Advice for starting up our brand new team?

[carbonnanotube]

So I've founded a a new Science Olympiad team at our school, but we're having trouble taking off. Mostly due to the fact that we all have no idea what to do (and my horrible horrible procrastination). The club was made official at school in August, but we still haven't registered yet. I know how to register: online registration, email IOP, and pay online? It's the events I'm confused about. How many people per event? The rules for that event? Do we need to buy textbooks for studying? What is included in the Coaches' Manual?

[SenseiSushi]

So I've founded a a new Science Olympiad team at our school, but we're having trouble taking off. Mostly due to the fact that we all have no idea what to do (and my horrible horrible procrastination). The club was made official at school in August, but we still haven't registered yet. I know how to register: online registration, email IOP, and pay online? It's the events I'm confused about. How many people per event? The rules for that event? Do we need to buy textbooks for studying? What is included in the Coaches' Manual?

Well first off, congrats on forming a new team! Science Olympiad is a very rewarding and fun experience, both for coaches and participants.

Overview
In Science Olympiad, there are two divisions, B and C. B division is for middle school students (6th grade through 9th grade) whereas C Division is for high school students (9th grade through 12 grade). Each division has different events (the full list of events is available at soinc.org).

The events are split into three main categories:

Build Events
The first are build events where you will construct an apparatus to complete the task required. For example, the build event, Air Trajectory, requires you to build a device that uses air pressure to launch a projectile to a specific target. You will construct the builds before the competition and will complete the required task at the site of the competition.

Study Events
The second category of events are study events. These events are exactly what they sound like, competitiors will study a predetermined syllabus and take a test on the topics covered by the syllabus. An example of this event would be Ecology which requires competitors to study principles of ecology on planet Earth. A subset of study events are identification events where competitors learn to identify various samples based on qualitative analysis. An example of this would be Rocks and Minerals.

Lab Events
The third category of events are lab events. Lab events can consist of both a theory portion and a build portion such as Optics while other lab events such as Crime Busters require competitors to run tests on unknown substances, conduct fingerprint analysis, and other tasks related to forensics.

Questions & Answers

How many people per event?
The majority of events, including build events consist of a two-person pair. An exception to this rule is Experimental Design which consists of a three-person team.

Where are the rules for events?
The rules for each event are determined by the official rules manual which should be forwarded to you upon registration. Additionally there is a mobile rules manual available from iTunes and Google Play.

Do we need to buy textbooks for studying?
For studying materials, the soinc.org store offers event CDs that provide a plethora of resources along with sample tests. The event CDs should be plenty for most study events however the internet is also a great source to use for studying.

One of the most valuable resources in Science Olympiad is SciOly.org. Every event has a wiki page with detailed summaries of the event, the mibbit chat allows you to ask questions in real time with Science Olympiad veterans, and the forums are a great place to get advice on individual events and also Science Olympiad in general.

Best of luck in the SciOly season!

[Schrodingerscat]

Standard disclaimer: This post contains solely the personal views of the author and should not be interpreted as an official statement on behalf of scioly.org or any other organization.

First, I would strongly advise that you register as soon as possible. I believe the exact process varies from state to state, so you need to consult your state website or director. Most likely you will have to fill out some forms and send in a fee, but the degree to which that is available online will likely vary. The reason I advise you to hurry is that my state, for example, has a priority registration deadline coming up very soon.

Shortly after registering your state organization should mail your team a copy of the rules manual (included in registration fee). If you need access to the rules quicker, you can also order them from the national store or most quickly as a mobile app.

The majority of events allow two students, and certain ones allow three. If you happen to be short on team members, it is possible (albeit suboptimal) for a single person to compete alone in some of the events. However, there are others that require at least two team members to compete. When you acquire a copy of the rules, they will specify this on an event by event basis.

Some students do buy textbooks, and they can be a useful resource, but they are usually not necessary. The vast majority of information you need for most events is available on the internet. And I'm not very familiar with the coaches manual, so I will leave that for others to answer.

As two final pieces of advice: I would recommend you investigate whether your team has a viable opportunity to attend an invitational tournament before your first completive tournament (some cities have multiple invites, other regions of the country barely have any at all). The first hand experience of how tournaments actually works is very useful for preparing for future tournaments. Finally, while you should try your best to prepare regardless, remember to have fun. From personal experience, it is much, much more enjoyable going in simply to do your best rather than expecting to win, especially when you don't.

[Unome]

What is included in the Coaches' Manual?

I'm not entirely sure, but I believe the term "Coaches' Manual" is outdated, and comes from a time where there was a separate Student Manual and Coaches' Manual. I think sometime during the mid-2000s they were combined into a single Rules Manual. Someone older than I might be able to give more information.

I'll get to the rest of your question during lunch.

