Welcome to Regional Science Olympiad for San Diego County
About Science Olympiad
The 2013 San Diego Regional Competition is now over!
We are now preparing for the 2014 competition. Check our website frequently as we update information for next year's competition as we get it. 2013 information and links will remain active for your reference.
Science Olympiad is a nationally organized competition in biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences and engineering. There are competitions at national, state and regional levels. This web site is for the Regional Competition for San Diego County. There are 23 events in each of two divisions: Division B is for grades 6-9; Division C is for grades 9-12. Each team may have up to 15 students. Each school may send up to six teams. Some events are lab testing events (Chemistry Lab C, Crime Busters B), some are written tests (Disease Detectives C, Meteorology B), and some emphasize the building and testing of devices that must meet specific criteria and perform specific tasks. Team trophies are given to the top ten schools in each division and individual awards are given to 20th place in each event. View the 2013 National Science Olympiad brochure, the 2012 National Science Olympiad brochure or the national web site www.soinc.org.
Details about the Southern California State Science Olympiad to be held April 6, 2013 at Canyon High School in Anaheim can be found at www.socalstatescioly.org.
Here is the 2012-2013 Science Olympiad Schedule.
Note: Absolutely do NOT contact Event Captains directly. If people were allowed to contact the event captains, the Event Captains would have to hide and change their telephone numbers. And, just as importantly, we want all teams to have all of the same information when they prepare for events. Think about how you would feel if a coach from another school told you, "That event captain is someone I know. I had a nice talk with her about her event." If you see an event captain at a social gathering, avoid talking about Science Olympiad. Completely. If you have a question about an event, send it to Liz. Liz will ask the Event Captain and send the answer to all teams.
Password protected websites: Some of you would like to use password protected websites to post the event descriptions. This is from the National Science Olympiad Website: "This resource may not be placed on any website..."
Liz asked the National SO Director about this. His response was: "We discourage any posting of Science Olympiad Event Rules on any website, even if it is password protected. In many cases, those sites have links to the posted content, and that's how we find out about them. Each year, we send a handful of "whoops!" notes to coaches posting the Science Olympiad Rules on school sites. Lots of coaches scan the rules and send selected PDFs to the students participating in each event via email. As long as it is within the school team, that is OK."
San Diego Regional Competitions will use:
1. The rules in the official Rules Manuals
2. Clarifications on the National SO web site.
3. Additional clarifications, if any, from our Regional Director
4. 2013 Proposed Event Schedules for Division B & Map and Division C & Map
5. 2013 Group Assignments
6. 2013 Required/Allowed Items for Division B and Division C
7. 2013 Dispute Resolution for San Diego Regional Competitions
2013 Financial Support
We are an entirely volunteer, 501(C)(3) non-profit organization. Without the support of the people and organizations below, this Competition could not take place. These donations cover the costs of materials, fossil kits, insurance, trophies, medals, ribbons, etc. We are incredibly grateful for their support.
Perry and Phyllis Feuer Grant - $5,000
Google - $2,000
SAIC - $2,000
C. Terry Brown / Atlas Hotels - $1,000
ChemInnovation Software, Inc. - $500
Grateful patients of Charles Jablecki, MD
2013 Service Support
We thank the Poway Unified School District for allowing us to use the campuses of Rancho Bernardo High School, Bernardo Heights Middle School, and Del Norte High School.
Reuben H. Fleet Science Center donated 300 free passes
San Diego Natural History Museum donated 150 free passes
Sandpiper of California donated 8 backpack as awards
Christine Jones - Alvarado Pacific Insurance
How You Can Help for 2014. . . . . .
Again, we are an entirely volunteer, 501(C)(3) non-profit organization. Contact Liz to offer your help. THANK YOU!
Updates for the 2012-2013 San Diego Science Olympiad
Check Division B & Division C for Specific Event Updates
Added 01/11/13
Competition Advice 2013
1. For the Division B Competition on February 2, 2013, Mission Possible, Mousetrap, and Experimental Design are at Bernardo Heights Middle School. Boomilever B will take place in the Performing Arts Center which is located between Rancho Bernardo High School and Bernardo Heights Middle School. All other events will take place at Rancho Bernardo High School.
2. It might be nice to stay for the Awards Ceremony, to have at least one person stay in case your school wins any awards. If not, they will be mailed to you. We will give awards to 20th place in each event. All of the results raw scores - will be sent by email to the participating schools a few days after the Competition.
3. A question has been asked, Can we arrive later in the day? It should be noted that Registration takes place from 7:00 AM about 8:30 or 9:00 AM. Someone may stay at the registration desk for a bit after that, but then all of the materials will be taken to the Scoring Room. You will need to establish a school headquarters so that your students and parents can find you.
