Experimental Design

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LoveRespectPeace
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Experimental Design

Post by LoveRespectPeace »

What does everybody think of Experimental Design? I think it looks awesome. But, then again I'm a big scientific method nerd.
Strath Haven Middle School

2010: Regionals(1st)-1st Ecology, 1st Meteorology, 1st Pentathlon (hahahaha...), and 8th place Trajectory
States(2nd NATS!)-7th Ecology, 5th Meteorology, 4th Pentathlon, 12th Trajectory, 3rd Exp. Design.
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Re: Experimental Design

Post by dudeincolorado »

first of all supa cool avatar!!! umm i love it it's so easy and hard at the same time, like it's easy to understand the event and be able to do it but since it is easy to understand it's hard to medal in it (it takes a lot of pratice)
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Re: Experimental Design

Post by ZekeBud »

Experimental Design is, far and away, my favorite event in all of Science Olympiad. That's right - I'd defend Exp. Des. against even the most popular of building events. In my mind, it blows them away.

Why do I love Experimental? It is the essence of the event that appeals to me. You're given the task of making, running, and analyzing your own lab setup. That alone is liberating and fun. Furthermore, this is a three person event. While that may seem to offer a group more freedom, it creates a need for more teamwork than in any other task. You absolutely must trust your partners to be excellent in their roles and, in turn, they must trust you to perform your duties without fail.

It's that element of Experimental that makes it so difficult to master. Without a finely-tuned team, you have no chance of success. Yet when you strike a balance and find a niche for each person, there is a great sense of closeness within the group. Suddenly, you reach a point where you know how long each person will take, and you can cover for each other.

I was the "writer" for my team - I essentially wrote the first half of the lab while the others worked to collect and interpret data. But by splitting our team as such, I could carefully create a problem statement, discuss our variables, and form an exact procedure. Then, depending on the nature of the experiment, I could fill in for later roles, helping out as the other two crunched various numbers.

The spontaneity, teamwork, precision, and writing skills required for Experimental Design make is simply the greatest event in the whole of Science Olympiad.
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Re: Experimental Design

Post by dudeincolorado »

totally agreed it is a really good event haha i think thats how all 3 person ex des teams are 2 testers and a writer :D
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Re: Experimental Design

Post by Pleiades »

What are some examples of the materials they might give you?
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Re: Experimental Design

Post by dudeincolorado »

oh wow umm lets see
1. mini catapult (looked really cute in a cataputy way) 3 diffrent balls, a foot of tape, meter stick, rubber bands

2. 10 sheets a paper, a metric stick ,tape

3. peg bord, pvc pipe, pegs, wood block, marbles, washable marker

4. cardbord of diffrent sizes, rubber bands, paper clip, toy car, post its

5. ballons, tape, metric stick, diffrent types of creals (puffed rice, corn flakes, chex)

6. 5 pens, 10 note cards, 15 pennies, 20 inches of tape

8. cotton balls, fan, tape, sand, beakers, water, scale

yeah these are all examples of things i practiced with or use in comp
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Re: Experimental Design

Post by LoveRespectPeace »

Sweet. It looks really cool. Was it done as a trial?
Strath Haven Middle School

2010: Regionals(1st)-1st Ecology, 1st Meteorology, 1st Pentathlon (hahahaha...), and 8th place Trajectory
States(2nd NATS!)-7th Ecology, 5th Meteorology, 4th Pentathlon, 12th Trajectory, 3rd Exp. Design.
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Re: Experimental Design

Post by haven2 »

It's been a C event for awhile, and a couple years ago it was in B.
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Re: Experimental Design

Post by ScienceIsMyLife »

I love this event but sometimes they throw things at you that you're completely unprepared for. Last year it was completely physics based, and of the three of us on the event, only one of us had ever taken physics. They didn't give us the formula and my partner (the one who did take physics) forgot it. But at the same time, sometimes it can be a really easy event--which, as previously stated, makes it really hard to medal in.
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Re: Experimental Design

Post by dudeincolorado »

um the list was from some state and regional comps and some practices. we seem to have easyer topics here ew use gravity :D
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