Here are some frequently asked questions and the responses:
Q: What is the process for registering?
A: Once the registration opens on the website, teams can register by paying the amount specified inside the link. Typically, registration is open for two months (Dec. and Jan.). No late registration will be possible.
Q: What happens after paying for registration?
A: Head coach (whose email needs to be supplied at the time of registration) will be sent a confirmation email with the team #. Team number is assigned randomly (1 through 40). All communications will be done ONLY with the head coach of the team. We request that all team members co-ordinate with the head coach and channel the questions via the head coach. We apologize in advance for not responding to emails from individual team parents.
Once the required information about the team is gathered, the head coach's email will be added to a google groups. All the information about the events (rules, descriptions, clarifications, etc.) will be made accessible to the head coach via the google groups. Since google groups works best with a gmail ID, we request the head coach to provide a gmail address at the time of registration. It is the head coach's responsibility to disseminate all the event related information to the team members and team parents. Only one email ID per team will be entered as part of the google groups.
Please allow at least a week for adding the head coach to the google groups.
Q: Do we need to take permission from school principal or his/her signature on any forms?
A: No signatures needed from school principal on any form. The activity is coordinated by the coaches for each team who are usually parents. If you are planning to use any of the school's resources like teachers, facilities, etc, you will have to speak with the school authority about that. As far as ESO is concerned, we do not expect anythign from school authorities.
Q: How do we assign the events to team members?
A: Once the team # is assigned to the team, the head coach will look at the schedule for various events for the team #, and assign students to work on the events, making sure there are no conflicts for any student. Please bear in mind that we will NOT be able to accommodate any requests for event time change for any team. It is the team's responsibility to ensure the students take part in the events at the assigned time slot for their team #.
Q: How many students are allowed per team?
A: Max. of 8 and minimum of 6. All students must be in grades 4th thru 6th and MUST be from the same school.
Q: Do all students in a team have to be from the same school?
A: Yes
Q: Can home-schooled children participate?
A: Yes --so long as they are all home-schooled. Please refer to the national science olympiad site (https://www.soinc.org/home_virtual_schools) for info on team qualification.
Q: Can we have an all-girls or all-boys team?
A: Yes
Q: Team parents coaching various topics have questions. How can they get them answered?
A; Event descriptions usually give out a clear description of what is expected from the students. In addition, there are two ways to get answers to questions:
1. Info Session will be held (late Jan.) and open to all team members. The organizers will give out information on event day logistics, and go over the general rules for each event. All team parents are encouraged to attend this. Watch the website for date/time and venue, usually updated mid-Jan.
2. Funnel the questions through the head coach. We usually have a clarifications doc for each event that will answer the questions the come in from different teams. Please make sure to go through the clarifications doc prior to sending a question. Questions that are already answered in the clarifications or descriptions will not be answered again.
While the Info Session is an one-time occurrence, the questions for clarifications can be sent anytime till one week prior to competition date.
Q: Even after the Info Session, we have more doubts about the event. What do we do?
A: There will be a Head Coaches meeting in April (usually during spring break) when deeper discussions on individual events and event day logistics will be entertained. This will be very useful meeting, as we draw closer to competition.
Q. Where is the material for the students to study for the theory?
A: There are no supplied materials. Study from science books and other topic-related books that you can get from local libraries. Go through SOINC.org website for additional materials. Keep them up to 6th grade level.
Q. If one team of 2 students qualifies how do we proceed further?
A: There is no qualification. Science Olympiad is a team event. Within the team, individual or pair of students will work on some events. Depending on how the team does in each event, they will be ranked. See below for ranking question.
Q. Is it mandatory to do the group events where all the students from a team will participate?
A: As stated above, this is a group or team competition—so, all members of a team MUST participate. The events will be distributed among all 8 members, and Pentathlon will require all team members to participate.
Q. Where do we get the rules and guidelines for the students?
A: Each event has its own rules/guidelines. These are available to head coach of registered teams via google groups. Go through the event descriptions and clarifications.
Q: Which events will be open public view and which events will be closed?
A: The information is available in the Schedule.xls file (posted by Nov.).
Q: How is the Team prize distribution? Weightage of each activity is how much ?
A: All events have same weightage. The final score for a team will be their placing in each event. For eg., with 3 teams and 5 events, the following table helps in showing the team Ranks.
Event1 Event2 Event3 Event4 Event5 Total Rank
Team1 1 2 3 1 2 9 1
Team2 2 3 1 3 1 10 2
Team3 3 1 2 2 3 11 3
Descriptions and Clarifications for all events are available to head coaches via the GoogleGroup.
Q: Does team need to participate in all the events?
A: Its up to the team members. However keep in mind the team overall scoring will be impacted. Take a look at how scoring is done (above).
Q: If a student falls sick or fails to show up on a competition day, can a backup person take his place?
A: Yes, however you have to make sure there is no other event that substitute kid has to participate at given time slot. All events for given teams will be conducted strictly per the schedule provided. No special accommodations will be made for this.
Q: Can we split internally as subgroups like group1 with 2 participants,group2 with 3 , and 1 individual participant.
A: No event will accommodate 3 participants, except for Pentathlon. It is also not recommended to have a single participant fro any event, as the idea behind this event is that kids learn to collaborate and discuss/brainstorm their ideas and work together.
Q: Can same kids participate in two or more events?
