Scioly.org

sewforlife wrote:

soobsession wrote:if theyre going to only allow a field guide, im going to be very mad.

but I would have to say relying on ONLY a binder is very weak, and most of the time doesn't allow for a lot of studying for this many species and information. We'll just have to make do with what they allow.

Anyone who takes the time to make a truly fantastic binder will not be relying on it alone. The sort of people who would only rely on their binder are the same people who would only rely on their field guide. Making an excellent binder requires well over 100 work hours. If you put that much time into your binder, you are really studying at the same time. To make an excellent binder means that you need to know what your doing, and making a good binder in the process leads to you knowing what your doing. Making a good binder is studying, I stand by that.

Deeisenberg wrote:

sewforlife wrote:

soobsession wrote:if theyre going to only allow a field guide, im going to be very mad.

but I would have to say relying on ONLY a binder is very weak, and most of the time doesn't allow for a lot of studying for this many species and information. We'll just have to make do with what they allow.

Anyone who takes the time to make a truly fantastic binder will not be relying on it alone. The sort of people who would only rely on their binder are the same people who would only rely on their field guide. Making an excellent binder requires well over 100 work hours. If you put that much time into your binder, you are really studying at the same time. To make an excellent binder means that you need to know what your doing, and making a good binder in the process leads to you knowing what your doing. Making a good binder is studying, I stand by that.

you can say that again. sew: in all honesty, i used my binder like twice during competition...

If we're allowed both a field guide and a binder, I think the teams that succeed at this will be the ones that can correctly balance the use of both resources. If you lean too heavily on one over the other, I don't think you'll do as well. One of the most difficult things would be finding the right information to put in the binder, so as to have as much information as possible, but not so much that finding the right fact is hard.

Celeste wrote:If we're allowed both a field guide and a binder, I think the teams that succeed at this will be the ones that can correctly balance the use of both resources. If you lean too heavily on one over the other, I don't think you'll do as well. One of the most difficult things would be finding the right information to put in the binder, so as to have as much information as possible, but not so much that finding the right fact is hard.

Honestly I completely disagree. If you truly make a magnificent binder, it should have ALL of the useful information from all available field guide resources. This can then be condensed to the point where the field guide is really no longer very useful. For instance in Fossils this 08-09, as well as in Herpetology 07-08, we really didn't use our field guides at all, in herpetology I doubt we used it once, despite this we came in 2nd and 1st respectively at Nationals. We did on occasion use the field guide for herpetology, but that was only because it we put a quick reference sheet for fossil ranges on the cover.

Note: I am not bringing up our placings for the purpose of bragging, I actually really hate it when people do that. The only reason I mention it is because it is a clear example that supports my point against the statement that "I think the teams that succeed at this will be the ones that can correctly balance the use of both resources".

I would like to point out that the removal of binders from events is not unprecedented and in fact has been a general trend. For instance I believe that dynamic planet used to allow a binder but that this has recently been changed.

However, I agree with deeisenburg that binders should be allowed. My arguments for this are virtually all the same as deeisenburg's so there isn't much point reiterating them.

Eh. There's no use arguing over binders and field guides; whatever the rules are, will be the rules, can't change that. But, isn't that part of the challenge? My mindset is that if it works for you, keep it. If you feel like you're doing well equally relying on a field guide and a binder then all the power to you, same goes for the more binder heavy and guide heavy people too.

I agree with dudeincolorado i think even having a field guide would be a priviledge

This is my first time doing Science Olympiad, so I was wondering how you're organizing the information. I did it by having each bird, their classification, length, weight, wingspan, other common names, basic description, breeding, migrating and wintering, population, food habits, and the basic ways to identify them. Should I add anything more, or is this ok? Thanks!

The Official List has come out now. Here's the link: http://soinc.org/sites/default/files/up ... -16-09.pdf sorry if it's late

Does anyone know of a really good teaching manual??