Re: Crime Busters B
Posted: April 1st, 2013, 4:37 pm
Ouch. Getting thrown in at this point in the season is difficult. Do what you can. I'm sure your kids appreciate the effort!
I'd send you one of several tests I have, but they're all long packets that I admittedly don't want to scan all of the pages for. If I can condense one of them down to a reasonable sample, I might be able to send another sample your way.
Before I address your individual points, there is a fair bit of information available on the National site CB notes page you linked. Your team can be successful working just from that assuming your team already has most of the samples (powders, plastics, hairs, fibers, liquids, et cetera).
1. Everything your kids need to know is listed in the rules (section 3 or later...I don't have them in front of me now to direct you where specifically). See how their ID is. If I recall, there are more powder mixtures at State competitions than at Regionals. Failure to adequately ID powders is fatal to their score, so I would assess them on that for sure while checking the other areas like fibers and plastics. Where to focus your attention should in part be a result of their performance thus far. Get feedback from the event coach or your team's coach.
2. At the minimum, I would know how to identify them, in what they are found or used in, and with whom they are found, for sure. The most common example is bakers use flour and salt. Get a bit more sophisticated than that if you can. I'd reserve the different plastics, for example, for the cheat sheet if you have the space for it.
Again, the main thing here is ID (check the scoring section, maybe section 5, for how that goes). At Regionals, good powder ID is often times medaling. The bar is a bit higher at State, but it's do-able with good practice and a little talent.
3. Your students ideally would practice writing in the same conclusion style as opposed to flip-flopping. There is no single accepted format; the recommendations are bullet points or an essay. The latter is better, but some teams tend to ramble making it more ineffective practically.
Length is a nonissue so long as the content is all there. One tip I can hand you now is all good supervisors--and I expect your State supervisor to be one--will credit teams for conclusions they themselves did not intend if they are sound with the data (and the data is correct, of course...erroneous ID will not be credited, and neither will write-ups based on it). Another general tip, that may be a given, is your kids should have a dedicated powder person and someone who starts the chromatography and works on the 'other stuff'. They can collaborate, but dividing the work is almost essential in the interest of finishing and cleaning up in fifty minutes.
Feel free to ask follow-up questions. There are many folks here more than willing to help!
I'd send you one of several tests I have, but they're all long packets that I admittedly don't want to scan all of the pages for. If I can condense one of them down to a reasonable sample, I might be able to send another sample your way.
Before I address your individual points, there is a fair bit of information available on the National site CB notes page you linked. Your team can be successful working just from that assuming your team already has most of the samples (powders, plastics, hairs, fibers, liquids, et cetera).
1. Everything your kids need to know is listed in the rules (section 3 or later...I don't have them in front of me now to direct you where specifically). See how their ID is. If I recall, there are more powder mixtures at State competitions than at Regionals. Failure to adequately ID powders is fatal to their score, so I would assess them on that for sure while checking the other areas like fibers and plastics. Where to focus your attention should in part be a result of their performance thus far. Get feedback from the event coach or your team's coach.
2. At the minimum, I would know how to identify them, in what they are found or used in, and with whom they are found, for sure. The most common example is bakers use flour and salt. Get a bit more sophisticated than that if you can. I'd reserve the different plastics, for example, for the cheat sheet if you have the space for it.
Again, the main thing here is ID (check the scoring section, maybe section 5, for how that goes). At Regionals, good powder ID is often times medaling. The bar is a bit higher at State, but it's do-able with good practice and a little talent.
3. Your students ideally would practice writing in the same conclusion style as opposed to flip-flopping. There is no single accepted format; the recommendations are bullet points or an essay. The latter is better, but some teams tend to ramble making it more ineffective practically.
Length is a nonissue so long as the content is all there. One tip I can hand you now is all good supervisors--and I expect your State supervisor to be one--will credit teams for conclusions they themselves did not intend if they are sound with the data (and the data is correct, of course...erroneous ID will not be credited, and neither will write-ups based on it). Another general tip, that may be a given, is your kids should have a dedicated powder person and someone who starts the chromatography and works on the 'other stuff'. They can collaborate, but dividing the work is almost essential in the interest of finishing and cleaning up in fifty minutes.
Feel free to ask follow-up questions. There are many folks here more than willing to help!
