Enrollment for the 2024 season of the Oklahoma Science Olympiad begins soon! 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
The Science Olympiad USA Foundation solicited applications for two $10,000 and one $5,000 grants for state chapters this year. The grants are intended to reward creative programming that helps grow Div. A, B or C membership, add professional development opportunities or bring Science Olympiad to underserved communities. OKSciOly has been awarded one of the $10,000 incentive grants to fund a project that aims to provide support for teams in their first year of participation in Science Olympiad. The grant was written to also extend eligibility to teams that would be returning to Science Olympiad after several years of not participating (Teams that have not participated since March 2020).
The grant will fund up to 8 participating schools, each of which will receive $500 for purchase of Science Olympiad dedicated tools and materials. Each school will also receive a copy of the Science Olympiad Coaching Program (worth $199). In addition, each participating school will be assigned an experienced Mentor Coach who will be available for consultation and assistance from team start up through to the team’s first tournament.
To qualify for the grant assistance, participating schools will provide a letter of support from their school administration that includes evidence of additional school financial support for materials and supplies that matches or exceeds the $500 support provided by the grant. The financial support can include Science Olympiad membership fees.
So, did your school have a Division B or C Science Olympiad team before the pandemic and you just haven’t been able to get it re-started?Have you been hanging around the edges of Science Olympiad but haven’t found a way past any start-up barriers?Do you have a friend in another school who really needs to join us in the Nation’s Most Exciting Science Competition?
There will never be a better time or opportunity to get started in the Oklahoma Science Olympiad.
Contact Bob Melton for more information about joining OKSciOly and participating in the Incentive Grant.
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!
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
This year, Science Olympiad will be offering two professional development opportunities for coaches to get a start on the 2024 season – the Virtual Event Bootcamp, held online from July 17-20, 2023 and the NEW Summer Build Clinic, held in-person in Naperville, Illinois from July 26-28, 2023.
Many Science Olympiad coaches at state and national tournaments attribute their team’s success to concepts learned at the Science Olympiad Summer Workshops. Learn more about these workshop opportunities below!
Attendees will have early access to the 2024 Rules, as well as a library of pre-session videos outlining the 33 unique events for the 2024 season. In the live programming, participants have the ability to hear from and engage with Science Olympiad experts on the events! This mix of prerecord and live, concurrent breakout sessions is designed to allow you to target the events, topics, and experiences that are most important to you while giving you the flexibility to learn on your own schedule. In addition, each day of Live programming will offer time to network with and learn from the Event Supervisors as well as other attendees.
Your registration fee of $399 covers the workshop, all course materials, platform fees, and a Summer Institute Surprise Pack. Register for the Virtual Bootcamp today!
Plan now to join to us in-person at our NEW learning experience the Science Olympiad Summer Build Clinic. Held at the Northern Illinois Conference Center in Naperville, Illinois July 26-28, 2023 this 2 1/2 day workshop will allow you to learn from and build with expert Event Supervisors Brian Turnbull, David Lindley, Jeremy Gerber, Brian Hoffman, and CeAnn Chalker as well as Dan Nichols and John Loehr from the National Office.
The Summer Build Clinic is a hands-on, deep dive into continuing events Flight and Wheeled Vehicle along with Air Trajectory, Robot Tour, and Towers, which are new events for the 2024 season. In addition, there will be breakout sessions that tackle preparing your team, organizing practices, preparing for tournaments, coaching, and the future direction of Science Olympiad. This event is not for students.
Summer Build Clinic attendees will experience 2 1/2 days of sessions designed to improve any school’s Science Olympiad program and help meet state core curriculum science benchmarks and standards. Each evening there will also be optional networking opportunities. Registration includes course fee, building materials, access to all Virtual Bootcamp prerecorded and live sessions, daily beverage service, three breakfasts and two lunches, a welcome gift, and a preview copy of the Rules for Middle School (Division B) and High School (Division C) Events for the 2024 season.
You will want to register early as prior in-person Summer workshops have sold out!
The headquarters hotel for this event will be the Embassy Suites hotel across the street from the Northern Illinois University Conference Center but attendees can choose from any of the hotels in Naperville to book their accommodations.
Educators are eligible to apply for Title 2 Teacher Quality program funds by contacting their school district science curriculum administrator.
The University of Central Oklahoma College of Mathematics and Science played host to the Oklahoma Science Olympiad State Tournament on April 1st.
The competition, which is comprise of 46 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) events, is part of the national Science Olympiad program, the premier team STEM competition in the nation, providing standards-based challenges to 6,000 teams at 425 tournaments in all 50 states.
“The College of Mathematics and Science is pleased to be the program sponsor of the Oklahoma Science Olympiad and the host of the State Tournament for the last 10 years.” said Bob Melton, State Director of the Oklahoma Science Olympiad.
“If a young person wants to be an engineer, a chemist, a biology teacher, an astronaut, an astrophysicist, a math professor, or all of the above, Science Olympiad lets them try it on for size. Science Olympiad events touch every letter in STEM so they can explore any pathway. Science Olympiad helps students find their what, how, and maybe most importantly, their why.”
Casady Upper School in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma placed first among high school teams at the tournament and Oakdale School in Edmond, Oklahoma placed first among Middle School teams. Both teams will now represent Oklahoma at the National Science Olympiad Tournament to be held May 19-20 at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas.
The Science Olympiad National Tournament is the pinnacle of achievement for 120 of the country’s best Science Olympiad teams and the Science Olympiad Global Ambassador Team from Japan, representing more than 2,000 students.
Other teams in the State Tournament included Norman North High School, Norman, Oklahoma which placed second in the High School Division and Jenks High School, Jenks, Oklahoma which placed third. Casady Middle School, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, placed second in the Middle School division of the tournament with Taloga Middle/Elementary School, Taloga, Oklahoma, earning third place.
*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.
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