Getting Started

Science Olympiad is an international nonprofit organization devoted to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest in science, and providing recognition for outstanding achievement in science education by both students and teachers. 

Olympiad tournaments are rigorous academic interscholastic competitions that consist of a series of individual and team events, which students prepare for throughout the year. The competitions follow the format of popular board games, TV shows, and athletic games. These challenging and motivational events are well balanced between the various science disciplines of biology, earth science, chemistry, physics, computers, and technology. There is also a balance between events requiring knowledge of science facts, concepts, processes, skills, and science applications.

Many states and regions have organized physics, biology, or chemistry Olympiads, but few have combined all disciplines in one large Science Olympiad. The excitement of many students from all science areas competing and cheering one another on to greater learning caused one school district to coin the phrase "intellete". When they searched for a place to house their newly won Science Olympiad State Championship trophy, the only location available was outside the principal's office in the "athlete" showcase, so they convinced the school board to build an "intellete" showcase. An intellete is any person who demonstrates outstanding performance in an academic or intellectual pursuit (in this case, science).

One of the goals of the Science Olympiad is to elevate science education and learning to a level of enthusiasm and support that is normally reserved only for varsity sports programs.

First, a school must register as a member of the Science Olympiad organization and pay the membership fee to the State office to participate in any regional tournament. Each team must register at least 2 weeks prior to the regional competition date, however, most teams register the preceding fall. Registration fees for Missouri are around $200 for each team.

After registering with the Missouri Science Olympiad, each team must then register for the regional tournament. No additional fees are required. Importantly in this regional registration, each team independently registers their competing members and selects the times that they will compete in each event. Each team may have up to 15 members, which will divide up to compete in 23 events of each division. Most events allow two students to cooperatively compete. Therefore, for a team to compete at every event in one day, each teammate will participate in multiple events. Please pay close attention during event scheduling/time selection so that you don’t “double-book” students, which is essential to your team’s success.

Science Olympiad has separate competitions for different grade levels. The Region VII tournament consists of Division B (grades 6-9) and Division C (grades 9-12). Because of the structure of secondary schools in Missouri, usually B division teams are made up of 6th-8th grade students, and C division teams are made up of 9th-12th grade students. It is legal, however, for a “middle school” (B Division) team to include up to five 9th-grade students. C division teams are limited to seven 12th-grade students. It is important to have a balance of both experienced “veterans” and enthusiastic “newbies” to have continuity in your team. One option that has been successful for some schools is to have a more experienced team who trains along with and coaches a younger team.

Missouri is divided into eight Olympiad regions, with the largest competition being right here at Region VII! Our region is comprised of the entire SW Missouri area (highlighted in picture below). If your middle-school or high-school falls within these counties, you're in the right place. If you're here by accident, see the state website for lists of the other regions.

The Region VII Science Olympiad is held on the campus of Missouri State University, in Springfield, Missouri.  This competition is made possible by the College of Natural and Applied Science.

Science Olympiad in Region VII is almost always held on the last Saturday of February. This date is chosen because it allows finalists time to prepare before the state-wide competition, as well as time to participate in other spring competitions.

Annually, the National Science Olympiad committee collectively decides which events will be in the following year's competition. While there are always 23 events for each division, the content is never the same. Typically, the event rotation can be catergorized into one of a few as follow:

• the same event as last year, in the same division, with a rule change.

• the same event as last year, but in different division.

• an event from a many years ago, put back into rotation.

• a completely new event.

There are many online resources from previous years' Olympiads, and what schools across the nation did to prepare. I would encourage all new and returning coaches to look for past event videos, tests, diagrams, etc. to get a better idea of how each event is conducted. Practice is crucial to success! Start meeting with your team as early and as often as you feel appropriate, once you receive your event books.

Important Note: If you don't have a full team of 15 students and still want to participate, you can register for just individual events in which your students are interested in. (While your students may rank in an individual event, teams without students participating in every event are unlikely to place overall.) 

Coaching a Science Olympiad team requires people and resources. So recruit help from every source you can. In the past, teams have had sponsorships from local service clubs, parents’ groups, school boards, senior citizens’ groups, book publishers, the military, local colleges and universities, and newspapers.
Look to your community to find help with coaching individual events, organizing, and publicity. This could develop good public relations for your school, offer positive ways to involve parents, and booster clubs in supporting academic competitions. No teacher or school can buy the positive “PR” gained by placing in one or more of the Science Olympiad events. All communities are looking at schools critically, so lean on your communities for their support. Through successfully competing at Science Olympiad, schools have been able to demonstrate the quality of their guidance and teaching and show their efforts in organizing and continuous involvement in academic extra-curricular activities.
Other non-science teachers and school staff are great resources, too. Your school nurse, technology teacher, math teacher, and health teacher can offer expertise and resources which you may not have yourself. Parents who have specific knowledge and skillsets —building, engineering, forestry, etc.— may also be willing to help with individual events.
While coaching a team can be a daunting task to take on alone, making it a community effort benefits everyone involved. Often all it takes to get others involved is an invitation.