Crime Busters

Crime Busters is a skills-oriented chemistry event in Science Olympiad.  Students are given a scenario and evidence collected at the scene of the (non-violent) crime.  They analyze the clues in order to solve the crime.  You can see a good description of the event at  Crime Busters on SciOly, a student wiki for Science Olympiad for exchanging tips and resources.  Note that gypsum is plaster of Paris and calcium carbonate is chalk.

Half the points are earned in the analysis portion in which students need to identify an unknown powdered solid, a liquid, and a metal.


These are pictures from the powdered solid analysis.  What you see are 11 of the 13 possibilities that I actually had around my house, even acetic acid (being a bread baker.)  Sand (go figure) and sodium acetate were the only two I did not have.

Other things you need are Lugol's iodine (not alcohol-based like the stuff at the pharmacy) hydrochloric acid (HCl), and pH paper, all available along with acetic acid from Home Training Tools.  They include instructions to make a 3M HCl solution.  You may want to get a brown glass bottle to store it in as well, and a 10 ml graduated cylinder to measure it out (though not necessary.)

The coolest reaction: vitamin C (acetic acid) turns iodine from brown to completely clear.

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...

Journey North Mystery Class 2012 Begins

Journey North: Mystery Class began yesterday for anyone interested.  This is an excellent project-based science and math study.  I have not decided if I am going to be participating this year because of all the time spent preparing for Science Olympiad.  Our competition is in March, before the equinox, so we may have time to jump in then!

Science Olympiad

 

This may very well affirm that I am crazy, but getting involved with Science Olympiad is a great project.  Several families in our co-op have decided to put together a Level B (middle school) team.

This is the first year that Science Olympiad has instituted rules specifically aimed to restrict homeschoolers (because we are so nefarious.)  Teams must be composed of students that live in the same or adjacent counties, and cannot be from different states.  This last provision is what is preventing our team from being a full participant this year.  Our co-op, now in its third year, has a family from an adjacent county but in another state (here in New England our states are very close.)  The national office gave an emphatic NO to this arrangement.

The Massachusetts coordinator, thank goodness, has been as accommodating as he can.  He is allowing us to participate as an alternate team, so we are unable to get an official SO medal should we win an event, but we would be awarded a state ribbon.  That's plenty good enough for us since we are unlikely to win anything anyway our first year.  We also could not advance on to the nationals, but with only 7 students (up to 15 are allowed) we could never compete in enough events to earn enough team points to win.

The Science Olympiad has 23 events divided into 3 categories: study, skill, and building.  Almost all the events allow up to 2 team members that work together on the event.  The "study" events involve knowledge to answer test questions.  The "skill" event has several stations in which both questions need to be answered and skills need to be performed.  The "building" events require contraptions to be made before the competition that are impounded that day until the actual demonstration time.

Our team plans to compete in 5 events.  Crime Busters, Food Science, Road Scholar (all skill events), Mission Possible, and Storm the Castle (both building events).  I will blog more about each even as I chronicle our adventure.

Liebster Award

Eva at Academia Celestia awarded this to me--thank you!  An award for those of use who love to blog because we love the art form, not because we have a lot of followers. Here is the description:

"Liebster is a German word, meaning dearest or beloved, but it can also mean favorite. The idea behind the Liebster Blog Award is that it is given to bloggers who have less than 200 followers in order to create new connections and bring attention to these wonderful blogs!"

Add the award to your blog.

Thank the giver with a link back to them.

List your top 5 picks and let them know they've been given an award by leaving a comment on their blog.

Hope that your followers will spread the love to the blogs you've spotlighted.

I am awarding this to:

• Talking to Myself
• Grace in Loving Chaos
• School for Us
• Beginning with the Assumption

Well, I listed 4...

Refresh! Midwinter Virtual Conference

Homeschool Connections is brightening up those February doldrums with a free virtual conference!  Each talk is on a different night, lasts about an hour, and starts at 8 pm EST.  You can see the schedule here.  While they are free, you do have to register.

You might be interested in Science by Inquiry on February 1st taught by, well, guess who?

Free Recorded Course Access

From now until January 4th get FREE access to my fall Cardiovascular and Respiratory System course at Homeschool Connections.

My next live course on Blood and the Immune System begins January 11th!