Clark College STEM

Science Olympiad October 24, 2010

Coach’s Networking

1. Slide show for parents/teachers and other volunteers. (SKIPPED TODAY)

2. What do we mean by “successful” Science Olympiad team”? What does it take to “get there”?

3. Coaching thoughts and lessons learned.

3. Discussion: What makes for a successful team?

Science Olympiad

Student, Parent and Volunteer Overview

October 2010

Presentation

• General Overview• Generic Calendars• Middle School Events• High School Events• Successful Teams • Volunteer Roles• What Now?

SO: variety of skills

• Science Olympiad competitions are like academic track meets, consisting of 23 individual and team events.

• By combining events from all disciplines Science Olympiad encourages a wide cross-section of students to participate.

• Some events require good reading skills, some require good building skills, some require good scientific method skills.

SO: teamwork

• Science Olympiad encourages group learning by utilizing events designed to forge alliances between students with different skills.

• Successful Science Olympiad teams bring together students, parents, teachers and the business and professional communities with a common goal of doing and learning science.

SO: team make-up and competition

• Students compete with students from other schools to win individual medals.

• There are a maximum of 15 students on a team. • Since there are 23 events at a competition, most

students are in 3 or 4 events. • Students’ places are totaled to provide team

scores. Teams compete for Team Trophies and to advance to the State Tournament.

• A school can have more than one team entered in a Tournament.

Science Olympiad is Competitive

• Our goal is to learn to do Science well.

• We measure how we are doing on that goal by how well our team competes against other teams in local and regional tournaments, and, if we qualify, in state and national tournaments.

• Unlike track, to advance, you qualify as a team, not as individuals.

Science Olympiad is Cooperative

• Our goal is to learn to do Science well.

• We help each other on our school’s teams prepare for the competitions.

• We help other teams to do well by working hard and by sharing knowledge and practices.

• Whatever teams advance from our region to state, and from our state to national will do very well. We are all pushing each other to perform.

Science Olympiad

Generic Calendars

SO: annual calendar• September: purchase new rule book - $210 per team• October: begin studies• December: finalize event choices• Dec/Jan/Feb: Invitational Tournaments• March: regional tournaments (closest is Longview)• April: State Tournament (usually first weekend in

April, alternates between EWU and Clark College)• May: National Tournament (usually back east)• June- September: background reading and trainings

SO: customary competition schedule, usually on a Saturday

• 7:30 - Coach’s meeting, sign up for some events

• 8:00 – Opening Ceremonies

• 9:00-3:00 - Event competitions, lasting about an hour each, usually about four events each hour

• 3:00-5:00 – lunch and/or dinner while judges tabulate results

• 5:00-6:30 Awards Ceremony

Science Olympiad

Events

Check these out on the website athttp://washingtonscienceolympiad.com/

SO: 3 kinds of events

• Study events – read in the area of the event, preparing for a paper-and-pencil test usually combined with field or lab work.

• Building events – you build a device at home to solve a problem, then bring the device to the competition.

• Practice events – prepare for a general problem area, then at the hour of the competition receive the materials and problem to solve.

2010 Events

• Insert lists of current events here

• Have a strong school support structure

Chimacum

Robot Ramble

Studying Pit Stop

Hi Jeff!!

Science Olympiad

Successful Schools

Successful Schools …

• Qualify a team for state at one of the regional tournaments held in March of each year

• Have an internal culture that promotes learning science: – Students helping students learn– Students writing practice tests for each other– Adult volunteers supporting students– Adult experts for each event

Regionals

Camas is in the house!!

VICTORY!

Successful Schools …

• Have team members who are flexible, competitive, cooperative, and self-motivated

• Have ample volunteer support

• Have materials for all of the events

• Have a strong school support structure

Strong School Support Structure is accomplished in one of 3 ways:

• SO is a required component and the focus of the school’s Highly Capable Program (or similar),

• or

• SO is supported by an elective science class that team members can retake for credit,

• or

• SO is a family project in that each student on the team also has a parent involved as a coach or in another volunteer capacity, teachers coordinate, motivate, identify potential students and assist.

Successful Schools …

• Have an efficient fund-raising plan• Raise a minimum of $5,000/year

– To pay for travel, materials, equipment, seminars, competitions,

• Many small labor-intensive events, well organized, good community-building

• Ongoing sponsor donation program

Regionals

CHS in the Parade of Teams

Science Olympiad

Team Member Roles

Volunteers

• As an event coach – coordinates 1 or 2 events, each event meets once every other week with the coach, students studying in between coaching sessions – usually attends the competitions on Saturdays

• As an event resource coach – presents at a coaching session information or skills pertinent to one or more events, a few times per year

Volunteers

• As a fundraiser – either leading a fundraiser, assisting in several fundraisers, or coordinating the fundraising activities

• As a chaperone – at the competitions helping make sure the kids get to their events with their equipment, eat enough, clean up, don’t lose anything, etc.

