Scientific American Frontiers - Footage from 1990

[EastStroudsburg13]

Not sure if this has been shared yet on the site. I've been going down some rabbit holes of early Science Olympiad and I stumbled upon this segment from 1990. It appears to showcase a trial event where the object was to start with a water balloon at point A, and transfer as much water to a jug at point B as possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqkNlKwNB6E&t=1962s

It might not have been a full-fledged event, but it's still pretty cool to see footage of Science Olympiad from its first decade.

[John Richardsim]

Aye yo the footage of the balloon popping on the bed...the more things change the more they stay the same.

On a similar note, earlier this year GVSU shared a video from 1998 and you just gotta see the intro https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s7-x7-4qO ... th=MjM4NTE

[knightmoves]

Nice link, East. Looks like a fun event, although a logistical nightmare (requires large custom-built objects to build the track, and lots of spilled water). Running the top builds again in a "final" is interesting.

[EastStroudsburg13]

Aye yo the footage of the balloon popping on the bed...the more things change the more they stay the same.

On a similar note, earlier this year GVSU shared a video from 1998 and you just gotta see the intro https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s7-x7-4qO ... th=MjM4NTE

Well, now I'm just upset that not every national tournament puts together an introductory animation.

[Krish2007]

Not sure if this has been shared yet on the site. I've been going down some rabbit holes of early Science Olympiad and I stumbled upon this segment from 1990. It appears to showcase a trial event where the object was to start with a water balloon at point A, and transfer as much water to a jug at point B as possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqkNlKwNB6E&t=1962s

It might not have been a full-fledged event, but it's still pretty cool to see footage of Science Olympiad from its first decade.

ooh internet history scavanger hunt time!! So if this is the 3rd episode of the first season then it would have aired in December 12, 1990 according to IMDB. Video details imply the footage was shot during the 1989-1990 season. The wording "a challenge issued by Scientific American Frontiers" implies this could have been a sponsored event?

Build specification/competition details:

• Water begins in a balloon
• Needs to move to a funnel 10 ft away across testing apparatus that includes an upward incline
• Time limit 1 min
• Weight limit 22 lb for contraption and water combined
• No electric components allowed
• (presumably) Div C since all the schools mentioned are high schools
• "top 4 teams in a finals round"
• Win a trophy instead of medals

Notes on people/places/names mentioned:

• Saguaro High School, Phoenix, AZ
• "Andy and Julie"
• "Coach Tom Vining": I found a Google Sites website registered under Scottsdale Unified School District in Arizona that states he "started his teaching career at Saguaro High School in 1986" and didn't transfer over to Desert Mountain High School until 1999. So that checks out with the timeframe here! the site has an email what if I emailed him /j
• Page Senior High School, Greensboro, NC
• Nationals held at Clarion University, PA (nooo the event names on the scoresheets are cut off I can't see what they are T.T)
• "car from Colorado" no further details
• Irmo High School, Columbia, SC "a powerhouse team" with two entries? did their A and B team both get in? sounds like it
• the back of someone's shirt says "??rest Hills Central"? Forest Hills Central? can anyone make out what the shirt at 40:49 says?
• the shirt date does seem to confirm this is the 1989-1990 season
• Irmo High won 1st

Looking at the comprehensive event listing on the wiki, the events run during the 1989-1990 season were:

• A is for Anatomy (B/C)
• Aerodynamics (B)
• Astronomy (B)
• Balloon Race (B) sadly not our event as it has to deal with helium balloons
• Bio-Process Lab (C)
• Bridge Building (B/C)
• Chemistry Lab (C)
• Circuit Lab (C)
• Computer Programming (B/C) ooh they used BASIC in this one
• Designer Genes (C)
• Egg Drop (B)
• Get Your Bearing (B/C) they had an orienteering event? and then there's a wiki page for a geocaching event?? I was very bad at all my orienteering outings but I still think the idea's cool
• Hot House (B)
• Measurement (B/C)
• Metric Estimation (B/C)
• Mousetrap Vehicle (B)
• Pentathlon (B/C)
• Periodic Table Quiz (C)
• Physics Lab (C)
• Picture This (B)
• Qualitative Analysis (C)
• Rocks and Fossils (B/C)
• Science Bowl (B/C)
• Science Crime Busters (B)
• Scrambler (C)
• Sounds of Music (B/C)
• Tic Toc (C)
• Topographic Map Reading (B/C)
• Tree Identification (B/C)
• Water, Water, Everywhere (B/C) also not our event as this is the precursor to Water Quality
• Whether Or Not (B)
• Write It Do It (B/C)

wow a lot of these old events barely have any details, think I've found my next research fixation haha
Assuming the contents of the wiki listing are correct, none of these events seem to be the event from the video? Don't even have a name for this event unless I'm totally blind and missed it somewhere? The 1990 Div C results are on Duosonium but all the events are from the above list except for a trial event that has to do with bugs. So what is this event? Is it under Physics Lab somehow? Are we totally missing something? The linked score PDF on the wiki page cuts off the event names aaaaaa

