Science Olympiad Research Articles

12th International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO) at Mahidol University, Kanchanburi Campus, Thailand

12th International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO) at Mahidol University, Kanchanburi Campus, Thailand

Instrument Design to Measure the Critical Thinking Skill of Students that Participate in Chemistry National Science Olympiad

Critical thinking definition is reasonably and reflectively thinking focused on what to believe or do. In today settings, the ability to think critically is very important, due to the increasing amount of information that must be processed before deciding something. National Science Olympiad is one of the vessels to increase this important skill in our students. Unfortunately, the OSN questions were not designed for measuring this skill. The aim of this research was to design an instrument that measure the critical thinking skill of the OSN participants. This was an R & D type of research, that was done following Four-D method, consists of define, design, development, and dissemination steps. The criteria for a good instrument are validity, reliability, discrimination power, and difficulty level must be sufficient. The result of the research shows that the instrument is valid (89,9% response from experts); reliable (KR-20 is 0,830); with sufficient average of discrimination power (DP is 0,378); and difficulty level (TK is 0,613).

High School Students’ Semantic Networks of Scientific Method in an International Science Olympiad Context

This study examines students’ conceptualization of scientific method from three perspectives: (a) participation in an international science fair, (b) gender differences, and (c) participation from different geographic regions worldwide. An online Word Association Test (WAT) with 10 stimulus words that are associated with scientific method was administered to high school students from more than 35 countries. Findings indicated that the semantic network of students who participated in the I-SWEEEP Olympiad had stronger connections among the 10 key concepts compared to that of non-I-SWEEEP students. Findings also revealed that male participants overall had a more complex semantic network of scientific method than their female counterparts. In addition, students from Americas, mostly U.S., had a more complex conception of scientific method than their counterparts from Eastern Europe and Asia. Results have implications about understanding affordances of science fairs in conceptualization of scientific method and about addressing gender and geographic differences.

Reply: “Building the pipeline: programs to introduce middle school, high school, medical, and veterinary students to careers in epidemiology and public health”

Abstract Purpose This report describes Centers for Disease Control and Prevention programs that expose students to epidemiology and public health sciences (EPHS). Methods The Science Ambassador workshop targets middle and high school teachers and promotes teaching EPHS in the classroom. The National Science Olympiad Disease Detectives event is an extracurricular science competition for middle and high school students based on investigations of outbreaks and other public health problems. The Epidemiology Elective Program provides experiential learning activities for veterinary and medical students. Results As of 2016, 234 teachers from 37 states and territories and three other countries participated in SA workshops. Several are teaching units or entire courses in EPHS. The National Science Olympiad Disease Detectives event exposed approximately 15,000 middle and high school students to EPHS during the 2015–2016 school year. The Epidemiology Elective Program has exposed 1,795 veterinary and medical students to EPHS. Conclusions Students can master fundamental concepts of EPHS as early as middle school and educators are finding ways to introduce this material into their classrooms. Programs to introduce veterinary and medical students to EPHS can help fill the gap in exposing older students to the field. Professional organizations can assist by making their members aware of these programs.

Develop Talents to Increase Productivity: Report of the Ninth National Medical Science Olympiad in Islamic Republic of Iran in year 2017.

