Sample NSB Questions

The Department of Energy's National Science Bowl® is a highly publicized academic competition among teams of high school students who answer questions on scientific topics in astronomy, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, earth, computer and general science. The teams are comprised of five students and a teacher who serves as an advisor and coach. The competition consists of a round robin followed by a double elimination final. The questions are multiple choice and short answer in the categories of chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics, astronomy, and general, earth, and computer science.

Prizes are awarded to the top teams, and the winning team is invited to participate in the National Science Bowl. The NSB web site provides information for students, coaches, and volunteers.

Brain Games – Seminole Ridge SECME Competes in Science Bowl

The brightest Seminole Ridge SECME students were fast with facts on physics, chemistry, earth science, energy and math. But they needed to be fastest with their fingers to buzz in before their equally intellectual competition. Twenty-four teams from across the state competed for a spot at the National Science Bowl in the regional qualifiers at Florida International University main Miami campus on Saturday, February 19, 2012. Seminole Ridge SECME was represented at NSB by Captain Caitlin Nicole Miller, Ronit Liberman, Qwynn Burch, Gabriel Pinder, Patrick Eden, Mitchell Herrmann, Zach Chmielewiez.

(Click on the first picture to flip through the Seminole SECME team at United States Department of Energy National Science Bowl South Florida Regional Qualifier 2012 at Florida International University on Saturday, February 18, 2012)

20120218 US DOE NSB at FIU

National Science Bowl (NSB) is an academic competition sponsored by the United States Department of Energy that offers a chance for teams of high school students to match their mental abilities in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. Teams compete in this fast-paced "jeopardy" style, head-to-head competition, which includes preliminary and double-elimination matches. In this competition students answer either multiple-choice or short-answer questions relating to STEM facts or concepts. Each 16-minute match has a two-minute intermission. Questions are read aloud by a moderator. Any player can buzz in to answer a “toss-up” question. Points are awarded for a correct answer, and the team can then answer a bonus question. At the end of the match, the team with the most points wins.

For example, the energy category of the NSB focuses on energy in its many manifestations: sources of energy, energy applications, energy production, energy efficiency, and other areas related to this field. Energy is a cross-disciplinary category, integrating topics from physical sciences, life sciences, earth and space sciences, and environmental sciences. When studying other disciplines, focus on certain strands that apply to energy: biology contains energy when examining: chemical reactions in cells, cellular functions, photosynthesis, and food energy; earth and space sciences include energy sources as well as environmental science topics (such as: human usage of energy, finite resources, and natural systems as resources). Physical sciences are chock full of energy topics, including: atomic and nuclear energy, motion and forces, electricity, conservation of energy, potential and kinetic energy, heat and temperature, and interactions of energy and matter.

This year, the silver Hawks failed to advance to the double elimination bracket with four losses and one bye during the round robin. The winning school will go on to the 22nd National Science Bowl in Washington D.C., Apr. 26-30, where they will compete for the national title against more than 450 students from 68 high schools. But even the students who don't earn a trip to the finals agree that competing in Science Bowl bolsters their understanding and their outlook. Last year, First Lady Michelle Obama congratulated every single student who participated in the NSB. Said Mrs. Obama, "We want young people energized in the way that you all are, because we know that American brainpower in science and math has always driven this country's prosperity, helping us make the discoveries and to build the industries that have transformed the way we live and work."

Seminole SECME wins silver

2nd place overall Olympiads in the district!
Seminole Ridge SECME won four trophies at the 2011 SECME regional Olympiad, including second place overall for the county! Teams from twenty high schools in Palm Beach County participated in the engineering contests at Santaluces Community High School in Lantana on Saturday, February 26, 2011. Students squared off in racing mousetrap powered model cars, launch model rockets, build and break balsa wood bridges; in general knowledge games during the "Brain Bowl"; and in literary and artistic competitions with essays, banners, and posters.

