Olympiad at Minot State University where they will represent our school.
A student’s grade will be determined in the following ways:
1. Project qualification
2. Participation (this will be determined on the in-class work days only)
3. How well their project performs at the in-school competition*
*In order to be competitive at the regional and state level I have included some Guidelines for Assessment that I use to help determine the letter grade they could expect to receive after successfully completing their project. I base this solely on my past experience as a judge and a coach for the Science Olympiad.
When a student wins the in-school competition they will earn bonus points and qualify to go to the regional competition.
Events to choose from:
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1. |
Robo-Cross - The object of this event is to design and build a robot capable of performing certain tasks on a prescribed playing field. |
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2. |
Tower Building - The objective of this event is to design and build the lightest tower, with the highest structural efficiency, capable of supporting a load of up to 15 kg. Each person may bring and enter only one tower. |
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3. |
Trajectory - Teams will design, construct, calibrate and operate a device capable of launching a ball into a target area and collect data to develop a series of graphs relating launch configuration to target distance and height. |
Time-line:
1. Thursday, January 10 in-class workday, bring materials
2. Thursday, January 17 in-class workday, bring materials
3. Thursday, January 24 & 25 projects are due and will be judged
4. Tuesday, March 4 Regional Science Olympiad at MSU
For additional resources check out these websites:
The Official Science Olympiad National Homepage
The North Dakota Science Olympiad Homepage