Hello, all!
Our school currently has a Science Olympiad team.
However, I was wondering if it was possible to make it a dual USABO/SciOly team, for people who are more interested in biology/wish to concentrate more on biology competitions than just science in general.
Would this be feasible, and if so, how would you go about doing it? Thank you for any & all responses!
Its my understanding that USABO is more like Chemistry Olympiad (and as I understand it, Physics Olympiad). Students take tests to determine who qualifies for the next round (typically local/regional test first and then state with advancement to national). With a select number (20) kids nationally participating in a highly specialized training session (Chemistry Olympiad is at Air Force Academy in Colorado). Top 4 kids are then selected for the US national team who then compete in an international competition.
Science Olympiad is very different. There are 23 events (for the high school competition anyway – there is also Science Olympiad for middle schools) in various subjects. Teams consist of 15 students. Some kids participate in 5 events and others just 1. Some events are test based. Cell biology and chemistry are two such events. Others are build events such as robot arm where students build a robot arm and complete as many given tasks as possible in a given time limit. Teams get ordinal scores in each event and lowest total score wins. Teams typically participate in invitationals which are essentially practice events (though medals and ribbons are awarded). States then have regional tournaments with given numbers of teams (typically 3-6) advancing to state competitions. Top two teams advance to natonals.
There is some overlap with biology and Science Olympiad. But I am not sure if there would be conflicts with testing dates for USABO and Science Olympiad tournaments. My kids participated in both Science Olympiad and Chemistry Olympiad but they were separate. There were different faculty advisers. There was some overlap with the kids (though not complete overlap) as science kids tend to be science kids.
Does your school have a USABO team? If not, is there a biology teacher who could help establish one? USABO may be less formal than Science Olympiad. Chemistry Olympiad is open to all high school students. You just need to take a local test. Though having a teacher who is committed to helping students will be a big plus.
USABO and Science Olympiad are very different and shouldn’t be combined. However, you could start a USABO club and relate some of the material to Science Olympiad events.