ESO IN THE CLASSROOM: Event Archive

  ESO 1998
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What is ESO?

ESO in the
    Classroom

Events
   Barge Building
   Boggle Science
   Bridging the Gap
   Categories
   Cranium Command
   Crash Landing
   Food for Thought
   Grab a Gram
   Mystery Architecture
   Pastamobile
   Reflection Relay
   Weather or Not
   What Are You Trying
    To Tell Me?
   Which Way's North?
   Write It, Do It


Study Sites

ESO at JHS

SO Links

The Flip Side

What Are You Trying To Tell Me?
An Elementary Science Olympiad at Jacksonville High School Adaptation

Description
Scientists communicate their findings in many ways: in writing, through graphs and illustrations, verbally, and mathematically. Participants in this event will interpret the "message" being sent for each subject presented.

Number of Participants / Approximate Time
Up to 2 / 50 minutes

The Competition
Students will observe or read about a scientific phenomena which could be displayed in the form of a chart, graph, data table, video, live demonstration, or photographic display. Students will answer questions relating to possible qualitative or quantitative interpretations of the situation. Samples of possible tasks include:
1. Given a set of numbers, students should be able to plot the data on a graph and answer specific questions related to the data.
2. Given a pictoral or graphical representation of some data, students should be able to interpret and explain the meaning of the representation.
3. Students should be able to select which, if any, of several possible explanations given could account for observations made from a graph, chart, or other pictoral representation.
Example: On a weather map, a student may be asked to determine the temperature of a given city on a given day. The response must be in the correct range.

Scoring
Each specific question is worth one point. Each completed graph is worth up to five points. Questions that require explanation to report the proper interpretation are worth up to ten points. 75% of the items will be taken for readily available mass media sources such as popular magazines, local and national newspapers, popular World Wide Web sites, and other well-known sources of raw and collected data.

  
Copyright 1997, David Peters, ESO at JHS.
Florida State University / Jacksonville High School, 1997.