The competition of cogitators was fierce, but the Hawks, those gladiators of grey matter, came in third in the poster competition, second in the water bottle rocket competition, and first in the banner competition. This put overall Olympiad performance second in the entire district! Principal Lynne McGee, and Erich Landstrom and Ed Batchelor, the school SECME coordinators, congratulate the Hawks on their awesome achievements! Team captain Cindy Dosch commented “Proud of you guys! We did awesome against all odds.” Freshman Sam Smith posted “Today, those months of work on that mousetrap car came into fruition, and the hard work showed. It destroyed the competition without a problem, and couldn’t have done better on the test run. Even though it didn’t place, and we have our suspicions as to why it didn’t, I’m proud of Murphy’s Law, because it has overcome every one of the obstacles it was presented with.”

2011 Seminole SECME Olympiad

POSTER: Students create posters based on the Olympiad's theme “SECME: STEMulating Minds”
• Third Place: Seminole Ridge

Poster, 3rd place: senior Brie Codner Poster, 3rd place: senior Brie Codner

BANNER: Students create banners based on the Olympiad's theme. Banners must contain the school mascot and SECME logo.
• First Place: Seminole Ridge

WATER ROCKET: Students build a model rocket around a standard 2 liter soda bottle. All teams must have: rocket (constructed and launch-ready); design drawing blueprint of rocket; technical report on rocket; and mission patch design. At the Olympiad, rockets will be "fueled" with 355 milliliters of water and 60 PSI of air pressure. The rocket with the greatest combined "hang time" airborne and score will be declared the winner
• Second Place: Seminole Ridge

Water bottle rocket, 2nd place: Chris Garrett (retired rocket engineer with Pratt & Whitney) Damian Coleman, Cindy Dosch

Water bottle rocket, 2nd place: Damian Coleman, Cindy Dosch

OVERALL HIGH SCHOOL PALM BEACH COUNTY CHAMPION:

• Second Place: Seminole Ridge High

• First Place: Suncoast High Seminole SECME - 2nd place Olympiad overall in the county!

MOUSETRAP CAR: Students build cars that are propelled by the spring of a mousetrap. All teams must have a mousetrap car (constructed and running), design drawing blueprint of mousetrap vehicle (MTV), technical report on MTV construction and operations. A combination of the scores from the race, the report, and the drawing is used to determine the winner.
Mousetrap Vehicle: Sam Smith and Cody Summerlin

Inspecting the Mousetrap Vehicle: (left to right) Sam Smith, Cody Summerlin, Dr. Thelma Jackson, and AJ Fandrey

BRAIN BOWL: Students compete against the clock and each other in a quiz show style contest filled with science and math questions.
left to right: Arnold Banner, Joe Pavicic, Yiro Shimabukuro, Robert Botkin



SECME is too serious to be taken seriously
SECME is too serious to be taken seriously
Seminole SECME Captain Cindy Dosch holding aloft our trophy
GO HAWKS!

Hawks hold up in NSB qualifiers, lose playoffs to Palmetto

Seminole Ridge Community High School SECME 2011 "Brain Bowl" teams
Seminole Ridge SECME students were fast with physical science facts, math formulas, and most importantly their fingers at Florida International University on Saturday, February 22, 2011 during the Science Bowl.

Science Bowl is an academic competition that offers a chance for teams of high school students from across the state to match their mental abilities in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. Teams compete in this fast-paced "jeopardy" style, head-to-head competition, which includes preliminary and double-elimination matches. In this competition students answer either multiple-choice or short-answer questions relating to science and math facts or concepts.

Seminole Ridge sent two of the twenty-five teams from south Florida that competed in six division during the round robin regional qualifiers. The Seminole SECME silver team consisted of Captain Edwin Keo (senior), Arnold Banner (senior), Justin Bishop (senior), John Gonzalaz (senior), David Lopez (senior) and CJ Galko (junior). The Ridge's red team consisted or Captain Robert Botkin (junior), Caitlin Miller (junior), Duncan Miller (senior), Joe Pavicic (senior) and Yiro Shimabakuro (senior).

