Hawai‘i State Science Olympiad

Dedicated to improving the quality of science education for students in Hawai‘i.

Event Desciptions

Click on each event for a full listing of awards.

2008 Division C (High School) Events

Event
Description
The objective of this event is to design and build the lightest cantilevered wooden structure which, when attached to a vertical testing wall at one end, will support a load up to 15 kg at the distal end.
Teams will answer a series of questions or complete a task involving the science processes of chemistry focused in the areas of chemical reactions and energy.
Students will answer questions involving content knowledge and process skills in the area of ecology and adaptations in featured biomes.
This event will determine a team's ability to design, conduct, and report the findings of an experiment actually conducted on site.
A "Fermi Question" is a science related question that seeks a fast, rough estimate of a quanitity, which is either difficult or impossible to measure directly.
Teams will compete in an academic pentathalon to demonstrate their overall understanding of five major science content areas.
Given a scenario and some possible suspects, students will perform a series of tests. These tests, along with other evidence or test results will be used to solve a crime.
Students will use process skills to complete tasks related to physical and geology.
Students will compete in lab activities in the areas of work, energy and power.
Teams will demonstrate their knowledge of rocks and minerals.
Prior to the competition each team will build two types of musical instruments [aerophone, chordophone, ideophone, or membranophone] based on a 12 tone tempered scale, prepare to describe the principles behind their operation and be able to perform a major scale, a required melody and a chosen melody.
This event will test a competitor's ability to effectively communicate with a colleague in writing by having his or her partner construct a device from this written description.

2008 Division B (Middle School) Events

Events
Description
This event will test knowledge of amphibians, turtles, crocodiles and reptiles.
This event encompasses the anatomy of the nervous and circulatory systems and the effects of drugs and diseases on their health.
At the beginning of the event, teams will be given a bag of building materials and instructions for designing and building a device that can be tested.
Teams will demonstrate their knowledge of rocks and minerals.
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.
Teams will design, construct, calibrate and shoot a device capable of launching a ball into a target area and collect data to develop a series of graphs relating launch configuration to target distance and height.