Division B

''For Elementary School events, see Division A. For the High School competition, see Division C.''

Division B Science Olympiad is for middle school age students, in 6th to 9th grade. Out of the fifteen students on the team, a maximum of five members can be in 9th grade. All students on the team must be from the membership school, with the exception of five members who attended the school the previous year. This is to accommodate for middle schools which may not have 8th or 9th grade students.

2017-2018 Short Event Descriptions:

 * Copied directly from soinc.org

Anatomy and Physiology (Respiratory, Digestive, Immune)
Understand the anatomy of the human body systems: respiratory, digestive and immune.

Battery Buggy
Teams will construct a vehicle that uses electrical energy as its sole means of propulsion, quickly travels a specified distance, and stops as close as possible to the Finish Point.

Crime Busters
Given a scenario, a collection of evidence, and possible suspects, students will perform a series of tests that along with other evidence will be used to solve a crime.

Disease Detectives (Foodborne Illness)
Participants will use investigative skills in the scientific study of disease, injury, health and disability in populations or groups of people with a focus on Food Borne Illness.

Dynamic Planet (Tectonics)
Participants will demonstrate an understanding of the large-scale processes affecting the structure of Earth's crust (Tectonics).

Ecology
Participants will answer questions involving content knowledge and process skills in the area of ecology and adaptations in featured North American biomes

Experimental Design
This event will determine a participant's ability to design, conduct and report the findings of an experiment conducted on site.

Fast Facts
Teams will provide terms that begin with a given letter and match given science categories to fill in a grid.

Herpetology
This event will test knowledge of amphibians and reptiles.

Hovercraft
Participants will be tested on their knowledge of classic mechanics and related topics as well as their ability to construct a self-propelled air-levitated vehicle that moves down a track.

Meteorology (Climate)
Participants will use scientific process skills to demonstrate an understanding of factors that influence world climate and use of models to understand/estimate impacts of different changes.

Microbe Mission
Teams will answer questions, solve problems and analyze data pertaining to microbe

Mystery Architecture
At the beginning of the event, teams will be given a bag of building materials and instructions for designing and building a device that can be tested.

Optics
Teams must participate in an activity involving positioning mirrors to direct a laser beam towards a target and are tested on their knowledge of geometric and physical optics.

Potions and Poisons
This event is about chemical properties and effects of specified toxic and therapeutic chemical substances, with a focus on household and environmental toxins or poisons.

Road Scholar
Participants will answer interpretive questions that may use one or more state highway maps, USGS topographic maps, Internet-generated maps, a road atlas or satellite/aerial images.

Rocks and Minerals
Teams will demonstrate their knowledge of rocks and minerals.

Roller Coaster
Prior to the competition, teams design, build, and test a roller coaster track to guide a vehicle that uses gravitational potential energy as its sole means of propulsion to travel as close as possible to a target time.

Solar System
Students will demonstrate an understanding and knowledge of the geologic characteristics and evolution of the Earth's moon and other rocky bodies of the solar system.

Thermodynamics
Teams must construct an insulated device prior to the tournament that is designed to retain heat and complete a written test on thermodynamic concepts.

Towers
Prior to the competition, teams will design and build a Tower meeting requirements specified in the rules to achieve the highest structural efficiency.

Wright Stuff
Prior to the competition teams design, construct and test free flight rubber-powered monoplanes to achieve maximum time aloft.

Write It Do It
One student will write a description of an object and how to build it, and then the other student will attempt to construct the object from this description.