Dear Editor, Extracurricular activities for the gifted and talented students in Iran derive from the belief that students with high potentials are expected to make great help for the health care of the community. One of these activities is holding medical science Olympiads. In the previous meeting report about medical science Olympiad in year 2011, a unique experience of Islamic Republic of Iran was reported. The Olympiad was held in three areas of basic sciences, clinical reasoning and management by participation of high rank medical students from all over the country in two stages: individual and group (1-4). After performing 8 Olympiads in the country, the ninth Olympiad was held in September 2017 in Tehran, Iran differently with more emphasis on creativity and productivity. While creativity in health care is mostly supposed to be innovations in surgical devices, medications, and procedures, we believed that it also relates to other health care disciplines like basic sciences, medical education, philosophy of medicine and management. Creativity in these fields is a newer concept that may result in finding novel solutions to health care and educational problems and challenges such as improving patient care and coordinating care across multiple disciplines and difficult conditions. Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences was the host of the Ninth National Medical Science Olympiad in September 2017 under direct supervision of Ministry of Health and Medical Education. This Olympiad was held in five areas including basic sciences, clinical medicine, medical education, philosophy of medicine and health care management. All top ranked students in medical sciences (such as medicine, pharmacy, nursing, health management, dentistry, etc.) from all over the country had the chance of participating in this Olympiad. In Iran integration of medical education and health care delivery system has started in 50 universities of medical sciences all over the country (5). 2151 students from these universities participated in the individual Olympiad exam. Then 30 teams in each of the five areas (total 450 teams) were selected 55 experts in five scientific committees constructed the Olympiad questions in individual and team stages. A unique experience in the Ninth Olympiad was using a novel and creative project based assignment for each team in each of the five areas. These projects were Evidence-based decision making, public private partnership, early clinical exposure, medical futility and autonomic modulation on the brain functional connectivity related to depression. 75 percent of the students stated that they were satisfied with these innovative and creative projects in different areas. 84 percent of the faculties reported that this kind of Olympiad increased students’ motivation and led them to compare issues friendly with each other in a scientific environment. 69.25 percent of the students reported that increasing the number of teams in this Olympiad for problem solving activities was a very good experience for them and ascertained that such activities should be included in the formal curriculum of medical schools. The main shortcoming in this Olympiad reported by the students was the competitive nature of the exam and subjectivity in scoring the projects in some areas. Performing such Olympiads is essential in discovering talented students and developing their capabilities to promote health systems. Although academic merit is not the only indicator of success in health science disciplines, designing additional programs for gifted and talented students is warranted to help academically talented students to further their knowledge.

The Italian Earth's Science Olympiad: a reflection on results of first edition

The Italian National Association of Science Teachers (ANISN), established in 1979, aims to promote excellent performance in science among students. For this reason, annually the ANISN organizes a national competition for high school students. The 14th edition was held in 2016: 500 Italian schools took part in this contest. Within allthem, 3000 students participated in the regional phases, while 129 students achieved the national phases. For the first time 16-19 years old students could decide to participate in two different competitions focusing on Biology or Earth Sciences. This article resumes the results of the first year of Italian Earth Sciences Olympiad, aims at drawing the state of art of Earth Sciences competition for students in Italy and suggests some reflections for teachers in order to address students interested in participating in this competition.

Natural Science teachers' attitude towards Natural Science Olympiad in Italy

About 400 teachers per year are involved in the Italian Natural Science Olympiad selection aimed at 14-19 years old students. In this paper we report the results of an investigation carried out on a number of teachers enrolling their students to this competition, with the aim to understand how the natural science teachers prepare and select their students and what they think is the main impact of this activity.A survey was administered to teachers involved in the competition from all over Italy and the feedback was analyzed.The average teacher is female, with a biology degree and long school experience. The teachers select students mainly with an institute test using Olympiads tests and in general the students get prepared to the competition by themselves, with the teachers giving them study materials.The survey evidenced that the competition is considered very important by the school headmasters and families. The teachers think that the main impact in participating in Olympiad is the improvement of students’ performance in school and an increased emphasis on the importance of natural science discipline.

New Approach for Comparison of Countries’ Achievements in Science Olympiads

There are several International Olympiads for secondary school students (for example, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and informatics). These Olympiads are not just a science competition, but a means to care for talent in the particular science. The goal of this paper is to identify the necessary topics important for good results at these international contests, and to compare the contest systems for the countries in South Eastern Europe, in the field of Informatics (Computer Science), as a region that is one of the prominent world regions in the context of high results in the international competitions. Here, we provide comparison through detailed analysis of several countries, and further we present a new approach that may be used to compare the achievements of the countries based on the results that students achieved at these competitions. Finally, we present an application of this approach on the results of some of the discussed countries compared to Macedonia. We strongly believe that the paper will provide a valuable content and approach for the entities involved in the organization of the contests, to measure their results compared to other countries, to use the information for improvement, and to use their achievements to raise awareness among the government institutions and companies in order to get support from them.