The Ridge's red team consisted or Captain Robert Botkin (junior), Caitlin Miller (junior), Duncan Miller (senior), Joe Pavicic (senior) and Yiro Shimabakuro (senior).
The Seminole SECME silver team consisted of Captain Edwin Keo (senior), Arnold Banner (senior), Justin Bishop (senior), John Gonzalaz (senior), David Lopez (senior) and CJ Galko (junior).
This year, the silver Hawks after correctly answering rapid-fire questions in several disciplines--physics, math, astronomy, biology, chemistry, energy and earth sciences-- to advance to the double elimination bracket with three wins and two losses during the round robin. In playoffs they first fell to Miami Palmetto Senior High School (Miami, FL), 147-46, then were overcome by challenger Cypress Bay High School (Weston, FL) by a score of 156-38

More than 15,000 students across the U.S. vie for a trip to Washington, D.C. to compete at the National Science Bowl hosted by the United States Department of Energy on May 2nd. Only 520 make it. Even the students who don't earn a trip to the finals agree that competing in the Science Bowl bolsters their understanding and their outlook.

Captain Keo said, "We did pretty well in the competition. We managed to get into the double elimination, and our 8th match/round was our absolute loss!" He thinks his team did a good job and commented, "We all had our share of Fail moments." CJ Galko agreed, "We did a lot better than I thought we would and it was a lot of fun."
Seminole Ridge Community High School SECME "Brain Bowl" team
Even President Obama and the First Lady have caught the enthusiasm for the Science Bowl. Mikayla Nelson, a high school freshman from Billings, Mont., sat with First Lady Michelle Obama at this year's State of the Union Address. Nelson earned her place there by leading her team to a first place finish at the National Middle School Science Bowl for the design document of the team's solar car. The President also noted in his address to the country that, "We need to teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair…"

Congratulations to Osmel Rodriguez and American Heritage School for winning the South Florida Regional 2011! And here's a clip of former Physics Bowl members struggling with some social science questions, courtesy of CBS's The Big Bang Theory.

Brain Bowlers - directions to FIU

Brain Bowlers - NSB check-in will begin at 7:30 AM in the second floor lobby of the Graham University Center at the Modesto Maidique Campus of FIU (107th ave and SW 8th in Miami). There are two parking garages very close. Click link for directions.


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Success for Students at 2010 Seconday SECME Olympiad

On Saturday April 10, 2010, over 275 students from Palm Beach County Secondary schools participated in the Secondary SECME (Science, Engineering, Communication, Mathematics, Enrichment) Olympiad hosted by Santaluces High School. Students participated in a variety of competitions which included banners, brain bowl, bridges, essays, mousetrap cars, posters, and water rockets.

The 2010 overall district champions for both High School and Middle School are:

High School:
• 1st Place Overall – Suncoast High School
• 2nd Place Overall – Seminole Ridge Community High School
• 3rd Place Overall – Boca Raton High School
• Honorable Mention Overall – Royal Palm Beach High School

Seminole SECME wins silver!

Seminole SECME won five trophies in the 2010 Palm Beach SECME regional Olympiad! We were awarded the 3rd place trophy, mousetrap car competition + 2nd place trophy, banner competition + 2nd place trophy, poster competition + 2nd place trophy, brain bowl competition =
2nd place overall Olympiads in the district!

Dr. Lynee McGee, principal of Seminole Ridge High School, and Erich Landstrom and Ed Batchelor, school SECME coordiators, are soaring on the Hawks awesome achievements!

Seminole Ridge SECME at the 2010 engineering Olympiad for the School District of Palm Beach County

Football practice
The object of VEX Clean Sweep is to attain a higher score than your opponent's alliance by moving as many balls as possible onto their side of the field and by "locking up" small balls in the triangular goals.
VEX Robotics
Students, with guidance from their teachers and mentors aim to build the most innovative robots possible and work together to obtain the most points possible. In addition to just having a great time and building amazing robots, through their participation in the VEX Robotics Competition and their work within their team, students learn many academic and life skills.

POSTER: Students create posters based on the Olympiad's theme.
• Third Place: Forest Hill
• Second Place: Seminole Ridge
• First Place: Suncoast
Senior Shelby Weininger with poster

Poster, 2nd place: Cindy Dosch (left) and Shelby Weininger (right)

MOUSETRAP CAR: Students build cars that are propelled by the spring of a mousetrap. All teams must have a mousetrap car (constructed and running), design drawing blueprint of mousetrap vehicle (MTV), technical report on MTV construction and operations. A combination of the scores from the race, the report, and the drawing is used to determine the winner.
• Third Place: Seminole Ridge - Silver
• Second Place: Boca Raton – Roaring Cats
• First Place: Suncoast – Exponential Engineers

