I spent this morning at our church’s VBS with 30 youth and adults building bottle rockets based on 500 ml soft drink bottles.  That in itself is worth a posting, but I thought you might want to take a look at an old favorite event making it’s return to Science Olympiad after resting for a few years.  Last week at the Science Olympiad Summer Institute in Phoenix, we saw the draft rules for Bottle Rocket B.  As usual, the design parameters are a little different than the last time Bottle Rockets were in Division B, so last night I built a rocket  using the draft rules so I could test it at today’s launch.

This rocket features a long nosepiece made from a florescent light dust tube capped with a ping pong ball.  The nosepiece is taped to the neck and spout from another bottle that has itself been inverted and taped to the base of the bottle that serves as the pressure chamber for the rocket.  At the Summer Institute I saw an example that featured fins made from paper towel tubes, so I used three, tapering their leading and trailing edges and crushing their diameter so their cross-section was an oval, rather than a circle.  Remember, this is just an example and the constructions rules are still draft and may change between now and the publication of the 2015 rules manual.

But watch this cell phone movie footage and see if this doesn’t “wet” your appetite for Science Olympiad!

Coaches and Assistant Coaches of Division B and Division C Oklahoma Science Olympiad teams are encouraged to attend the full day of training.  This will be your earliest opportunity to read and learn the details of this year’s competition events.  Schools that have joined the Oklahoma Science Olympiad by September 20th will receive their official 2015 rules manuals at the door.  Coaches will be able to review all 23 events in each division as well as pick up coaching tips, ask questions, and also learn how to form a science olympiad team and get them ready for competition.

Veteran and new Event Supervisors will also receive orientation to this year’s events as well as information on scoring and evaluating team performance.  We have designed the schedule in such a way as to allow event supervisors the option of only attending a portion of the day, but ALL event supervisors should plan to attend lunch, which features a panel discussion about procedures and responsibilities of supervisors.

The training is FREE, but all participants must pre-register HERE.

Questions?  Contact Bob

An example of a launcher for Air Trajectory, a new B and C event.

Yes, it’s the carriage for a Scrambler vehicle. Notice the wheels on the left. That’s right, they are steerable so the car can travel a curved path to the target!

Another type of launcher design for Air Trajectory (foreground) with an example of a 2015 Bridge in the background.

Coach and Event Supervisor training is Saturday, September 20th in Howell Hall at the University of Central Oklahoma.  Participants will review the rules and specifications for each of the 23 Division B (middle school) or the 23 Division C (high school) events.  In addition, we will have a panel for Event Supervisors and one for Coaches so you can find out all you need to know to get prepared for the upcoming Science Olympiad invitational tournament season.  We’ll have registration forms for the training posted soon on this website and on the Science Olympiad Basecamp as well.

You can also begin the process to join Science Olympiad.  Enrollment forms will be posted later this week, but you can begin the Purchase Order process now.  Purchase Orders should be made to the Putnam City Administrative Activity Fund, 5401 NW 40th, Oklahoma  City, OK  73122  The memo should read “Science Olympiad”.  Only Science Olympiad members can receive rule books, which normally arrive in mid-September.

Membership in the Science Olympiad is $100 per team.  $60 of that fee is for national membership, the remaining $40 stays on Oklahoma and helps fund the Oklahoma Science Olympiad.

This year, schools may enter as many teams as they wish to compete in invitational tournaments as well as the State Tournament.  However, EACH team must have a separate national and state membership.  If, for example, your school has 50 students who want to compete in the tournaments,  you can establish 3 separate teams and bring them to the competitions.  However, each team will have to have a separate paid National and State Science Olympiad membership ($100 X 3 = $300 total). Only teams with fully paid memberships will be allowed to participate in invitational tournaments or the state tournament. This is a requirement of the National Science Oympiad.

Watch this space, much more information will be posted on this website soon.

Questions?  Contact Bob

Ready to order your State Tournament T-Shirt?

Once again, we’ve joined forces with Justin Lawrence at the Oklahoma Shirt Company to design and print the official T-shirt of the Oklahoma Science Olympiad State Tournament.

Pre-Order for the 2014 Science Olympiad Finals shirt ends Monday, Feb 24th.

Shirts are blue with white graphics (so they will stand out!) and will be available for pickup on March 1st at the State Tournament.

You can order individual shirts for $12 each through the Oklahoma Shirt Company website at: http://oklahomashirtcompany.com/collections/scienceolympiad

The Putnam City Tournament is on for Saturday, January 11 at Putnam City High School, 5300 NW 50th in Oklahoma City.  If you haven’t made your reservation go to Basecamp and click the link to upload your tournament roster AND follow that up with an email to Bob.  Deadline is Thursday January 9.

There are many uncertainties concerning the winter weather system that is entering the state, but it is certain that there will be significant icing for some of our participating schools and that if schools are closed for weather, it will be Friday when that occurs.  That, combined with single digit temperatures and overnight re-freezing of whatever falls on Friday has led us to think that the best choice is to cancel the Putnam City Tournament.  That way Coaches, bus drivers, parents, Olympians, and Event Supervisors can be notified and you are not trapped into desperately trying to contact parents and children at the last minute should Putnam City Schools cancels classes Friday making it impossible for us to set up the tournament. We also don’t want you slip-slidin’ away…