Science Olympiad Practice Run

We went to a Science Olympiad practice meet to get an idea of how the competition goes.  This middle school, with no special Science Olympiad budget, allowed teams to come in and run through events.  Thank you!  They did not run all the events.  Of course none of the building events would be done. We were fortunate enough that two of the three non-building events we are competing in were available.

The above picture shows what I think is the most complicated event: Science Crime Busters. You need to know solid, liquid, and metal analysis, which earns half the points.  You also need to know hair, fiber, and DNA analysis.  You also examine fingerprints, tread marks, and splatter patterns.  After examining the evidence you then need to decide who dunnit.

The next picture is the other chemistry event, Food Science.  To prepare for it you need to do a lot of really bad baking to see how altering muffin recipes alters outcomes.  You also need a good knowledge of nutrition, which we found out we have not spent enough time on yet.  We have 5 more weeks to be ready...