Edit: Looks like Sensei_Sushi already answered your questions. I second Schrodingerscat on registration; many will close soon (usually depends on how early/late regional/state tournaments are) so you should get on that ASAP.

[carbonnanotube]

Wow, thank you so much for the detailed responses Sensei, Schrodinger, and Unome!! I didn't expect such thorough replies! ...there's just one last question I have though , here's part of the email I sent to the LA County director:


"...We are in the middle of registering our school's first Science Olympiad team, but I had a couple questions-- mainly about the Certificate of Liability Insurance. It says the due date is in October 27th, 2017.. is this a typo? I am also a bit unclear of what liability insurance is. Is there a specific document we have to fill out from Science Olympiad, or do all schools have their own forms?"

[Unome]

Wow, thank you so much for the detailed responses Sensei, Schrodinger, and Unome!! I didn't expect such thorough replies! ...there's just one last question I have though , here's part of the email I sent to the LA County director:


"...We are in the middle of registering our school's first Science Olympiad team, but I had a couple questions-- mainly about the Certificate of Liability Insurance. It says the due date is in October 27th, 2017.. is this a typo? I am also a bit unclear of what liability insurance is. Is there a specific document we have to fill out from Science Olympiad, or do all schools have their own forms?"

Happy to help

Based on my past experiences with this, the form is generally provided by the tournament. although to me "Certificate of Liability Insurance" sounds a lot more like the sort of form that the tournament would need to have on file with the national office (if I remember correctly, NSO provides insurance to sanctioned tournaments). I would have expected the form to be called a liability waiver. Knowing your location makes this a bit easier; I believe there are a few active members on here from the LA region (not to mention bearasauras of course; I'll let you figure out who he is ).

Sidenote, since you're new to SO: In most states, team registration is handled through the state organization, and regional tournaments are determined either by school location (e.g. Michigan, Ohio) or are selected by the team (e.g. Texas, Georgia). To the best of my knowledge, in SoCal and NorCal the regions are more similar to mini-states; they generally handle registration, and sometimes run multiple regional tournaments (as in the case of LA). As usual, bearasauras can probably correct any mistakes I may have made.

[[NerdyTotoro]]

Wow, thank you so much for the detailed responses Sensei, Schrodinger, and Unome!! I didn't expect such thorough replies! ...there's just one last question I have though , here's part of the email I sent to the LA County director:


"...We are in the middle of registering our school's first Science Olympiad team, but I had a couple questions-- mainly about the Certificate of Liability Insurance. It says the due date is in October 27th, 2017.. is this a typo? I am also a bit unclear of what liability insurance is. Is there a specific document we have to fill out from Science Olympiad, or do all schools have their own forms?"

Oooh a LA person! What school are you from? (if you don't mind telling, that is)

[carbonnanotube]

Wow, thank you so much for the detailed responses Sensei, Schrodinger, and Unome!! I didn't expect such thorough replies! ...there's just one last question I have though , here's part of the email I sent to the LA County director:


"...We are in the middle of registering our school's first Science Olympiad team, but I had a couple questions-- mainly about the Certificate of Liability Insurance. It says the due date is in October 27th, 2017.. is this a typo? I am also a bit unclear of what liability insurance is. Is there a specific document we have to fill out from Science Olympiad, or do all schools have their own forms?"

Oooh a LA person! What school are you from? (if you don't mind telling, that is)

Desert High School, it's in Kern County though, so we always end up competing in the LA competitions for everything.

[meierfra]

Congratulations and good luck.

The national website has a page for starting a team with some useful general information. https://www.soinc.org/organizing_team

It's too late for this year but for next year I strongly recommend your state's coaches' clinic. I see southern California does theirs in the summertime. https://www.soinc.org/workshops

If possible, you want to get parents or community members or even other teachers with some expertise in one of the events to be an event coach and meet with the kids in that event periodically. You may have to set up some evening or Saturday practices for that.

I second the recommendation about attending at least one invitational. The best way to know how events are going to be run is to attend an invitational, which is just a practice tournament. The kids can earn medals or ribbons, but it doesn't count at all toward your regional. Also, it gives the students another opportunity at competition. Otherwise, the kids work for 3-6 months or whatever, have one competition and that's it, they're done, if they don't advance to States. The Southern Cal website doesn't seem to list the invitationals, but this year there is a map of them https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?hl ... NeABoVfvQc and it looks like there are a few in the LA area.

Sensei_Sushi mentioned some of the SciOly.org resources. I also recommend all of those and also the Test Exchange. They're practice tests in almost all of the events.

[Unome]

Regarding invitationals: generally they are not listed on the state website (or at least it's easier to find them in other places). I would suggest looking at the Invitational Wiki first to see the different tournaments (and of course Sensei_sushi's map mentioned above), and then checking the San Diego regional website (since it's generally the most updated with regard to invitationals).