Juniors AJ Fandrey (left) and Ryan Hamilton (right) in MTV competition

Junior Ryan Hamilton

Junior AJ Fandrey in MTV competition

WATER ROCKET: Students build a model rocket around a standard 2 liter soda bottle. All teams must have: rocket (constructed and launch-ready); design drawing blueprint of rocket; technical report on rocket; and mission patch design. At the Olympiad, rockets will be "fueled" with 355 milliliters of water and 60 PSI of air pressure. The rocket with the greatest combined "hang time" airborne and score will be declared the winner.
Seniors Carlos Monesar and Kate Woodbury with Mr. Chris Garrett from Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne

Juniors Brian Bartles and Cindy Dosch with Mr. Chris Garrett from Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne

BRAIN BOWL: Students compete against the clock and each other in a quiz show style contest filled with science and math questions.
• Third Place: Suncoast
• Second Place: Seminole Ridge
• First Place: Royal Palm Beach

SECME Olympiad - brain bowl Ralph Regis, Zack Wiggin, Daniel Lowenthal, Robert Botkin


Brain bowl 2nd place: Ralph Regis, Zack Wiggin, Daniel Lowenthal

Seminole SECME's five trophies from the 2010 Olympiad

Seminole SECME - 2nd place Olypiad overall in the county!

GO HAWKS!

2010 Palm Beach County SECME Seconday Olympiad

2010 Palm Beach County SECME Secondary Olympad schedule

Santaluces High map

We are going to meet in the lobby of the Auditorium located on the north side of the school at 8 AM.

Directions from I-95:
· Exit Hypoluxo Blvd. Go West approx. 2 miles to Lawrence Road (you will see the school on the north side of the road),
· turn north on Lawrence Road (light), go to the access road on the north side of the road, turn right,
· go to the second parking lot (student parking lot), park in front of the auditorium.

For more detailed directions, click on http://tinyurl.com/SeminoleRidgeHigh to Mapquest from Seminole Ridge High to Santaluces High School, 6880 Lawrence Road, Lantana, Fl.

The credit goes to the Hawks in the arena!

Congratulations to the inaugural National Science Bowl team from Seminole Ridge High. SECME students Kayleigh Previte, Ralph Regis, Zack Wiggin, and Robert Botkin drove down to Miami to compete in the regional match of the US Department of Energy NSB!


We lost in overtime on a technical foul -- our team's captain buzzed in fastest on the tossup question but responded to the question without first being recognized by the judge, so the team from Ft. Myers got the win from penalty points. The regional was double elimination. In the next match, the team from Plantation had, in the words of Zack, "ninja-fast reflexes." We knew the answers, but the other team beat us to the buzzer. If only we had had one more practice round to familiarize ourselves with the lock-out buzzer system.

Let's see: this is a simple tool to measure your reaction time with. The median reaction time is 215 milliseconds so far.

THE GOOD NEWS: Paeans of praise
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
- Theodore Roosevelt, "Man in the Arena" Speech given April 23, 1910
26th president of US (1858 - 1919)

THE BAD NEWS: We still lost.


THE OTHER GOOD NEWS: Just wait until the Brain Bowl at SECME Regionals on April 10th.

The U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl encourages high school students to excel in math and science. By raising the visibility of academic achievement in math and science, the program has succeeded in placing young people on par with their peers who excel in athletics. The Science Bowl is a fast-paced, exciting, and challenging competition.

DOE has partnered with SHPE and AHETEMS to bring this enriching competition to Hispanic serving areas across the country. The SHPE Regional Science Bowls engage Hispanic middle school and high school students in an enriching, challenging and competitive environment to motivate and heighten their interest in math and science. The competition is an intense and fun "Jeopardy"-style round-robin session preceding a double-elimination tournament. Teams, composed of four competitors and an alternate, are challenged to answer a range of multiple-choice and short answer questions in math, chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, earth science and general science.

The winning team - participants and coach - from the SHPE Regional Science Bowls receives an invitation consisting of a complementary 4-day trip, to compete at the U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl, hosted in Washington DC.

