Science Day at PSU

2022 Science Day Results 

2022 Biology Bowl Results
2022 Chemistry Capers Results 
2022 Physics Frolics Results 
2022 Science Day Results

Next Science Day: April 13, 2023
Science Day 2024: April 11, 2024

April 14, 2022

Register for Science Day at PSU

Rules are subject to change for Science Day 2023.

Biology Bowl

Rules and Guidelines

TRIVIA BOWL

1. Each school may enter only one team in the Trivia Competition. Each team may have 1-4 members. A team may continue to compete throughout the day, as long as there is one member present for each round.
2. The trivia competition will consist of 3 one-hour rounds. Each round will have 2 20-minute sessions. Questions will be projected on each of two big screens in the Crimson and Gold Ballroom in the Overman Student Center.
3. Each one-hour round will have no more than 7 teams. The 2 highest scoring teams will move on to the final. There will be 3 preliminary rounds of competition; there will be a max of 7 teams per round.
4. There will be two types of questions: toss-up questions and bonus questions.
5. To kick off the round, toss-up questions will be asked first and every team will have an opportunity to answer. Following the answers for the toss-up question, a bonus question will then be asked. Only teams correctly answering the toss-up question may answer the bonus question.
6. All questions will be projected onto the dual screens and teams will have 30 seconds to write the answer on their whiteboard. When timer #2 states “time”, all teams shall hold their whiteboard up towards the reader/judge. Scoring judges will visually confirm correct/incorrect answers. Teams having the correct answers will receive 1 point. Teams with incorrect answers will receive 0 points.
7. A bonus question will then be asked and only teams that answered the toss-up question correctly may answer the bonus question. Teams answering correctly will receive 1 point. Teams with incorrect answers will receive 0 points.
8. The Q&A session will continue for 20 minutes until timer #1 announces the end of the 20 minute round. After a brief recess to summarize point standings, the second 20-minute session will begin in a similar fashion to the first. Following the conclusion of each one- hour session, the 2 highest scoring teams will be announced and preparations will be made for the next hour session.
9. There may be audience members who shall be seated behind the teams in audience seating chairs. Audience members shall not carry or use materials for note-taking or tape recording during the trivia sessions. They shall strive to remain quiet during the competition and may be asked to leave the room if deemed a distraction.
10. All teams and audience members are expected to be courteous of their opponents and show good sportsmanship. Inappropriate behavior will be determined by the judge and may result in the team being disqualified. This is a single elimination trivia competition. Only the top 2 teams from each of 3 one-hour rounds advance to the final one-hour round.
11. The final round will take place in a similar fashion to the first 3 rounds. At the conclusion, the top 3 scoring teams will be announced and participating team members will confirm their names for medal inscription.

Entries – A school may enter as many students in each test category as time permits for competition. Any student may enter any number of written test competitions, as scheduling of exams permits (see below).
Tests – Two written tests and two practical exams will be offered, but some will run concurrently.
Written Exams: General Biology and Anatomy & Physiology
You must be registered to take a written exam or exams. Students who are not registered for the specific exams will not be allowed to take those exams. The General Biology and Anatomy & Physiology tests will consist of 55 multiple choice questions. Students will have 50 minutes to complete the exam. Students may take as many exams as they signed up to take. Students are asked to show up on time, as once seats are filled, they will be asked to wait until the next time slot to begin. The tests will be scored for the number of correct answers for the first 50 questions; unanswered questions will be considered incorrect. In the case of a tie, the last 5 questions will be selected as tie breakers, with the student missing the least number among the last 5 questions winning the tie breaker. The three students with the most correct answers will be awarded medals. Monitors will oversee and time the written exams. Contestants must stop work immediately when the end of the allotted time is announced or they will be disqualified by the monitors, whose decisions are final. If a student finishes the test(s) before the allotted time, they may quietly leave the room. Students are not allowed to take any form of the test out of the room nor can tests be retrieved after the competition. Personal belongings must be left below their chair. Scantrons will be used to record answers; they will serve as the official scoresheets. Please be sure to ask students to clearly print their name, their high school, and the test being taken on the Scantron. Please ask students to properly fill in the bubble on the Scantron. This is to make sure that the test results can be recorded properly and awards will be handed out correctly.

Practical Exams: Wildlife ID Quiz and Sounds of Wildlife/Nature
Wildlife Identification– Test your wildlife identification skills! Participants will view a variety of identifiable materials such as tracks, signs of mammals and birds, pelts, and skulls. Students must make a species identification by writing their answer on the answer sheet provided in the session. Correct responses may be common names but must be specific enough to indicate individual species. The winner of the event will be the participant who has the highest number of accurate responses. Top 3 scores will receive a medal.
Sounds of Wildlife/Nature – Expand your biological knowledge by competing in a quiz on natural sounds made by birds, frogs, mammals, reptiles, and insects. Participants will hear representative samples of tape-recorded animal sounds. Students must make a species identification by writing their answer on the answer sheet provided in the session. Correct responses may be common names but must be specific enough to indicate individual species. The winner of the event will be the participant who has the highest number of accurate responses. Top 3 scores will receive medals.


All awards will be mailed to the respective schools. Results will be posted on the PSU Science
Day website.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

Cadaver Tours – Dr. Neal Schmidt and student assistants will conduct human cadaver laboratory demonstrations by reservation only. These tours will be performed in two rooms, in 30-minute intervals, and a maximum of 20 people per demonstration will be allowed. To reserve a cadaver demonstration, please indicate your preference on the Biology Bowl Registration form along with the number of people who will be attending the tour. These will fill on a first-come, first-serve basis. Groups must be accompanied by their sponsors and will meet 10 minutes prior to their reserved time in the 2nd floor lobby of Heckert-Wells Hall.

