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asthedeer wrote:

Sciencegeekgirl wrote:For nationals, does anybody know if it is going to be Stations or a straight Experiment? (Division B)

Also would the best way to prepare just be doing tests and practicing with your team?

Thanks in advance.

I'd say it'd have to be a straight up experiment--I see no possible way Stations are possible in Experimental Design, especially at a Nationals level (I have not done ExD at Nationals before, this is mere speculation.)

There are actually a few states that sometimes use a station format for the event. Basically each station tests you on a different part of the Scientific Method. The very first test here http://scioly.org/wiki/index.php/Test_E ... tal_Design (by me) is an example of the stations format.
But yes, I agree, it is very very unlikely that Nationals will be in the stations format.

Fluorine wrote:

asthedeer wrote:

Sciencegeekgirl wrote:For nationals, does anybody know if it is going to be Stations or a straight Experiment? (Division B)

Also would the best way to prepare just be doing tests and practicing with your team?

Thanks in advance.

I'd say it'd have to be a straight up experiment--I see no possible way Stations are possible in Experimental Design, especially at a Nationals level (I have not done ExD at Nationals before, this is mere speculation.)

Yes, I'd say so. Know the nuances of each of your teammates and know the rubric well.

Last year it was an experiment with a topic. (Pretty sure it was packing efficiency). So yes straight up experiment no Florida state 2016 stuff

Yes, that reminds me--Last year's Nationals topic was packing efficiency where you tried packing crayons and some sort of round object into a fixed container, a glass or something of that sort, according to my teammates who DID participate in ExD at Nationals.

My team does well at regionals and state in ExD, but always does poorly at the national competition. One problem they said they have is that the supervisor doesn't read the full experiment, so this year (2016) they tried writing it in bullet points instead of the essay format (I don't do ExD, so I don't know exactly how this works); but they did even worse than last year (2015). Does anyone know how to get around the problem of the supervisor not reading the whole experiment?

Magikarpmaster629 wrote:My team does well at regionals and state in ExD, but always does poorly at the national competition. One problem they said they have is that the supervisor doesn't read the full experiment, so this year (2016) they tried writing it in bullet points instead of the essay format (I don't do ExD, so I don't know exactly how this works); but they did even worse than last year (2015). Does anyone know how to get around the problem of the supervisor not reading the whole experiment?

In order to make your responses more likely to be read, try to keep them short and still manage to fulfill the requirements of the rubric. A supervisor will be more inclined to read a two sentence research question rather than a long paragraph.

Sensei_Sushi wrote:

Magikarpmaster629 wrote:My team does well at regionals and state in ExD, but always does poorly at the national competition. One problem they said they have is that the supervisor doesn't read the full experiment, so this year (2016) they tried writing it in bullet points instead of the essay format (I don't do ExD, so I don't know exactly how this works); but they did even worse than last year (2015). Does anyone know how to get around the problem of the supervisor not reading the whole experiment?

In order to make your responses more likely to be read, try to keep them short and still manage to fulfill the requirements of the rubric. A supervisor will be more inclined to read a two sentence research question rather than a long paragraph.

The key is to keep responses short and sweet like Sushi said although I would hope the supervisor would be completely reading all of experiments. If the supervisor wasn't completely reading all of your school's experiment I would think they would be doing the same amount of reading on the others, therefore eliminating that potential handicap. What seems more likely to me is that the experiments are graded a lot harsher at Nationals. There might be something your team is doing in their report that is fine at the regional and state level, but with the more competitive atmosphere at Nats doesn't get full credit. I may be completely wrong though as I have never competed at Nats and I am not an event supervisor.

I was talking specifically about the division C supervisor at nationals; although Sensei_Sushi's and Panda Weasley's advice may be helpful. If anyone knows how to do well with the supervisor for ExD at nationals, my teammates would like some help.