South Central Washington State Science Olympiad Clinic

1. South Central Washington State Science Olympiad Clinic Board of Directors, Tournament Director, Event Supervisors, and Team Coaches

2. Board of Directors Q&A • Garry Lee • Former Jason Lee Middle School coach • Current WSO Board of Directors chair • SW regional board • Ron Wright • Former Maple Grove Middle School coach • Camas High School Coach 7th year (and Liberty Middle School this year) • Camas High School B & C invitationals 6 years • Rick Grote, Ph.D. • Camas High parent/coach • SW region board • WSO BoD https://sites.google.com/site/wasoeventsupervisorsguide/home

3. Board of Directors Q&A Science Olympiad is a proven program that gets students excited about science and pursuing STEM careers. Science Olympiad Tournaments are also a wonderful opportunity for colleges to promote your institutions and support their communities. A tournament can bring hundreds of students and parents to see your campus. A well run tournament can prove invaluable in a colleges recruitment efforts.

4. Board of Directors Q&A

5. Tournament Planning and Implementation • Garry Lee • Former Jason Lee Middle School coach • Current WSO Board of Directors chair • SW regional board • Ron Wright • Former Maple Grove Middle School coach • Camas High School Coach 7th year (and Liberty Middle School this year) • Camas High School B & C invitationals 6 years • Rick Grote, Ph.D. • Camas High parent/coach • SW region board • WSO BoD https://sites.google.com/site/wasoeventsupervisorsguide/home Tournament Planning and Implementation

6. Pre-Tournament Communication • Coach and Event Supervisor e-mail lists • (A list of registered teams and coaches will be provided by the state organization.) • Web site • Directions • Campus maps (electronic) • Event and team rooms • Parking (cars and buses) • Sign Up and Impound Instructions Tournament Planning and Implementation

7. Pre-Tournament Planning Places and Things • Room Assignments • Event Sign-Up and Impounds • Registration table for Teams • Score Room • Check in for Event Supervisors • Security • Event Equipment Needs • Lunch is typically provided for all testing and admin help • Pre-Awards entertainment • Awards Ceremony Tournament Planning and Implementation

8. Pre-Tournament PlanningPeople • Recruiting Event Supervisors • Additional help scoring, proctoring, judging • Tournament Administration • Registration table for Teams • Score room personnel • Security, Runners, Equipment, Janitorial, and Communications • Awards Ceremony • Pre-Awards entertainment • Announcer/MC • Award presenters Tournament Planning and Implementation

9. Event Supervisors • SO is more than just making tests, it encourages students to consider STEM careers. Event supervisors are also representatives for their institutions. • Fairness is critical for student’s perception of Science Olympiad, event supervisors must be aware of the specific rules for their events and follow them closely. • The logistics of a SO tournament event are significantly different from a typical classroom test, these need to be addressed in developing, executing, and scoring tests, stations, and judging activities. https://sites.google.com/site/wasoeventsupervisorsguide/home Tournament Planning and Implementation

10. Why SO is not like classroom tests • Students work in pairs (sometimes 3) and can talk during the events. • Rank order scoring – no ties • Best tests have a range of difficulty to differentiate teams. • If ties occur have tie breaker questions. • Must be scored before 4:00 PM • Minimize subjectivity in grading • Tests are not returned to the students • Grading errors will not be found by students. • Develop QA/QC procedures to double check scoring. https://sites.google.com/site/wasoeventsupervisorsguide/guidelines-for-event-preparation/test-scoring https://sites.google.com/site/wasoeventsupervisorsguide/guidelines-for-event-preparation/test-preparation Tournament Planning and Implementation

11. Event Supervisors • Usually it is very difficult for a single individual to execute any event. • Most often college students are used to help proctor, judge, or score events. • Be clear if the event supervisor will bring their own assistants or will they be supplied by the host institution. • For many events supplies and equipment are needed. • Who supplies the equipment and pays for incidentals needs to be discussed with the event supervisors. Tournament Planning and Implementation

12. Room Assignments • Tournament Administration • Team Sign In • Event Sign Up – Day of Tournament • Score Room • Awards Ceremony • Team Home Rooms/Cafeteria • Event Rooms Tournament Planning and Implementation