A: Yes.
Q: What is the process for registering?
A: Once the registration opens on the website, teams can register by paying the amount specified inside the link. Typically, registration is open for two months (Dec. and Jan.). No late registration will be possible.
Q: What happens after paying for registration?
A: Head coach (whose email needs to be supplied at the time of registration) will be sent a confirmation email with the team #. Team number is assigned randomly (1 through 40). All communications will be done ONLY with the head coach of the team. We request that all team members co-ordinate with the head coach and channel the questions via the head coach. We apologize in advance for not responding to emails from individual team parents.
Once the required information about the team is gathered, the head coach's email will be added to a google groups. All the information about the events (rules, descriptions, clarifications, etc.) will be made accessible to the head coach via the google groups. Since google groups works best with a gmail ID, we request the head coach to provide a gmail address at the time of registration. It is the head coach's responsibility to disseminate all the event related information to the team members and team parents. Only one email ID per team will be entered as part of the google groups.
Please allow at least a week for adding the head coach to the google groups.
Q: Do we need to take permission from school principal or his/her signature on any forms?
A: No signatures needed from school principal on any form. The activity is coordinated by the coaches for each team who are usually parents. If you are planning to use any of the school's resources like teachers, facilities, etc, you will have to speak with the school authority about that. As far as ESO is concerned, we do not expect anythign from school authorities.
Q: How do we assign the events to team members?
A: Once the team # is assigned to the team, the head coach will look at the schedule for various events for the team #, and assign students to work on the events, making sure there are no conflicts for any student. Please bear in mind that we will NOT be able to accommodate any requests for event time change for any team. It is the team's responsibility to ensure the students take part in the events at the assigned time slot for their team #.
Q: How many students are allowed per team?
A: Max. of 8 and minimum of 6. All students must be in grades 4th thru 6th and MUST be from the same school.
Q: Do all students in a team have to be from the same school?
A: Yes
Q: Can home-schooled children participate?
A: Yes --so long as they are all home-schooled. Please refer to the national science olympiad site (https://www.soinc.org/home_virtual_schools) for info on team qualification.
Q: Can we have an all-girls or all-boys team?
A: Yes
Q: Team parents coaching various topics have questions. How can they get them answered?
A; Event descriptions usually give out a clear description of what is expected from the students. In addition, there are two ways to get answers to questions:
1. Info Session will be held (late Jan.) and open to all team members. The organizers will give out information on event day logistics, and go over the general rules for each event. All team parents are encouraged to attend this. Watch the website for date/time and venue, usually updated mid-Jan.
2. Funnel the questions through the head coach. We usually have a clarifications doc for each event that will answer the questions the come in from different teams. Please make sure to go through the clarifications doc prior to sending a question. Questions that are already answered in the clarifications or descriptions will not be answered again.
While the Info Session is an one-time occurrence, the questions for clarifications can be sent anytime till one week prior to competition date.
Q: Even after the Info Session, we have more doubts about the event. What do we do?
A: There will be a Head Coaches meeting in April (usually during spring break) when deeper discussions on individual events and event day logistics will be entertained. This will be very useful meeting, as we draw closer to competition.
Q. Where is the material for the students to study for the theory?
A: There are no supplied materials. Study from science books and other topic-related books that you can get from local libraries. Go through SOINC.org website for additional materials. Keep them up to 6th grade level.
Q. If one team of 2 students qualifies how do we proceed further?
A: There is no qualification. Science Olympiad is a team event. Within the team, individual or pair of students will work on some events. Depending on how the team does in each event, they will be ranked. See below for ranking question.
Q. Is it mandatory to do the group events where all the students from a team will participate?
A: As stated above, this is a group or team competition—so, all members of a team MUST participate. The events will be distributed among all 8 members, and Pentathlon will require all team members to participate.
Q. Where do we get the rules and guidelines for the students?
A: Each event has its own rules/guidelines. These are available to head coach of registered teams via google groups. Go through the event descriptions and clarifications.
Q: Which events will be open public view and which events will be closed?
A: The information is available in the Schedule.xls file (posted by Nov.).
Q: How is the Team prize distribution? Weightage of each activity is how much ?
A: All events have same weightage. The final score for a team will be their placing in each event. For eg., with 3 teams and 5 events, the following table helps in showing the team Ranks.
Event1 Event2 Event3 Event4 Event5 Total Rank
Team1 1 2 3 1 2 9 1
Team2 2 3 1 3 1 10 2
Team3 3 1 2 2 3 11 3
Descriptions and Clarifications for all events are available to head coaches via the GoogleGroup.
Q: Does team need to participate in all the events?
A: Its up to the team members. However keep in mind the team overall scoring will be impacted. Take a look at how scoring is done (above).
Q: If a student falls sick or fails to show up on a competition day, can a backup person take his place?
A: Yes, however you have to make sure there is no other event that substitute kid has to participate at given time slot. All events for given teams will be conducted strictly per the schedule provided. No special accommodations will be made for this.
Q: Can we split internally as subgroups like group1 with 2 participants,group2 with 3 , and 1 individual participant.
A: No event will accommodate 3 participants, except for Pentathlon. It is also not recommended to have a single participant fro any event, as the idea behind this event is that kids learn to collaborate and discuss/brainstorm their ideas and work together.
Q: Can same kids participate in two or more events?
A: Yes.