Event Descriptions

2020-21 Tentative Event Descriptions

Life, Personal & Social Science

Anatomy and Physiology (Skeletal, Muscular, Integumentary): Understand the anatomy of the human body systems: skeletal, muscular and integumentary.
Disease Detectives: Environmental Quality: Participants will use investigative skills in the scientific study of disease, injury, health and disability in populations or groups of people.
Water Quality: Marine & Estuary: Participants will be assessed on their understanding and evaluation of aquatic environments.
Ornithology; Participants will be assessed on their knowledge of birds. The competition includes both identification of birds and questions about bird characteristics (anatomy, diet, range, etc).
Heredity: Participants will solve problems and analyze data or diagrams using their knowledge of the basic principles of genetics.

Earth and Space Science

Dynamic Planet: Oceanography: Students will use process skills to complete tasks related to water and/or oceanography.
Meteorology: Severe Storms: Focused on the study of Severe Weather that affects the United States. It can be split into three main groups: Thunderstorms, Hurricanes, and Winter Storms.
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.
Fossils: Teams demonstrate their knowledge of ancient life by completing selected tasks at a series of stations including but not limited to fossil identification, answering questions about classification, habitat, ecologic relationships, behaviors, environmental adaptations and the use of fossils to date and correlate rock units.
Reach for the Stars: Students are asked to identify a specified list of stars, constellations, and deep sky objects (DSOs) and to complete tasks relating to a topics in Astronomy.

Physical Science & Chemistry

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.
Density Lab: Participants compete in activities and answer questions about mass, density, number density, area density, concentration, pressure and buoyancy.
Circuit Lab: Participants must complete tasks and answer questions about electricity and magnetism.
Food Science: Focuses on testing the chemical and physical properties of specific food products
Machines: Event focuses on fundamental concepts of simple machines, including the types of simple machines, their uses, input and output forces, and mechanical advantage.

Technology & Engineering

Mousetrap Vehicle: Teams will construct a vehicle that uses the energy of a mousetrap spring as its sole means of propulsion, quickly travels a specified distance, and stops as close as possible to the Target Point.
Mission Possible: Teams will make a Rube Goldberg device that uses certain tasks and runs as close as possible to the ideal time to gain the maximum number of points.
Cybersecurity: See Div. C Trial rules for description.
Helicopter / Elastic Launched Gliders: Prior to the tournament teams design, construct, and test elastic launched gliders to achieve the maximum time aloft. 2020-21 modification: students will build and fly a helicopter.

Inquiry & Nature of Science

Experiment and Data Analysis / Experimental Design: This event will determine a participant’s ability to design, conduct and report the findings of an experiment conducted entirely on site. 2020-21 modification will not conduct an experiment.
Codebusters: Teams will cryptanalze (decode) encrypted messages using cryptanalysis techniques and show skill with advanced ciphers by encrypting or decrypting a message.
Write It CAD It / 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.
Game On: Students will code a game using Scratch