Division B

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.

For the High School competition, see Division C.

Air Trajectory
Prior to the competition, teams will design, construct and calibrate a single device capable of launching projectiles into a target and collect data regarding device parameters and performance.

Anatomy & Physiology (Skeletal, Muscular, Integumentary)
This event encompasses the anatomy and physiology of selected body systems, this year limited to skeletal, muscular and integumentary systems.

Bio-Process Lab
A lab-oriented competition involving the fundamental science processes of a middle school life science/biology lab program.

Bottle Rocket
Prior to the tournament, teams construct two rockets designed to stay aloft for the greatest amount of time.

Bridge Building
Teams will design and build the lightest bridge with the highest structural efficiency that can span a given opening meeting the requirements given.

Crave The Wave
Competitors will demonstrate knowledge and process skills needed to solve problems and answer questions regarding all types and areas of waves and wave motion.

Crime Busters
Teams will identify the perpetrators of a crime or crimes by using paper chromatography and analysis of unknown solids, liquids, and plastics found at the scene of a crime.

Disease Detectives (Population Growth)
Students will use investigative skills in the scientific study of disease, injury, health and disability in populations or groups of people, especially regarding population growth.

Dynamic Planet (Oceanography)
Teams will use NGSS science and engineering practices to complete tasks related to physical and geological oceanography.

Elastic Launch Glider
Students will design, build and test two elastic launched gliders capable of the maximum time aloft.

Experimental Design
Given a set of unknown objects, teams will design, conduct, analyze and write-up an experiment.

Food Science
Teams will study the science behind milk products and experiment with ingredients and physical parameters to produce and analyze these products.

Fossils
Teams will demonstrate their knowledge of ancient life by identifying fossils and answering questions about classification, habitat, ecologic relationships, behaviors, environmental adaptations and the use of fossils to date and correlate rock units.

Green Generation
Students will answer questions involving the history and consequences of human impact on our environment, solutions to reversing trends and sustainability concepts.

Invasive Species
This event will test student knowledge of invasive species in local and national ecosystems.

Meteorology (Everyday Weather)
This event involves the use of process skills to demonstrate an understanding of atmospheric processes involving everyday weather.

Mission Possible
Prior to the competition, participants will design, build, test and document a Rube Goldberg-like device that completes a required Final Task through an optional series of simple machines.

Picture This
Team members will take turns drawing representations of a set of scientific terms/concepts while the other team member guesses the term being drawn.

Reach for the Stars
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the properties and evolution of stars especially star forming regions and supernova remnants and their observation with different portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Road Scholar
Teams 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.

Scrambler
Competitors must design, build and test a mechanical device which uses the energy from a falling mass to transport an egg along a track as quickly as possible and stop as close to the center of a terminal barrier without breaking the egg.

Wind Power
Teams will build a blade assembly that consists of any kind of propeller/pinwheel/rotor attached to a CD which will be used to capture wind power. Students will also be tested on their knowledge relating to alternative energy.

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.