Science Olympiad Prepares Innovators
Approximately 1,800 students from across the United States, Canada and Japan will travel to Wichita State in May 2023 for the Science Olympiad National Tournament. Science Olympiad Prepares Innovators.
“Science Olympiad is a team competition that allows middle school and high school students a chance to learn about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) areas that they might not get a chance to in their regular classroom setting,” said Jill Fisher, community outreach coordinator for Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the national tournament director. “Competitions involve device-building, testing, lab work, and written exams.”
Louisiana
Louisiana Tech hosted the Science Olympiad Invitational on Jan. 21 for students in grades 6-12 from Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. This year, a team from Florida brought a plane full of participants. Science Olympiad Prepares Innovators.
“I like to involve our students, particularly UTeachTech students and Science Olympiad alumni, so they can gain valuable hands-on experience by creating exams or labs, prepping events, and interacting with middle and high school students,” said Christopher Campbell, invitational director and UTeachTech Master Teacher.
Akin to an academic track meet, Science Olympiad focuses on genetics, earth science, chemistry, anatomy, physics, geology, mechanical engineering and technology.
“My takeaway from competing in Science Olympiad, besides the knowledge of those scientific fields, was more so the skills of quick adaptability and cooperation,” said Noah Jose, Business major and proctor for the event. “Although I am now a business student, having given up science as the pursuit of a career, I find myself applying these skills frequently. Even for kids who decide to not pursue science, the skills retained from competing in Science Olympiad can be applied to any field.”
STEM Competition
As one of the largest STEM competitions in the country, this was a great opportunity to showcase the university. More than 200 individuals were impacted by the event including AEP students that placed in the competition as well.
“Being a student who is intreated and curious about STEM, Science Olympiad was a great opportunity to learn more about STEM apart from the high school science classes,” said Hojun Lee, Engineering major and proctor for the event. “As an engineering major, this skill that Science Olympiad taught me is helping me throughout my classes and also helping me with personal or school-related engineering projects.”
Students must be able to retain information of, on average, two or three specialized science subjects of high school and college level knowledge including engineering challenges as well. The purpose of this event is to have a hands-on learning experience that helps students, teachers, parents, principals, and business leaders reach a common goal.
“Our College of Education is happy to cohost the annual event and support faculty like our own Chris Campbell who makes these opportunities available in our region,” said Dr. Lindsey Vincent, Associate Dean for Research, Outreach, and Innovation for the College of Education.
Jennifer Kopach, the CEO of Science Olympiad and President of the Science Olympiad USA Foundation Board.
We’re one of the largest STEM competitions in the United States. We have school teams in all 50 states and have been around for almost 40 years. Science Olympiad is creating the next generation’s workforce. We had about 8,000 teams of kids in grades 6-12 and almost a quarter of a million students competing.
The way Science Olympiad works is there are 23 events for each division. Kids form a team of 15 in their school. They practice just like an athletic team, and they advance through levels of competition from Regionals to State to Nationals. Every year we have alumni who graduate, go on to college, and go into STEM careers. They take the soft skills of collaboration, teamwork, and intellectual curiosity that are the hallmarks of Science Olympiad.
Our workforce partners say when the alumni show up at work, they have teamwork skills already embedded in their processes. They’re problem solvers, creative, not afraid to take risks, and not afraid to fail. In Science Olympiad, students work with people they might not necessarily know. They learn from them and learn different skill sets. Science Olympiad includes a lot of cross-column learning. Some are interested in engineering, others in study or lab skills, and they come together and learn from each other.
Source: Science Olympiad Prepares Innovators https://www.soinc.org/events/2023-event-table
https://www.techedmagazine.com/category/news-by-industry/stem/