13. Score Counseling • After an event is graded by the event supervisors, they fill out a rank order score sheet and go over it with a score counselor. • Make sure all ties are broken and each team gets a unique rank (for all non-penalties) • Were there any irregularities in the events? • How were they resolved, are any teams filing appeals for arbitration? • Were any penalties assessed? • Are the students and/or coach aware of the penalties? • Collect all tests, grading keys, evaluations Tournament Planning and Implementation

14. Unified Schedule Tournament Planning and Implementation

15. Unified Schedule • All test MUST end at 10 minutes before the hour so students can move to their next events. • Zero Hour Testing 8:30-8:50 • Some events have a testing and building components, so that all teams are tested at the same time a special time slot was instituted to accommodate these events. • Why X-Y Schedule? • Most lab events are limited in space so we limit the number of teams to 10 (20-30 students) • In order to accommodate 20 teams we run the tournament in two groups. • All teams from one school MUST be on same schedule. • If South Central has 10 teams or less go with just a X rotation • (with 11 or 12 teams see if lab space is sufficient for a single rotation) Tournament Planning and Implementation

16. Sign-Ups • Some events require teams to be judged one at a time (typically building events). • Teams will sign up for specific time slots. • In the past this has been done the day of the tournament, but with zero hour testing this has become problematic. • Suggestion: Have coaches e-mail hour blocks where all students doing a sign-up event are free and the tournament director assigns time slots within that hour. • Hand out copies of sign-up schedules at the coaches table, also have someone available to make last minute changes. Tournament Planning and Implementation

17. Impounds • Some building events require that devices and/or equipment be impounded before the event starts. • Impound devices at least one hour before first team is judged. (Most tournaments impound in the morning before any events start.) • Impound devices where the event will be judged. • Judges should handle devices as little as possible! • ANYONE associated with the team may impound the device. • If rules require impounds, you MUST impound. • Event Supervisors can ask for impounding even if it is not required, but ALL teams must be notified in advance of the change. Tournament Planning and Implementation

18. Open and Closed Events https://sites.google.com/site/wasoeventsupervisorsguide/guidelines-for-tournaments/open-and-closed-events • For regulation tournaments only building events are considered OPEN (for public viewing). • Building events can be closed in any tournament where there are questions of fairness or lack of space for public viewing. Tournament Planning and Implementation

19. Specific Event Room Requirements • Large gym for awards ceremony (and some building events) • Laboratory events (water, sinks, electricity) • Building Events • Paper and Pencil tests Tournament Planning and Implementation

20. Awards Ceremony • Consider some pre-awards activities from 4-5. Best for middle schoolers to be active and burn off some energy. • Yes, acknowledge major players who put tournament together. A few short speeches of welcome are ok, but keep them SHORT! • Event awards • 1st-3rd in each event get medals, 4th gets ribbon • Team Awards • 1st-3rd get trophies • You will be allocated a certain number of teams to proceed to the state tournament. Acknowledge all teams going on to state. Tournament Planning and Implementation

21. Q&A Tournament Planning and Implementation

22. Tournament Planning and Execution for Teams • Garry Lee • Former Jason Lee Middle School coach • Current WSO Board of Directors chair • SW regional board • Ron Wright • Former Maple Grove Middle School coach • Camas High School Coach 7th year (and Liberty Middle School this year) • Camas High School B & C invitationals 3 years • Rick Grote, Ph.D. • Camas High parent/coach • SW region board • WSO BoD https://sites.google.com/site/wasoeventsupervisorsguide/home Tournament Execution for Teams

23. Understanding Unified Schedule Tournament Execution for Teams

24. Understanding Unified Schedule • Note that events are typically in groups of 3, students will not be able to do more than one event in that time slot. • Zero Hour Testing 8:30-8:50 • Some events have a testing and building components, so that all teams are tested at the same time a special time slot was instituted to accommodate these events. • Why X-Y Schedule? • Most lab events are limited in space so we limit the number of teams to 10 (20-30 students) • In order to accommodate 20 teams we run the tournament in two groups. • The event conflicts are the same for both the X and Y rotations • From one tournament to another teams might be in different rotations, this can cause confusion. • If South Central has 10 teams or less go with just a X rotation • (with 11 or 12 teams see if lab space is sufficient for a single rotation) Tournament Execution for Teams

