Coaching Tips for Testing Events (as opposed to "build-it" events) by Carol Davis

 

#1 - Event Sheet is KEY!: As in the case of the build-it events, the event rule sheet is KEY. Make your own outline of everything listed on the event sheet and make sure you cover every topic on it at some point before regionals. 

#2 - All of the testing events follow the curriculum the kids learn in school: For example, there is a unit relating to Optics in the 6th grade Science textbook (Unit C, Chapter 4, pp. 110 - 144.) Find the text book (can be 6th grade - 9th grade, sometimes even 5th grade...) that contains a unit relating to the topic you are coaching. Borrow one from the school if the teacher has an extra copy and use that as your guide for teaching the kids. If you can't find the right textbook, look for a used text book on Amazon.com (I like the Prentice Hall Science Explorer books and use the "Electricy and Magnetism" version for coaching Shock Value.) I assign sections for the students to read between meetings and I give quizzes in our meeting times to make sure they are reading. The kids can learn the vocabulary on their own if you just present the information and let them study it from the book later. Use your meeting times to teach them things that aren't in the book OR use the time to practice (taking measurements, making calculations, etc. The more they practice the hands-on tasks, the better.) 

#3 - Set the bar high!: If the students study the information in the book and have touched on everything in the event sheet, they will be fine at regionals. BUT, if you want to move the students to a higher level, most of the kids who do science olympiad at DIB are capable of doing much more than just what's in the book. Use your knowledge from your experience/career to push them past what they should know in middle school. Feel free to teach them harder topics. (I taught my Crave the Wave team to draw ray diagrams for all types of lenses and mirrors. They didn't end up needing the information but it helped them to understand why certain mirrors and lenses create the images they do. They also learned to measure the width of a human hair using a laser beam and how to use the diffraction equation. Again, didn't need to know it in the end but those kinds of things pushed them to understand more than just the definition of "defraction." They understood how to use the concept.) I also collect workbooks and textbooks with extra quizzes and problems for the students to use for practice. Don't shy away from college level material. If you stress the basics, the students should be able to handle more complex concepts. Even if they don't fully understand the harder concepts, it will help them to not become overwhelmed if the event they face in competition is different from what they were expecting. Challenge them as much as possible.

#4: Find experiments and demonstrations from the internet: There are a lot of fun, and interesting, demos online that you can recreate for the kids (even better, lead the kids to do the demo for themselves.) They really love that and it will be more fun for you too.

#5: The more the students do, the more successful they will be.: Require the students to do a lot of the work on their own. The more they do, the more they learn. If you try to give them information without testing them or making them practice it on their own, they won't learn it as well. (I learned that lesson my first year when I tried to do everything for them...it didn't work.) Again, set the bar high and let them shoot for it. You'll be surprised how well they can do.