It’s time for April insanity, baby. That’s right, it’s time for the Science Olympiad. This time we’ll stop in Fargo, where competitors from all across the great state of North Dakota scienced it up on the NDSU campus.
note the greenandbluemobile in the background
There were a ton of activities With everything from anatomy to astronomy, and ecology to robots, there was something for just about everyone.
I spent most of the day in optics. Let’s start there.
You think that you can set up mirrors to bounce a laser to a tiny target in one shot in under 4 minutes
Competitors had to set up mirrors to direct a laser to a target using only their wits, rulers and protractors. Only when they were done was the laser shined through the designated port to see if their alignments were true.
Bullseye! And the winner beat them by doing a little worse here but acing the written test
On top of the activity, there was a test. It’s been 30 years since I took physics, so I would have done poorly. These middle and high schoolers were given college level questions on reflection, refraction, concave and convex mirrors, lenses and magnification.
I also took a break to see a few other activities.
Designing, evaluating and testing gliders. Aerodynamics, baby
Congratulations to the winners. Everybody be proud.
Look, teenagers don’t always play video games. Sometimes they do great stuff. Let’s keep trying to leave them a world to live in and resources to do great work.
Signing off from another unbelievable Science Olympiad. Thanks for visiting
On the way home, I couldn’t help but think that the tremendously talented middle and high school geeks that I encountered could use an inspiring and uplifting drinking song. How bout some Chumbawamba?