25. Sign-Ups Some events (mainly building events) require teams to sign up for specific times slots to have devices judged. The coach needs to look at the schedule for all students doing a sign up event and determine what time block they are free. We are suggesting to tournament directors to allow coaches to submit time blocks several days before the tournament. Tournament Directors MUST distribute to all coaches what procedures they will use to determine sign up times. Tournament Execution for Teams

26. Impounds Some events require devices and/or equipment to be impounded before an event. The rules are specific about exactly what needs to be impounded! Where and when impounds will occur are determined by the tournament director and communicated to coaches. ANYONE can impound the device, but it is best if a student doing the event is present. An event supervisor may require impounds for an event where it is not required by the rules. Coaches MUST be notified of this before the tournament. Tournament Execution for Teams

27. Team Check In • What Coaches need to bring • Team Roster & Code of ethics form • Photo release forms • Your cell phone number for score room • What Coaches receive • Event room lists with any last minute changes • Coaches ID tags • Team wrist bands • Tournament Evaluation form • Arbitration Form • Phone number for score room and/or tournament director Tournament Execution for Teams

28. Home Room • What goes on in the Home Room? • At YCC all teams will be in the cafeteria. • Assign adult(s) to be present AT ALL TIMES • Coach can not be a room monitor, they will be running around dealing with various issues. • A team runs on it’s stomachs, have appropriate snack food and lunches available. • Clean Up Tournament Execution for Teams

29. Campus Tour If possible arrive early so that the coach can take the entire team on a walk through to find the various buildings and locations of all of the events. With enough parent help, especially with middle school students, guide the students to individual events. In general it is not a good idea to have students wonder around alone between events. Tournament Execution for Teams

30. Sign Up Events Exact procedures depends on tournament, all coaches should be notified by e-mail a couple of weeks before tournament Best if adults sign up for times. Tournament Execution for Teams

31. Impounding Devices and Equipment Exact procedures depends on tournament, all coaches should be notified by e-mail a couple of weeks before tournament. Students are not required to be at impound, but is best if an adult and at least one participating student are present. Students should make a check list of everything they need to impound. Tournament Execution for Teams

32. Team Scoring • Individual Events are scored and rank ordered from Best=1, Next Best=2, etc. • Teams are scored by the sum of the rank order scores for the individual events with lowest score being best. • Missing events have high penalties for team score (see next slide) • Teams receive score sheet at end of awards ceremony. http://washingtonscienceolympiad.com/scores/12_Scores/2012WSO_C.pdf Tournament Execution for Teams

33. Penalties, Violations, Disqualifications https://sites.google.com/site/wasoeventsupervisorsguide/guidelines-for-tournaments/penalties Construction Violations -(tiered scoring) Competition violations – (tiered scoring) Participation Points - N Missed Impounds No Shows - N+1 Disqualifications – Rule Violations – N+2 Disqualifications – Ethics – N+5 Tournament Execution for Teams

34. Arbitration If irregularities occur students may (and should) ask for clarification. Students SHOULD NOT argue with judges. If it is a building event, leave all devices with the judges. Students should immediately contact their coach. Coach should immediately contact the event supervisor and try to resolve the disagreement prior to filing an appeal. Be aware that problems affecting all teams equally are unlikely to have any changes made. Tournament Execution for Teams

35. Awards Ceremony • You need to gather up all the students and proceed to the gym at least 15 minutes before the Awards Ceremony. • Sit together as a school, best if kids are down front and parents behind. • Do not block isles as kids will be going to accepts awards. • Applaud everyone, cheer for you winners. • Event awards • 1st-3rd in each event get medals, 4th gets ribbon • Team Awards • 1st-3rd get trophies • A certain number of teams will proceed to the state tournament. Acknowledge all teams going on to state. Tournament Execution for Teams

36. Q&A Tournament Execution for Teams