https://www.soinc.org/rules-2023

*COMING UP!* 9/14 – 2023 Season Kickoff Workshop Wednesday

Join us for the the first Workshop Wednesday of the 2023 Season on September 14th! In our Season Kickoff Workshop, you’ll hear about the new Events & resources for 2023, as well as a refresher on the Ways to Play. Register for this workshop today! 

Teacher Professional Development Opportunity Available

The NASA/IPAC Teacher Archive Research Program offers teachers interested in astronomy an opportunity to conduct published research, travel to conferences, and network with like-minded science teachers. The application closes Monday, September 12. More information here: https://nitarp.ipac.caltech.edu/

USDA Forest Service Partnership for Forestry

We are so excited to announce a new strategic partnership between Science Olympiad and the USDA Forest Service Conservation Education group! Look out for great new resources and supervisory assistance with the Forestry event – coming soon! 

NERD Academy Curriculum and Resources 

Get students ready for Disease Detectives with the NERD Academy curriculum from the CDC. Resources are free and ready to use in the classroom or during team practice! 

Science Olympiad Newsletters

Sign up now for any of the Science Olympiad newsletters, including our brand new Elementary Science Olympiad newsletter. We’ll share helpful tips, information, and announcements throughout the season. Sign up here. 

Welcome to the 2023 Season! 

The Science Olympiad National Office Team

The OKSciOly Coaches training will be held September 17th in Howell Hall on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma. This training reviews all of the 46 events that will be contested in Division B and Division C during the 2023 Science Olympiad season. Pre-registration is required. The training is for Coaches and Event Supervisors only. Go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/OKSciOlyTraining23 to reserve your space. The training is FREE and refreshments and lunch are provided.

The season officially starts September 6th with the 9 AM CDT release of the FREE Rules manuals available for download at https://www.soinc.org/rules-2023.

Membership in OKSciOly will open on or about September 1st on Scilympiad.com, so get your students together and start organizing teams!

OKSciOly Event Schedule (so far…):

• September 17th, 2022 – Annual Coaches Training Conference
• December 3rd, 2022 – Jenks HS Invitational (on-site)
• January 21st, 2023 – Putnam City HS Invitational (on-site)
• April 1st, 2023 – OKSciOLy State Tournament, UCO (on-site)
• May 19-20, 2023 – Science Olympiad National Tournament, Wichita State University (on-site)

Time to get ready for the 2023 season of the Oklahoma Science Olympiad. The season officially starts September 6th with the 9 AM CDT release of the FREE Rules manuals available for download at https://www.soinc.org/rules-2023.

The OKSciOly Coaches conference is Saturday, September 17th at the University of Central Oklahoma. Registration for the conference will open soon and a link will be posted here and on OKSciOly Basecamp.

Membership in OKSciOly will open on or about September 1st on Scilympiad.com.

Two in-state Invitational tournaments are in the planning stages and details will be released as soon as dates and times are confirmed. Both will be in-person tournaments as will the State Tournament on April 1st.

This year the Science Olympiad National Tournament will be held at Wichita State University.

 The Annual OKSciOly Training Conference is ostensibly for new and experienced Coaches, but Event Supervisors are invited as well, especially those who might need to pass on information about the nuances of their events.  REGISTRATION FOR THIS ZOOMED EVENT IS OPEN NOW!    Go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/OKSciOlyConf10-23-21This is a Saturday morning Zoomed event, which will include the following:

• an overview of the competition season, the websites we will use this season, and the tasks to be accomplished by Head Coaches prior to competition.  
• a general review of the events that are found in both Division B and C
• Break-out session to review those events that are specific to each Division
• a quick review of the Head Coach Dashboard in scilympiad
• a Head Coach discussion with an emphasis on getting teams ready for competition 

Please register for this event so we can get ZOOM credentials and other workshop information to you.

WELCOME TO THE 2022 SCIENCE OLYMPIAD SEASON!
2022 Rules PDFs for Division B and C are now available at https://www.soinc.org/rules-2022
Access your free copy NOW..

In addition, https://scilympiad.com/ok is now available for team enrollment. Veteran Coaches can sign in and enroll their 2022 teams and new Coaches can join OKSciOly and do the same.

Purchase Orders can be emailed directly to Sharon Kelting at skelting@uco.edu. Teams are not officially registered until payment is received and processed. December 31, 2021 is the cutoff for all membership registrations.
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The address to send all Purchase Orders and Checks is:
Science Olympiad
University of Central Oklahoma
Campus Box 177
100 N. University Drive
Edmond OK 73034
Attn: Sharon Kelting

A new school year is starting and it’s time to begin or renew your school’s membership in the Oklahoma Science Olympiad! You can register your team(s) at www.scilympiad.com/ok beginning August 16th. Returning Coaches and volunteers can re-establish their membership by logging in using their credentials from last year and update their information.

OKSciOly membership fees remain unchanged from last year. A school’s first registered team can join OKSciOly for $100 ($60 for nationals + $40 for state). The state fee will be waived for each additional team a school may have. Only the $60 national fee will be charged. Schools from outside Oklahoma may participate in OKSciOly Invitational Tournaments after paying the state fee and upon providing evidence of membership in their home state. The one-time fee allows out-of-state teams to participate in BOTH of this year’s planned Invitationals.

New 2022 Rules!: The 2022 Rules will be posted by the National SO office at 9am CT on Tuesday, September 7, 2021 (note the location change to the main SOINC.org website; not the Science Olympiad Store). Downloaders will agree to terms of use and fill out a short form, and then will be emailed a PDF copy of the Rules Manual.

As COVID-19 and its assorted variants persist, we’ll be prepared with pandemic-related accommodations. While we still have hopes of providing in-person Science Olympiad Tournaments later in the school year, that is not likely to be the case early on.

There are two other alternative scenarios for tournament formats we are likely to use this year. The first is the MiniSO, which we utilized during the 2021 season. The scilympiad.com platform allows us to deliver tests remotely to students who can collaborate on the exams in real time, even though they are in separate locations (next room, next door, or next continent). Build events in this format are video-recorded and submitted to Event Supervisors in the days prior to the tournament. Because of the possibility that some schools may not have the materials or equipment to test their devices, the “Build” events during a MiniSO format tournament are judged as field tests and the scores are not used to determine team scores.

The second alternative scenario is the SatelliteSO format, whereby students enrolled in tested events compete remotely as in MiniSO, but the “Build” events are contested in-person in the presence of Event Supervisors in a manner that minimizes interaction with folks from outside their school “bubble” and removes interaction with students from other schools. In this format, teams will select a 30-minute testing window and come to a central location (a host gym, for example) to have all of their devices tested during the window. Once their devices are tested, they would leave the host facility and the site would be sanitized before the start of the next test window and arrival of another team. This format will require some shifts in how the overall tournament is conducted, but we can save that discussion for later.

The format for each tournament be selected based upon the pandemic conditions are the time of the tournament. Last year showed us the resilience and commitment our students have for each other and to their own learning. Our aim is to provide them with the best Science Olympiad experience possible while keeping them as safe as we can while the Coronavirus evolves. Join us in that endeavor!

The conclusion of the 2020-21 Oklahoma Science Olympiad tournament season takes place Saturday, April 17th using the scilympiad virtual tournament platform. Middle and High school teams from across the state will be competing in 24 events in Division B and in Division C to earn the right to represent Oklahoma in the National Science Olympiad Tournament to be held virtually on May 22 for Arizona State University.

OKSciOly State Tournament Results will be posted here Wednesday, April 21 and on scilympiad.com/ok