Event format: Test or Stations?

[Aia]

In several months, I will have the opportunity to run several events for a B division invitational at my old school. The events I will be proctoring can be run in either a test or station format. Which have people preferred in the past?

Personally, I think timed stations make an event more difficult, but a test is much easier to just hand out. Any thoughts?

EDIT: Can a moderator please move this to the academics forum? I lost track on which forum I was on- sorry about that.

[andrewwski]

Stations are more fun if they're hands on...but they can be a lot more stressful. Timewise, there's a lot of stations you may not finish, but others you have extra time. I prefer one large test block in that respect, although if you can still incorporate some hands on portion that is good. That is dependent on the event though...if there are no hands on portions, it won't be useful.

[Pleiades]

I think it really depends on the event. I myself prefer tests over stations. Some events such as amphibians and reptiles, fossils, crave the wave, and other lab events are better ran with stations. Events such as meteorology, reach for the stars, and dynamic planet are better with tests. another idea could be to have stations but not timed. That is how the amphibians and reptiles test was ran at my state. there were about 17 stations and you could go to whatever station you wanted whenever you wanted.

[Aia]

The events I'll be running are Disease Detectives and Anatomy- DD would probably work better as a test, but Anatomy can really go either way.

[rocketman1555]

i would do DD as a test, and anatomy can be stations if you have the right things to run stations with

[dudeincolorado]

In general I prefer stations simply because I don't like the idea of having something that could be your bio test placed in front of you. In my opinion stations while they are more work to organize are defiantly more fun then a test, they test your knowledge AND speed.

If you are thinking of doing stations consider a slide show test make like 10 slides and give 5 min per slide its easy, saves paper, doesn't require any "anatomy" materials (pickled heart anyone?) just the internet, and there is no way of a team looking ahead.

[binary010101]

In general, I think that stations are better. Just don't make it so that the entire test is theory that one could do without actually doing the experiments.

If you did Crave the Wave last year for PA States, you'd know what I meant.

[Flavorflav]

The big reason to do stations is limited materials, such as anatomical models for Anatomy, or just to save on color pictures. There is no reason to run disease as stations. I personally hate events run as slideshows, since the viewing perspectives are not usually equal - kids in the back or off to the side may be at a serious disadvantage.

[Untrained_Doctor1]

In my opinion anatomy should be stations but a test would work and from what ive head disease is usually a test
I feel stations are a lot better because i really seperates teams and keeps them on their feet, sure it's not easy on the participant but your the event supervisor. Stations also prevents many ties but its you call whatever you think fits best and is easy for you

[andrewwski]

In general I prefer stations simply because I don't like the idea of having something that could be your bio test placed in front of you. In my opinion stations while they are more work to organize are defiantly more fun then a test, they test your knowledge AND speed.

If you are thinking of doing stations consider a slide show test make like 10 slides and give 5 min per slide its easy, saves paper, doesn't require any "anatomy" materials (pickled heart anyone?) just the internet, and there is no way of a team looking ahead.

No, don't give a test with the questions only on an overhead or slide show. At minimum give the teams a paper copy when it's time for that section. Or else you're favoring people with better views of the screen.