Writers of this event must give a topic/question to competitors that says what the experiment should be trying to discover, but not necessarily how that experiment should be performed. If the experiment performed by a team is really, completely off the given topic, there could be grounds for a so-ca...

This year, it says that the parade of states is contributing to the decision of who wins the spirit award. It seems easier to show spirit (and maybe a theme) with more than two people. That's just my guess.

Economic: -3.25
Social: -4.82

I apologize if I'm overlooking something, but all I see is where she said that 2009 B and C had the same topic. As far as I know, the same test has not been used for both B and C at nationals.

I see no place where it was mentioned that both B and C divisions had the same test, and at nationals, the same test wasn't used for both divisions. And, even if the same test was used for both divisions, what would be so terrible? Considering that the supervisors at nationals (and at my state compe...

Usually only a couple minutes. At nationals...longer. We had the same problem as eta, it took us a lot longer than usual to come up with a way to measure it in numbers.

Does anyone have any idea exactly what Wind Power will be? On one hand, I think it will be just like Physics Lab from this past year, because it's not bolded on the tentative events list, but on the other hand, the trial event rules (from 2004) describe it as an on-site fan building event.

The problem wasn't that paper wasn't distributed evenly to teams...it was that there was not enough room in the designated spots on the paper that they gave us. Even then, that wasn't too big of a problem, because the back could be used. The bigger problem was that there were multiple things on the ...

Pretty self explanatory...at what levels of competition have you medaled?

I saw one or two planes come within about 10 feet from the top, but no closer than that. And Eta, really sucks about the plane. Congratulations on your other medals, and it was great meeting you!

We wound up getting 17th, which is fine, but I have to say that that test was not good. They gave us a jar of iodine and 5 snack foods, and we watched the snack foods change color. On paper this sounds ok, but it was not. They gave us peanuts as a snack food, and one person who had an allergy was fo...

Got to the dorm about an hour ago...should be good.

I really have no interest in monopolizing this thread with a long and pointless argument, so I'll just make one more recommendation: Do not get hung up on deciding what experiment to perform. As long as it clearly follows the specified topic, you should be fine. For B division especially, it is alwa...

Creativity should not have to be involved in choosing an experiment. The writer of the test probably had something specific in mind, and that experiment will not involve creativity. It really doesn't make sense to be creative in Experimental Design. The rubric basically tells you what to write, and ...

If you can't think of a simple experiment within a few minutes at MOST, then you need some serious practice coming up with experiments. There is absolutely no reason to "brainstorm" and be creative to come up with an experiment. I'm sure that it's detrimental to spend valuable minutes tryi...