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Contact: Julie Navejar
kajam03@tamuk.edu or 361-593-2590

University to host South Texas Science Olympiad

KINGSVILLE (March 2, 2006) — The Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program at Texas A&M University-Kingsville will host the South Texas Science Olympiad Saturday, March 4. During the Olympiad, approximately 90 students from middle and high schools will compete in a wide variety of science categories.

Check-in will be held in room 221AB of the Memorial Student Union Building (MSUB) from 7:30 to 8 a.m. The opening ceremony will follow at 8 a.m.

Several of the events involve bringing an already-prepared entry that will be judged at the competition where others require thinking on the fly.

Three of the events, Compute This, Disease Detectives and Storm the Castle, are held in both the middle and high school divisions and each division has seven different categories just for their age group.

Compute This will be held at 9 a.m. in the Javelina Engineering Complex. This event integrates personal computing technology, the internet and quantitative data analysis.

Heredity also begins at 9 a.m. in room 315 of the Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy. Students will analyze data or diagrams and solve problems using their knowledge of the basic principles of genetics.

The Science of Fitness: Nervous System will begin competition at 9 a.m. in room 312 of the pharmacy building. This is a timed game that includes questions relating to the anatomy of the skeletal, muscular and nervous systems including the aspects of physical activity and fitness.

Mission Possible will be held at 9 a.m. in room 219A of the MSUB. Participants will design and build a Rube Goldberg-like device that will demonstrate a series of energy transfers to accomplish a specific task.

Robot Ramble will be held at 9:30 a.m. in room 219C of the MSUB. Teams will design and build a robot capable of performing certain tasks on a prescribed plain field. Each team may enter one robot that must be built prior to the competition.

Disease Detective will be held at 9:30 a.m. in room 103 of the Biology Earth Science Building. This event requires students to apply principles of epidemiology to a published report of a real-life health situation or problem.

Chemistry Lab will be held at 9:30 a.m. in room 212 of the Nierman Building. Teams will demonstrate chemistry lab skills related to selected topics.

Bridge building will be held at 10 a.m. in room 219B of the MSUB. Competitors are given certain parameters of length, width, height and material and each team must design, build and test. The winner is the lightest bridge to carry a maximum standard load.

Storm the Castle will be held at 10 a.m. in the courtyard of the Memorial Student Union Building. Teams will design, construct, calibrate and operate a device capable of launching a projectile as far and accurately as possible using only the energy of a falling counterweight.

Bottle Rocket will be held at 10 a.m. in the courtyard of the Memorial Student Union Building. Participants will design, construct and test rockets made of plastic soda bottles. The winner is the bottle that remains aloft for the longest period of time.

Can’t Judge a Powder by Its Color is a new event that will begin at 10 a.m. in the Kleberg Building. Students will test and record the characteristics of one pure substance and then, based only on observations and data they collect, answer a series of questions about that substance.

Tower Building will begin at 12:30 p.m. in room 219B of the MSUB. The objective of this event is to design and build the lightest tower, with the highest structural efficiency, capable of supporting a load of up to 15 kg.

Wright Stuff will be held at 12:30 p.m. in the old gym. Students will design and build a propeller aerodynamic device. The winner will be determined by the greatest time aloft.

Experimental Design will be held at 12:30 p.m. in room 103 of Hill Hall. Teams are given a set of unknown objects and will use them to design, conduct, analyze and write up an experiment.

Write It Do It will take place at 12:30 p.m. in the Alumni Room of Honor of the MSUB. This is a technical writing exercise where students write a description of a contraption and other students will attempt to recreate it using only the written descriptions.

Designer Genes will begin at 1 p.m. in the Kleberg Building. Students will solve problems using their knowledge of genetics.

Forensics also begins at 1 p.m. in room 315 of the Pharmacy Building. Competitors will be given a scenario and some suspects and will be asked to perform a series of tests, which will lead them to solving a crime.

Health Science: Nervous System will begin at 1 p.m., also in room 315 of the Pharmacy Building. The event will encompass the basic anatomy and physiology of the urinary, endocrine and nervous system in health and disease.

An awards ceremony will be held at 3:30 p.m. in room 221AB of the MSUB.

For more information about the South Texas Science Olympiad, call 361-593-2241.

This page last updated 3 March, 2006