All participants are required to wear plastic wristbands. They will have the school (and team names) on them. The students must meet you at your school headquarters so that they can get their wristbands before they go to the events because they will not be admitted without them. The wristbands will be in your head coach packet that you will pick up at Registration. If you arrive late, your students will have a hard time finding you and their wristbands. Also, you need to have a school headquarters so that the students who have done events have a place to report what happened in the event. Many teams will have school banners. Some have team t-shirts. Some have very large, energetic school camps. Most schools bring footballs, Frisbees, food, etc.
4. Students in written events (that allow students to bring writing implements) must bring #2 soft pencils so that their answer sheets will work in the scoring machine.
Added 11/08/12 The links to the Science Olympiad Student Center Wiki, Forum, Test Exchange and Image pages for Division B and Division C events have been updated for 2013.
Added 10/22/12 Event Workshop Schedule, Saturday, November 17, 2012, 2:30 PM 4:00 PM at Bernardo Heights Middle School. Meet in the Bernardo Heights Gym.
Added 10/17/12 Event Workshop Map & Schedule, Saturday, November 17, 2012, 2:30 PM 4:00 PM at Bernardo Heights Middle School. Meet at 2:30 PM in the Bernardo Heights Gym.
There may be additional event captains who will give workshops. They will be posted. The workshops start at 2:30 PM. They will last about 35-40 minutes in two sessions. (2:35 PM 3:15 PM and 3:20 PM 4:00 PM). Other events will NOT be covered unless they are added later.
Added 10/11/12 Additional Information - Various Events:
Elastic Launched Glider C - Our very experienced event captain watched the SO DVD. He said, "It is a waste of time, it's misleading and dangerous. The rules are different; the planes used as examples are one-second to three-second all-so-rans." On the other hand, Dave Ziegler puts together great airplane kits. You might want to get at least one glider kit from him. http://www.freedomflightmodels.com/paypal.htm However, all of the kits currently on the website are for 2011. You might email him and ask about the glider kit for 2013.
Forestry B & C - The B & C event captains are looking at the tree lists - national and regional - from last year. You will be advised when they have made any additions or corrections to either list.
Rotor Egg Drop B - Coaches - PLEASE provide lots of adult supervision and assistance when your students try out their devices. The SO rules are made by people who live in cold climates. Their schools are like the one I attended in the Midwest - five floors, stairwells that run from top to bottom. It is easy to find 5 m + heights for dropping the devices in those multi-floor buildings. (Rule 4.d.) The highest, SAFE spot that we can provide at our Division B Regional Competition is about 4.1 m. We could find higher spots like the roof of a building, but adults would have to make the drops, and the kids like to drop their own devices. Dave Ziegler (http://www.freedomflightmodels.com/paypal.htm) has some helicopter kits. I do not know if they would work for this event.
Helicopters B - Dave Ziegler (http://www.freedomflightmodels.com/paypal.htm) has some helicopter kits from SO 2011. His kits are excellent. You will need to make sure that you use the rules for the 2013 Helicopter B event. Dave's kits give lots and lots of excellent information in addition to parts.
Sounds of Music B - 4.b.ii - sustaining a note for 3 seconds. If the instrument is percussive, the student may strike it repeatedly to get 3 seconds of sound.
Added 09/20/12 2012-2013 San Diego Science Olympiad - All Head Coaches:
Our first (and only) organizational meeting will be held on Thursday, October 4, 2012 at the corporate campus of Via Sat in Carlsbad. The meeting will start at 4:00 PM in Founders Hall, Building #4. Here are the directions to get there. The aerial view of the ViaSat campus shows the entrance from El Camino Real and the drive to Building #4. You may park anywhere.
Visitors to ViaSat are not permitted to carry cell phones. Please leave them in your cars.
We have important business to conduct at this meeting. If you have not previously sent your registration materials to Liz, you may bring them to the meeting and we will register you there.
Added 08/18/12 2012-2013 San Diego Science Olympiad Registration:
Refer to the "Register" Tab at the top of this page for the Registration and Insurance Forms for the 2012-2013 San Diego Science Olympiad.
Added 06/23/12 (Revised 08/18/12) 2012-2013 San Diego Science Olympiad Schedule:
Refer to the 2012-2013 Schedule for the San Diego Science Olympiad Schedule for 2012-2013.
Join the Yahoo National Coaches' Message Board
New to Science Olympiad? There are lots of great resources and tools for you to get started.
2011-2012 San Diego Science Olympiad Updates
Added 09/04/12 2011-2012 San Diego Science Olympiad Updates have been relocated on this website.
Check out the Past Years tab for previous year(s) updates.