SW WASHINGTON REGIONAL SCIENCE OLYMPIAD ADVISORY BOARD
Meeting Minutes for Monday, 9 June 2008, 6:30 PM, Clark College
Members present:
David Bufford, Priscila Martins-Read, April Takashima, Jo Shannahan, Ron Wright, Jana Grote, David Reeves, Barry Hoffmann, Gordon Patterson, Cheryl Kryger
Ron Wright has circulated and received input on a possible unified schedule for the 2009 Regional and State Tournaments. We discussed it and made recommendations that included:
1. Move certain events (such as Experimental Design B, Road Scholar B, and Fossils B) to earlier in the day to facilitate grading in a timely manner
2. Have four full hours for Wright Stuff B
3. Suggestions for trial events: Horizontal Bottle Rockets B and Flying Bird C can utilize existing equipment and supervisors. Quantum Quandary B/C would be interesting for the students and easy to do because it is a study event with test. There was also discussion about offering Geo-Caching because of its popularity and a willing event supervisor.
Ron will revise the proposed schedule again. Gordon Patterson and David Reeves will take it to the State Board meeting on June 14. It is hoped that the unified schedule can be agreed upon then and posted on our Clark College sight soon, so that teams can start planning and working this summer if they choose.
The Washington State Tournament will be hosted by Clark College in 2009. There is a possibility of Lower Columbia College hosting the Regional Tournament.
Barry Hoffman gave us a run down of the Maple Grove Invitational for third and fourth graders that was held on May 31 with two Maple Grove teams and one from Camas. It was deemed very successful by all involved. Some highlights he shared:
1. Each team had 15 members who all participated in all five events (Metric Mastery, Paper Airplanes, Mystery Architecture, Egg Drop, and Gunk). Each team was further broken down into five groups of three students each.
2. Each event was scheduled for 25 minutes with a 5 minute break. He recommended that this be shortened to 20 minutes with a 5 minute break.
3. The schools prepared before the tournament at their own schools with three practices to cover all five events.
4. All the events needed minor modifications, mostly with scoring.
5. The total costs for Maple Grove for supplies was about $100. In addition, the Science Olympiad ribbons for the winners cost about $50. The certificates for all the participants were donated by Office Max.
We decided to offer a regional elementary Science Olympiad event the first Saturday in November 2008 at Clark College. It would replace the Clinic that we usually run as a fund raiser. We could also offer a different type of clinic in conjunction with the tournament for teachers and coaches with clock hours. Other items we discussed were:
1. We will hold the same five events as the Maple Grove Invitational: Metric Mastery, Paper Airplanes, Mystery Architecture, Egg Drop, and Gunk
2. We can handle 15 to 20 teams with 5 events. It would be ideal if all the activities were held in one building on the Clark College campus (like OSC). Each event will have two stations. Each station can handle two teams, or 60 students per event at one time. This would work out to a possible 300 students altogether. Within each school, each team would be broken down into 5 groups of 3 students apiece.
3. For simplicity’s sake this year, the teams will rotate through the events together, but in the future it would be nice to have the groups of three to compete at different events at the same time.
4. We will limit each school to one team. We will encourage schools to hold internal competitions if they have more than 15 students who are interested. If we have fewer than 15 to 20 schools sign up, we will allow a second team from a school on a first come, first serve basis.
5. It will target third through fifth graders.
6. Each team would donate $50 to Clark College Foundation/Washington Science Olympiad. Registrations will be collected by April Takashima. Supply costs, ribbons, and certificates would be covered, but still allow us to raise funds.
7. For manpower, each event will need one event supervisor, 2 adults per station, along with several middle school helpers.
8. It would be very nice to have computers at all the events where data and scores could be entered on a common Excel spreadsheet.
9. Cheryl Kryger will send out a flyer with the basic information through ESD 112 to the elementary school principals before school is dismissed this year. All middle school coaches will also be contacted. To generate real interest, personal contacts will need to be made by the Science Olympiad Division B middle schools, particularly with their own feeder schools. In addition, all pertinent information will be posted on the Regional Science Olympiad website.
10. To assist us in planning, a response will be requested on whether or not this seems a viable possibility for elementary schools.
11. It is hoped that after the November tournament, there would be a monthly “science inquiry” at each of the schools to further the excitement and learning.
Respectfully submitted,
Cheryl Kryger
Secretary