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sazhassan wrote:

Slarik wrote:Anyone know how much of the rubric you have to get the points for in order to be competitive (say top 20) at Nationals?(B division)? Does it always come down to tiebreaks? Or is it still good if you only miss a point or two?

At MD regionals we got NO points for our SOC and a half point deducted for my partner not putting units in something (I forget what) but still got first?!

To answer the questions about how to split it up, this probably isn't the best, but I just did everything up to the procedure, my sister started with the stuff after that, and when I finished, I joined her in the analysis and conclusion parts. Our third person was responsible for writing our names and team on each page, drawing the graph, and stuff.

Probably 60/64 of the points... I still need to find out about what we got...
I should email Al Causey right?

I'd ask my coach first, but, yes, you could directly email him.

Slarik wrote:Anyone know how much of the rubric you have to get the points for in order to be competitive (say top 20) at Nationals?(B division)? Does it always come down to tiebreaks? Or is it still good if you only miss a point or two?

At MD regionals we got NO points for our SOC and a half point deducted for my partner not putting units in something (I forget what) but still got first?!

To answer the questions about how to split it up, this probably isn't the best, but I just did everything up to the procedure, my sister started with the stuff after that, and when I finished, I joined her in the analysis and conclusion parts. Our third person was responsible for writing our names and team on each page, drawing the graph, and stuff.

Well, I don't know about nationals b/c I wasn't in experimental design competition team last year, but you would be surprised at the gaps in scores between teams. The key is to create a simple experiment that is easy to understand, not some lengthy, fancy, advanced one. At regionals a couple weeks ago, we were given a bunch of different powders, salts, and tablets, and then hot water, cold water, cups, a ton of stuff. You know what we did? How long does it take for an alka-seltzer tablet to dissolve

I would imagine at nationals it would be much closer between the teams.

queston to u guys..... What does the ruling mean by the levels of indepedent, dependent, and controlled variables. Need answer ASAP.. Thnx

Independent Variable is what you change in your experiment.
Dependent Variable is what is affected by that change.
Controlled Variables do not change.

zyzzyva98 wrote:Independent Variable is what you change in your experiment.
Dependent Variable is what is affected by that change.
Controlled Variables do not change.

and "independent x axis" is an aliteration

hyun314 wrote:queston to u guys..... What does the ruling mean by the levels of indepedent, dependent, and controlled variables. Need answer ASAP.. Thnx

When it says the levels of them, it is asking to what you measured them.
As in:
Our Independent Variable was the hieght of the ramp, measured in cm from the floor to the highest point of the ramp, at 10 cm, 20 cm, and 30 cm.
Our dependant variable was the distance the car traveled, measured in cm, from the bottom end of the ramp to the forward-most point of the car.
Controlled variables include same ramp used, same car used, same surface the car travelled on, same person releasing the car, same measuring device.

The levels means that you list which values you plan on using for your independant variable, and there should be at least three. Make sure that all the values you list there are reflected in your procedure and data tables.
For both DV and IV, you need to describe exactly how you are going to measure the variables, and make sure it matches your procedure.
For controlled variables, just make sure you list at least four.

NY C States - topic was on paper airplanes. Gave us: several paper clips of varying sizes, eraser head, masking tape (could ask for more), several sheets of different types of paper. However, if the experiment wasn't based on a cargo-carrying plane, one would be ranked below all teams that used the cargo principle. I got hit in the face twice from rogue planes, got 9th.

Does anyone know what the National Div C Experimental Design topic from last year was?

EpicFailure wrote:Does anyone know what the National Div C Experimental Design topic from last year was?

It had to do with how different liquids move through materials (based on the BP oil spill). You could test anything to do with the amount of liquid a material could hold or something to do with how a liquid moves through a material. They gave you sand, clay, sugar, and soil, and also water and oil, I believe.

quizbowl wrote:NY C States - topic was on paper airplanes. Gave us: several paper clips of varying sizes, eraser head, masking tape (could ask for more), several sheets of different types of paper. However, if the experiment wasn't based on a cargo-carrying plane, one would be ranked below all teams that used the cargo principle. I got hit in the face twice from rogue planes, got 9th.

That's funny. Our regionals topic was paper airplanes.