Career Ladder: Dana Garves

2006 An interest in chemistry Dana Garves started pursuing science in secret. She joined her high school’s Science Olympiad team without telling her parents. Then one day, she needed help with an event. “I had to blindside my mom: ‘Hey, so, I’m in the Science Olympiad. And I’m also the president. And also, can you chaperone?’ ” Garves wasn’t embarrassed, but science wasn’t a big part of her family’s daily lives before that. Her mother worked in video game testing, and her father was a mechanic for Boeing. “My parents are my biggest supporters, and I would not be where I am today without them,” she says. Chemistry was one of the subjects she struggled with the most in high school, but she found the “Aha!” moments addictive and the interactions of subatomic particles “poetic and beautiful.” Garves majored in chemistry at the University of Oregon. “I loved the analytical side;

11th International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO), Cotê d’Azur, Nice, France

11th International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO), Cotê d’Azur, Nice, France

Building the pipeline: programs to introduce middle school, high school, medical, and veterinary students to careers in epidemiology and public health

PurposeThis report describes Centers for Disease Control and Prevention programs that expose students to epidemiology and public health sciences (EPHS). MethodsThe Science Ambassador workshop targets middle and high school teachers and promotes teaching EPHS in the classroom. The National Science Olympiad Disease Detectives event is an extracurricular science competition for middle and high school students based on investigations of outbreaks and other public health problems. The Epidemiology Elective Program provides experiential learning activities for veterinary and medical students. ResultsAs of 2016, 234 teachers from 37 states and territories and three other countries participated in SA workshops. Several are teaching units or entire courses in EPHS. The National Science Olympiad Disease Detectives event exposed approximately 15,000 middle and high school students to EPHS during the 2015–2016 school year. The Epidemiology Elective Program has exposed 1,795 veterinary and medical students to EPHS. ConclusionsStudents can master fundamental concepts of EPHS as early as middle school and educators are finding ways to introduce this material into their classrooms. Programs to introduce veterinary and medical students to EPHS can help fill the gap in exposing older students to the field. Professional organizations can assist by making their members aware of these programs.

ANALISIS STRATEGI MENYEDERHANAKAN MASALAH SERUPA DAN SUDUT PANDANG LAIN PADA PERMASALAHAN NON RUTIN PENJUMLAHAN FUNGSI

The problem of Addition Operation of Function s often emerges in Junior National Science and Math Olympiads at the regional level, provincial level, and national level. Non-routine questions related to the addition of function s tested In the Junior National Science Math Olympiad are more concern on the problem-solving. The questions have complex types and these types cannot directly solved by common routine procedure s . Systematic-logical thinking and high level of understanding ability are required to solve the problem. There are some basic strategies which can be implemented to find the right solutions. Blended strategy plays a significant role to solve the problem. This research will discuss about the strategy to simplify equal group problem from another point of view in order to solve the addition of fu n ction s problem in the Junior National Science Math Olympiad. The implementation of the strategy is based on the Polya’s Problem-Solving Techniques .

The Gülen Movement in Turkey: The Politics of Islam, Science and Modernity

The Gülen Movement in Turkey: The Politics of Islam, Science and Modernity

The Relationship between Science Achievement and Self-concept among Gifted Students from the Third International Earth Science Olympiad

Background:This study investigated the relationship between gifted students’ academic self-concept (ASC) and academic achievement (AC) in earth science with internationally representative high school students from the third International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO) held in Taiwan in 2009.Material and methods:Participants’ academic achievement was measured by their total score in IESO written and practical examinations developed by international earth science experts with appropriate validity and reliability, while academic self-concept was measured with Inventory of Self-Confidence in Earth Science Learning (ISCESL), which was developed by Chang and Cheng (2008).Results:The results of regression analysis indicated that IESO students’ ASC was significantly correlated with their AC (R2=0.53, p<0.01) with large effect size, Even when compared to other Asian countries such as Korea and Japan, it was found that Taiwan students had the lowest ASC and poor interaction with other IESO students.Conclusions:The unique pattern of Taiwanese students exhibited through the 3rd IESO allows us to conclude that for the top notch gifted students, the social and psychological factors, such as popularity and interaction skills, are much stronger than cultural factors on students’ ASC.

The German Physics Olympiad—identifying and inspiring talents

Student competitions can act as potent enrichment measures and complement formal schooling in fostering students’ motivation as well as promoting their skills. This article presents the German Physics Olympiad, the national precursor to the International Physics Olympiad, in the general context of student competitions in Germany and its integration with the so called Science Olympiads in Germany. To put the German Physics Olympiad into an international context its structure and some of its features are compared with data on Physics Olympiads in other countries. As an outlook we elaborate on some of the challenges the Physics Olympiad in Germany is facing and present two research projects that further support the development of the competition.

