The Oklahoma Science Teaching Association(OSTA) will be hosting their annual state conference Friday-Saturday, June 9-10, 2023. This year the Friday night dinner, Celebration of Science Education, will be privately held at Science Museum Oklahoma. This night will be filled with fun science experiences, cocktails, and a beautifully catered dinner. OSTA will also be recognizing their State Science Teachers of the Year in Elementary, Middle, High School, and College/University; the New Horizons Teacher of the Year (early-career teachers); the Informal Science Educator award; and their highest honor, the Jack Renner Distinguished Service award. 

The conference, themed “Exploring New Frontiers”, will be Saturday, June 10, 2023, at the Betz STEM Research and Learning building on the University of Central Oklahoma’s campus. There will be 20+ sessions held throughout the day for various grade levels, including (but not limited to):

Elementary School Sessions: Mapping Mars; Science in Motion; STEM on a Shoestring

Middle School Sessions: Promoting Productive Discussions; Modeling Antibiotic Resistance; Solar Panels for Your House

High School Sessions:Looking for Patterns in Species Diversity; What’s the Mass of the Top Quark?; Up, Up, and Away!

OSDE Science Team Sessions: Town Hall; Science Storytelling: Writing in Science

O‍KSciOly will also be there!  Stop by our booth and bring your friends to our presentation at 2:10 in Room 120 of the Betz STEM Center.  The program entry says:

Science Olympiad, BE: Part of It

Location: STEM Room 120 

Targeted Areas: 6-12

Presenter(s): Bob Melton (University of Central Oklahoma)

Science Olympiad helps you to achieve your goals by enhancing STEM education programming and engaging students with hands-on experiences that prepare them for college and beyond. When you coach a Science Olympiad team, your love of learning and excitement for science gets reflected back every day, at every practice and every competition. Students specialize in subjects of their choice, from bio to chem to tech and engineering, while teachers get to work with kids who’ve raised their hand and said YES to science. Science Olympiad allows you to extend your school’s science curriculum with engaged learners in an after-school setting. 

The conference will also be hosting vendors eager to show off their newest resources and a keynote from Bill Moore, an Oklahoma author, including contributions to the “Oklahomans and Space” exhibit at the Oklahoma History Center. The day will conclude with a Q&A and door prizes!

Conference registration includes breakfast and lunch. Dinner tickets can be bought together or separate from the conference. For more information or to register for the event, visit OSTA’s Event webpage. 

This past weekend, we welcomed the top Science Olympiad teams from across the country to Wichita State University, where Kennedy Middle School from Cupertino, CA and Stevenson High School from Lincolnshire, IL were crowned champions of the 2023 Science Olympiad National Tournament. Congratulations to these teams and all the participants who made it to Nationals, including our own Casady Upper School in Division C and Oakdale Middle School in Division B! And thank you to all the volunteers and Kansas Science Olympiad for making this Tournament a success! 

Miss out on the opening ceremony? Be sure to catch the replay to Wizard IV’s inspiring message. Official Tournament Results and the recording of the Awards Ceremony can be found on the Science Olympiad website, as well as photos of the Division B & Division C medal winners and team awards photos. In addition to celebrating the success of all of our Science Olympiad teams at the National Tournament this past weekend, we also wanted to recognize the five seniors who each received a $10,000 Founders’ Scholarship. Read about these impressive students and their future plans! 

Best Wishes to Casady Upper School and Oakdale Middle School as they represent Oklahoma in the National Tournament at Wichita State University! There are 121 teams competing, including the non-competing guest team from Eiko Gakuen High School in Japan.

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N‍ext Year’s Schedule of events:

Enrollment for the 2024 season of the Oklahoma Science Olympiad will open in mid-August.  Checkhttps://www.oksciolympiad.org for details.  You will be able to enroll through https://scilympiad.com/ok once the website is reset in early August

S‍eptember 23, 2023 – OKSciOly Coaches/ Event SupervisorTraining Conference, UCO, Edmond

D‍ecember 2, 2023 – Jenks Invitational Tournament B/C, Jenks High School, Jenks

January 27, 2024 – University of Oklahoma College of Engineering Invitational Tournament B/C, OU, Norman

F‍ebruary 24, 2024 – Putnam City Regional Tournament, B/C. Putnam City High School, Warr Acres

A‍pril 6, 2024 – OKSciOly State Tournament, B/C, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond

(‍Not currently on the schedule is a potential Build Event workshop in October or November.  Details are pending)

D‍on’t forget! You can to sign up for the National Science Olympiad summer workshops https://www.soinc.org/join/science-olympiad-summer-workshops