Chemistry Capers Rules

Competitions are divided into First Year and Second Year Students. The competitions begin by first administering Individual examinations for both years. The Individual exams consist of 30-40 multiple choice questions along with an essay-type tie breaker question. The Individual competitions are allotted a maximum time of 50 minutes. After this period the examinations are graded and the top three winners from each year are decided based on scores on the multiple choice questions and the answers to the tie breaker questions, if necessary.

Following the Individual examination period, teams from both years are administered Team exams, each consisting of two questions with multiple sections. The questions are not multiple choice style and individuals from each team collaborate in solving these questions. The tests are timed and scores are based on accuracy and speed of delivery. Teams consist of 3 students or less.

Teams will compete as entered. In the event of a missing team member, a registered alternate may be substituted. Please also note that members of teams are automatically expected to enter in the Individual competitions.

Students should bring 2-3 #2 pencils or equivalent and a calculator. Graphing calculators are allowed. 

The top 10 in each category will be posted to the PSU Chemistry website and on the Science Day website. Trophies will be available by 2:00pm for pickup at the Chemistry Office in Heckert-Wells and name plates will be mailed to the schools after engraving is complete.

Physics Frolics Events

Mousetrap Car

The purpose of this competition is to build a car whose only source of power is a standard mousetrap.  Typical mousetrap cars are built using a metallic wire extension of the trap with a string attached and then wrapped around the axle of the car.  The mouse trap car can be built of any materials, however, make certain that the only source of power is the mouse trap itself. 

In addition, the following rules apply:

1. The mousetrap is the only source of power (not those larger traps).  Fishing rods, rubber bands, and other materials that stretch or bend may not be used in combination with the mouse trap.  These are additional sources of stored energy (they’re essentially springs).

2. The mousetrap may not be used as a catapult to project a car down the hallway.

3. The cars will run in a hallway approximately 2.5 meters wide, thus straight travel is important.

4. Winners will be judged according to the maximum distance traveled.

5. Each car may be built by an individual or by a team consisting of 2 people.

Physics Face-Off    (1 team per school, max 4 people per team)

NEW: No graphing or programmable calculators are allowed!

No cell phones or iPads are allowed!

Participants must have pencils with them.

This is a straight-forward competition in which teams of four students each work to solve a set of physics questions and problems within a specified time limit.  Your equipment will include high-tech, state-of-the-art pencil and paper, which will be provided.  In addition, each participant may bring a non-programmable and non-graphing calculator with them. 

Paper Tower  (Limited to 3 teams per school, max 2 people per team)

The objective of this competition is to build a free-standing tower of maximum height using a single sheet of 8.5" by 11" photocopier paper and one 50 cm strip of tape.  No other materials may be used.  Participants will be required to construct their tower at PSU during the timed competition.  The paper and tape will be provided, as well as scissors and a ruler.  It is recommended that students develop a tower design and practice building it prior to the competition.  The paper may be cut or folded into any shape, and the tape used to fasten any parts of the tower together. 

1. The tower must be free-standing—it may not be attached to the floor, ceiling, or any other object.

2. A tower will be declared free-standing if it remains self-supporting for more than 10 seconds.

3. Height is determined by measuring the perpendicular distance from the highest point on the tower to the supporting surface. 

4. Each tower may be built by an individual or by a team consisting of 2 people. 

 Earth and Space Science Events

Astronomical Shuffle

Participants must have pencils with them.
The purpose of this competition is to foster a recognition and appreciation for the astronomical bodies in the Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy, and Universe.  The rules are pretty basic: a set of slides will be shown.  The participant will decide what it is that is being shown.  A form will be provided for answers.  One point will be awarded for each correct answer.  This competition is for individuals only, although each school may enter as many students as it wishes. Come and see the celestial bodies!

Mars Colony Competition

In this competition, students will build a model of a colony on Mars that could sustain human life.  Your model should include as many components as are necessary for a human colony to live on the Red Planet.  Your design will have to consider the various environmental conditions on Mars, such as temperatures, climate, availability of resources (food, water, oxygen), gravity, etc.  Entries will be judged on uniqueness of design, completeness of design, efficiency of design, and feasibility of design.  The model must be self-explanatory, thus entries must have each component of the model labeled indicating the purpose of the component.  Each entry may be built by an individual or by teams consisting of 4 people or fewer.

Rock Recognition

Participants must have pencils with them.
This competition is designed to promote rock and mineral identification and classification according to attributes such as number of cleavage planes, luster, hardness, texture, clast size, intrusive, extrusive, and so on.  This competition is for individuals only, although each school may enter as many students as it would like.  You don’t have to be a rock hound to enjoy this one—come out and poke through our collection.

Physics Frolics and Earth and Space Science overall competition winners

Total scores are calculated by taking the rank of the top placer from each school as the school’s score for that event.  If a school does not participate in an event, then they are given a score that is equal to the lowest participant score plus ten for that event.  The scores are then totaled and the schools with the lowest point totals win the overall competitions.

Competition Results 

Planning Committee And Contact 

Sponsor - PSU Biology Club

Organizing Faculty/Staff
Dr. Peter Chung, Biology

Supporting Departments

Biology Department
Chemistry Department
Physics Department

Contact
pchung@pittstate.edu