• As a team librarian – keeps track of materials, equipment and supplies, finding, collecting and distributing new materials, etc

Volunteers• As a judge – designs and carries out an event at

a competition

• As a scorer – assists judges to score test results at a competition – great way to learn!!

• As a facilitator – locates or provides specialized materials or equipment for the team

• As an organizer – plans and sets up team functions such as an Awards Dinner

• As a team manager – coordinates so we are doing the right thing at the right time

As a student team member you are agreeing to:

• Commit several hours per week to study in your Science Olympiad events to the level of your team commitment:

– Trophy – combine to win a team trophy at State

– Qualifying – combine to qualify for State

– Medal – work individually to win a medal at Regional

As a student team member you are agreeing to:

• Committing a parent/guardian to volunteer in some capacity for the team

• Be at team meetings and coaching sessions

• Do your best at the competitions

• Represent your school at its high standard of expectation

• Have fun doing science

As a student team member your minimum time commitment is:

• About 2 hours per week from October to early January

• About 3 hours per week during the pre-season, Jan-Feb

• About 6 hours per week from just before Regional to State, Mar-April

• About 5 hours per month, May – Sept, doing background reading in your events of interest

As a parent of a student team member your commitment is:

• To volunteer in some capacity to help the team be successful

• To support your student in their studies – time and some materials

• To attend the competitions if other commitments allow

• When you agree to allow your student to participate, you are also signing up!

Successful Team

Science Olympiad Coaching

Lessons Learned Second Season

• Had a core group of 6-10 students with high motivation, good study skills, and ability to work independently

• The rest started SO missing some or all of these factors

• Lost some teachers as coaches by the time students started getting into studying

• Most effective when students studied in groups

• Many started build-its way too late• Lack of structure led to initial floundering

Lessons Learned Third Season

• Again had a core group of 6-10 students with high motivation, good study skills, and ability to work independently

• Most HS students have too many interests to make SO success their #1 priority

• Too few adults to do the job – need 10+• Non-sci. AP studies cut into State prep time• Lost a lot of expertise through graduation• Not enough fun times• Some drift away, change priorities• Very few folks make that long commitment

Coaching Structure Goal State

• Team Manager• Coaching Chair

• Team Coaches

• Event Coaches

• Resource Coaches

Head go-to person Coordinates event

coaches & materials Coordinates student

teams Coordinates

everything to do with events

Assist event coaches in any way possible

Coaching “Web”

Event Coaches23 Events

Resource CoachesMany

Coaching ChairRick Grote

Team CoachesBlack – WrightWhite - DeanRed - Chase

Team ManagerRon Wright

Team Coaches

The role of a team coach is to be the “go-to” person for students on that team, support the team’s captain, encourage team members to prepare for events, build a bond with their team members, and provide a room at least two days per week where their team members may report for event study.

Coaching Chair

This person coordinates and recruits so all events have Event Coaches. Also recruits event Resource Coaches. Helps organize materials for coaching.

Event Coaches

Specific event coaches coordinate all information and activities geared toward specific events. These folks will normally not be on a set schedule, but rather accessible via email and by appointment.

Very useful to have scored or judged at a competition.

Event Types

• Study-It events• Do-It events• Build-It events

• 23 different events … a few folks trying to coach this would be like having a few basketfootpianogineering coaches.

Study-It Event Coaches

• Prepare weekly problems and distribute them via e-mail to students. Evaluate student responses and give feedback to students and Team Coaches.

• Parent Involvement – When subject is not covered in traditional classes and there is a match with parents jobs, interests or hobbies

Do-It Event Coaches

• Prepare bi-weekly hands-on experiments for students to take. Prepare kits with students for students to take to tournaments, communicate needed resources.

• Parent Involvement – When subject requires materials outside typical classroom/lab and there is a match with parents jobs, interests or hobbies

Build-It Event Coaches

• Coordinate (bimonthly?) events over a 2-4 hour block evenings or weekends to discuss, plan, build and test devices. Develop a list of materials, tools or instruments that would be useful for students to have access to.

• Parent Involvement – PRIMARY!!!!!!!!!

Resource Coaches

• You specify degree of your involvement• What events are you interested in?• Do you have access to materials to donate?• Do you have equipment that could be

used?• Can you shuttle students to/from after

school events?

A note on teacher involvement

It would be very easy to believe that our teachers could do most of this …

• they can …• And because that is the kind of people

who become teachers …• if you allow it, they will …. • The consequence will be that the program

will implode in two years or less.

Science Olympiad

Questions?

To be successful we need

YOU

Please take a brochure and consider volunteering to help us succeed.

Credits

• Washington State SO Website: http://washingtonscienceolympiad.com/

• National SO Website: http://www.soinc.org/

• Thank you for your time.

• Any corrections, please contact Ron Wright at Camas HS: ronald.wright@camas.wednet.edu • 10/19/10/rmw&rfg and students, staff, and parents at MGM, Excel, and CHS 2001-2010

Nov 3 Clark:

Discussion:

What makes for a successful team?Variations that workExamplesComponents Definitions of “successful team”

ronald.wright@camas.wednet.edurfgrote@comcast.net