PUHI — The classroom resembled a scene out of “CSI,” said Franklin Allaire, director of the Science Olympiad program. Students from Kaua‘i’s middle and high schools recently took part in the third annual Kaua‘i Regional Science Olympiad, a day-long event
PUHI — The classroom resembled a scene out of “CSI,” said Franklin Allaire, director of the Science Olympiad program.
Students from Kaua‘i’s middle and high schools recently took part in the third annual Kaua‘i Regional Science Olympiad, a day-long event at Kaua‘i Community College.
“This event is designed to be hands-on with all of the events at this year’s tournament being problem-based,” Allaire said. “It requires students to utilize skills of in-depth scientific knowledge, problem-solving skills, creativity and teamwork.”
All of the participating schools will advance to the seventh annual statewide tournament March 5 at Leeward Community College.
Waimea Canyon Middle School and Island School teams finished tops in the middle school and high school divisions, respectively.
Kapa‘a Middle School finished runner-up in its division and Kapa‘a High School and Kawaikini Immersion School filled in the second and third berths of the high school competition.
Science Olympiad tournaments are designed to encourage the interest of students and improve the quality of science education, states the event program.
With less than half of U.S. students proficient in science, according to the federal 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress, educators say events like this may be of particular importance now, especially in Hawai‘i which ranked near the bottom.
“Linda Sciaroni, the co-regional director for Kaua‘i, thought it was so important for Kaua‘i’s students, she wrote a grant,” said Faye Burson, one of 12 community judges for the Olympiad. “She wanted to make sure the kids would get a boost in their science education.”
Events featured at this year’s tournament included circuits and electricity, crime busters, disease detectives, experimental design, mousetrap vehicle, optics, remote sensing, tower building, and other events that enabled fun while providing challenges in biology, earth science, chemistry, physics and technology.
Allaire said in a news release that an award-winning coach from Colorado who was vacationing on Kaua‘i helped design the crime busters event, noting how impressed he was by the creativity and quality of the teams’ efforts to “solve a crime” using the provided tests and clues.
Noah LaMadrid and Brandon Balajadia of the Kapa‘a Middle School team, said preparing for the tournament was “pretty easy.”
“You just have to know,” LaMadrid said. “I think I might have spent about an hour studying extra things.”
Pat Gegen, another of the community judges, said, “There are resources available for the students, and they can discover and learn through visiting a variety of websites.”
The team of Steele Bird and Charlie Hernot had to overcome a late-hour problem — an obstacle which needed to be pushed by their mousetrap vehicle to a certain distance and returning, all powered by a length of twine.
“We built the vehicle in school after classes,” Bird said. “We also did test runs and calculated everything before this.”
Lenda Helser, Kaua‘i co-regional director, said the schools did a good job of getting students ready for the tournament.
“The teachers did a wonderful job preparing their students,” she said. “As a former gifted program teacher, I thought Kaua‘i’s students were bright, enthusiastic, polite and a delight to work with.”
Science Olympiad regional tournaments are qualifying rounds for the annual state tournament on O‘ahu. The Hawai‘i State Science Olympiad’s qualifying policy enables all participating schools to advance to the state finals.
“Trophies and medals are great,” Allaire said. “But the real goal here is to get kids excited about science, technology, engineering and math.”
The Kaua‘i Science Olympiad is made possible through partnerships between the Hawai‘i State Science Olympiad, the Kaua‘i Community College, the American Association of University Women, DowAgro Sciences and Syngenta.
AAUW provided the Hawai‘i State Science Olympiad a grant of $7,000 to support students and teachers in the program and provide funds to teams participating on O‘ahu. The grant also funds Science Fun Nights at various middle and high schools throughout Kaua‘i.
Science Olympiad tournaments are open to all public, private, charter and home schools in the state. For more information call Allaire at (808) 282-9454, or e-mail allaire@hawaii.edu, or call Helser at 828-0609.