As SHPE and AHETEMS continue to serve the needs of the Hispanic community and be a resource for the educational advancement and sucees of Latino youth, teams participating in the SHPE-sponsored Regional Science Bowls should strive to have at least 50% Hispanic participation (2-of-4, or 3-of-5). By increasing access to this competition, SHPE hopes to help inspire Hispanic youth see science, math and engineering as an exciting, challenging and fun career with lots of opportunties

Regional Science Bowl on Saturday

Dear coaches,

I have talked to many of you over the phone about different aspects of tomorrow's Regional Science Bowl and figured I'd give you a bit of a last minute update. As you know I'm one of the coordinators for the Department of Energy's Science Bowl in South Florida which this year promises to be more exciting than ever!

As for logistics:

The competition will take place at the FIU Engineering Center (NOT the FIU main campus). We're located just a few blocks north of the University's main campus. Address is as follows:

10555 W. Flagler St.
Miami, FL 33174
(located at the corner of 107th Ave and W. Flagler St.)
There'll be signs and people directing you where to go once you arrive.

Registration for the event will begin at 7:00 am on the first floor of the building. Please know that we expect the competition to begin by 8:00 am. If you have not checked in with us on the first floor, you will not be allowed to compete. There will also be no additional team registration the day of the competition. If there are any changes or additional registration that you need done, please let me know today! Thanks!

Please remember to bring a check for $40 per team made out to AHETEMS with you to registration. A light breakfast and lunch will be provided. Thank you!

Thanks again for your attention to all of these matters and I look forward to meeting you and your teams tomorrow morning!

Juan B. Rodriguez
NASA WaterSCAPES University Research Center
10555 W. Flagler St. EC-2330
Miami, FL 33174
(305) 348-0074
http://web.eng.fiu.edu/waterscapes

Test Your Science Knowledge
Here are some sample questions in the categories of Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Computer, Earth Science, General Science, Mathematics and Physics.

• Round 1
  


• Round 2
  


• Round 3
  


• Round 4
  
  
• Round 5
  


• Round 6
  


• Round 7
  


• Round 8
  


• Round 9
  


• Round 10
  


• Round 11
  


• Round 12
  


• Round 13
  


• Round 14
  


• Round 15
  


• Round 16
  

Sample Science Bowl Questions

The Department of Energy's National Science Bowl® is a highly publicized academic competition among teams of high school students who answer questions on scientific topics in astronomy, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, earth, computer and general science. The teams are comprised of five students and a teacher who serves as an advisor and coach. The competition consists of a round robin followed by a double elimination final. The questions are multiple choice and short answer in the categories of chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics, astronomy, and general, earth, and computer science.

Prizes are awarded to the top teams, and the winning team is invited to participate in the National Science Bowl. The NSB web site provides information for students, coaches, and volunteers.


Test Your Science Knowledge
Here are some sample questions in the categories of Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Computer, Earth Science, General Science, Mathematics and Physics.
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3

Find Someone Who... Knows Earth Science

Mrs. Tracy Trimpe uses Daily Science Trivia as a quick class starter activity. I adapted her materials as an icebreaker. The goal of a "Find Someone Who..." activity is to meet and talk to as many people as possible within the time limit in order to put one name and an answer by each of the questions.

Click here to download a PDF copy of
Find Someone Who... Knows Earth Science used at opening of the 2009 STEMinar at Seminole Ridge.

Click here for the answer key.

Seminole SECME Results for 2008 SECME Palm Beach District Olympiad

Science, Engineering, Communication, Mathematics and Enrichment (SECME) students at Seminole Ridge High School competed in the 2008 Palm Beach County School District Olympiad on March 29, returning with several honors:

• In the category of Balsawood Bridge Building, Liz Camp and Vicki Glass’s structure held 68 pounds before breaking.

• In the category of Water Bottle Rocket, Nick Moore’s and T.J. Gipe’s rocket was airborne for 7.8 seconds.

• In the category of Brain Bowl, the Hawks fell to second-place winners Forest Hill High School.

• Kelsey Chase (essay) and Kaitlin Kilpatrick (poster) earned honors for submissions on the theme “Lighting the Torch to Empower Future Leaders.”

SECME coaches Erich Landstrom and Alison Baird thank the team for a great job.