Perspectives of faculty members toward Iranian National Olympiad for medical students: a qualitative study

Objective ― Regarding to the status of medical science Olympiads in medical science pedagogy, the views of beneficiaries are needed to be examined on them, in particular, faculty members who are the most interested group in the given issue. As such, the purpose of this study is the evaluation of views of the faculty members on the mission and performance of medical science Olympiads in Iran. Material and Methods ― The data for this qualitative study were collected through semi-structured interviews and then were analyzed using the content-analysis method. Finally, 95 members of faculty board were selected from universities of medical sciences in Iran and data collection continued till data saturation. Results ― Four themes including: points of strength in Olympiads, points of weakness in Olympiads, attitudes of faculty members to Olympiads, and suggestions for better performance of the Olympiads were extracted. The points of strength consisted of: mission, the performing procedures, and the scientific level of the competitions. The points of weakness included: mission, the performing procedures, and the scientific level of the competitions. Most of the participants (79%) had positive attitude toward the Olympiads. Participants presented 8 strategies in order to manage the competitions better. Conclusion ― It necessary to do more researches to identify the related problems and to use the required. Applying instructor’s points and views on the strengths, weakness, and suggestions can be efficient in policy making, designing and performing medical Olympiads.

Championship Science Olympiad Team: Coaching Influences on Student Performance

The influence of coaches working with students in grades 6 - 12 in the context of an extra-curricular academic competitive team such as Science Olympiad has not been well studied. The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of a successful head coach in the Science Olympiad program by studying a coach and team that has consistently reached the highest level of success in this program. This qualitative, intrinsic case study investigates one middle school Science Olympiad coach, Drew Kirian, and his team. Drew is one of only two coaches that has guided his team to six consecutive national championships in the Science Olympiad Program, making him a unique coach. Three categories emerged which help explain the components of successful coaching in the Science Olympiad program: structure, relationships, and expectations. These themes are well aligned with the coach-athlete relationship model developed by Mageau & Vallerand. This model may be useful in describing the necessary components of a successful coach in the academic competitive team context.

10th International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO), Mie University, Tsu, Japan

10th International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO), Mie University, Tsu, Japan

The effectiveness of a project day to introduce sixth grade students to science competitions

Background: Science Olympiads and science fairs are effective instruments to foster interested and talented students. However, at most schools competitions are not systematically integrated into the school mission statement so that students are unaware of these opportunities.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a newly designed competition day in terms of willingness to participate in a science competition and to learn more about students’ reasons for a prospective participation.Programme description: A project day (called ‘competition day’) for students in sixth grade was designed to encourage and motivate more students to participate in science competitions. The theoretical foundations for the design are self-determination theory and an adapted version of Holland’s RIASEC-model.Sample: The sample consisted of 474 German sixth grade students from six secondary schools.Design and methods: A pre-post-follow up-study was conducted with two intervention groups; both groups participated in the competition day and either entered a fictive competition or worked on the same tasks in school lessons. One control group not participating in the competition day was also investigated.Results: The results provide information regarding students’ interests, as well as reasons for and against participating in competitions. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the competition day is shown.Conclusions: The competition day is an effective way to introduce students to competitions and raise their willingness to participate in science contests. Combining the competition day with science competitions showed even better results. This supports the call for continuous fostering strategies.

Can a website make high school teachers without a geological background more self confident towards Earth Sciences teaching?

The development of virtual tools for teaching science at school has increased really fast. Anyway, the largest part of the web production is in English and it seems to be not really well known and regularly in use by Italian teachers. The purpose of this research is: 1) to evaluate the need of an updated web tool for Earth Sciences teachers in Italian, 2) to select the main themes it should contain, 3) to create it, and 4) to test the website on a sampling group of teachers. The project develops virtual lessons that are a sort of repository for the most interesting and useful Earth Sciences existing tools and to adapt them to Italian schools, in order to provide an effective support to science teachers without a geological background.The first part of the research was devoted to understand teachers' needs and select the themes to work on. It was carried out using a first questionnaire sent to the teachers who inscribed their schools at the Natural Science Olympiad. By the analysis the collected data the priority topics to work on were selected and a pilot session was produced. This session was tested on the starting sample of teachers and additional new ones, and a feedback about its usefulness was collected using a second questionnaire. On the basis of the feedback, three new didactical units were developed and uploaded in the website and finally they were tested using a third specific questionnaire. The results underline firstly as non-geologists Italian teachers feel the need of digital learning objects for teaching Earth Sciences, than that they can be supported by a website like the proposed here in the daily teaching activity. On the other hand, it is quite clear from the results, that Italian teachers are really attached to a traditional way of teaching and they consider the technology mainly as a way for enriching their standard frontal lessons.