...and that was a very long post. sorry but also not sorry lmao
semi-unrelated but I got a very funny error message when I tried to access the Scientific American Frontiers official website. what I get for using a VPN I guess haha (yes I did test scan my computer just to be sure)


EDIT: WAIT A MINUTE HOLD UP THE PDF HAS 26 EVENTS AND DUOSONIUM ONLY HAD 24?? Event #24 and Event #25 both start with "Water" before getting cut off, and since we know Irmo High won 1st our mystery event can't be Event #25 since they won 5th in that. So this event has to be Event #24! "Exh" = Exhibition probably so this would be a trial event, guess that explains why it has no rankings and didn't make it into Duosonium. There's also another mystery trial event, Event #10 "Just A [cut off here]". off to google again let's see if I can find anything. I should be cleaning my room or packing my stuff or doing literally anything else why am I doing this

EDIT 2: wait why does Duosonium mark the medal colors in reverse order? it has 10s and 11s as gold and 1s all over the place but the PDF doesn't look like that? was there some kind of conversion? what's going on here how do they decide what number to make medal colors

[Nydauron]

EDIT: WAIT A MINUTE HOLD UP THE PDF HAS 26 EVENTS AND DUOSONIUM ONLY HAD 24?? Event #24 and Event #25 both start with "Water" before getting cut off, and since we know Irmo High won 1st our mystery event can't be Event #25 since they won 5th in that. So this event has to be Event #24! "Exh" = Exhibition probably so this would be a trial event, guess that explains why it has no rankings and didn't make it into Duosonium. There's also another mystery trial event, Event #10 "Just A [cut off here]". off to google again let's see if I can find anything. I should be cleaning my room or packing my stuff or doing literally anything else why am I doing this

Hold up! Wait a minute!
Let me save you from getting caught by a red herring ...

Just Add Water is the event name and as you said, it is marked as event #10 on the score sheet (cut off, but it's pretty easy to assume it is referring that event)
32:43 watch for 6 seconds

[*]the back of someone's shirt says "??rest Hills Central"? Forest Hills Central? can anyone make out what the shirt at 40:49 says?

Without reading your observation, I also assumed it was "Forest" Hills Central. It seems to line up with the Div C roster as seen here and here.

the site has an email what if I emailed him /j

Regardless, the site and email are probably out-of-date.

omfg I went a bit deeper and I found this: https://www.instagram.com/dmhssusd/p/CtNtezOqttV/

So yeah , he retired Spring/Summer of last year. He probably does not have access to that email

EDIT 2: wait why does Duosonium mark the medal colors in reverse order? it has 10s and 11s as gold and 1s all over the place but the PDF doesn't look like that? was there some kind of conversion? what's going on here how do they decide what number to make medal colors

Back in the day (like 2000 and prior), team scores were tabulated so that the highest score would win. Event scores are also awarded to teams such that the highest score is the winner of said event, while scores of 0 and 1 are (presumably??? idk it seems like only teams who make the "finals" of an event score points based on the scanned sheet) NS and P, respectively, and those scores were summed up to get the final team score.

[LittleMissNyan]

Without reading your observation, I also assumed it was "Forest" Hills Central. It seems to line up with the Div C roster as seen here and here.

Just Add Water is the event name and as you said, it is marked as event #10 on the score sheet (cut off, but it's pretty easy to assume it is referring that event) 32:43 watch for 6 seconds

ok cool I'm just blind does make sense. but then what's the other exhibition event? why are there 3 water events? trial running Water Quality along with Water Water Everywhere? they did switch to Water Quality next season that does fit

So yeah , he retired Spring/Summer of last year. He probably does not have access to that email

that's fair, I also couldn't find him on the Desert Mountain High website. just missed him

Back in the day (like 2000 and prior), team scores were tabulated so that the highest score would win. Event scores are also awarded to teams such that the highest score is the winner of said event, while scores of 0 and 1 are (presumably??? idk it seems like only teams who make the "finals" of an event score points based on the scanned sheet) NS and P, respectively, and those scores were summed up to get the final team score.

Yeah the Div B placings seem to use the 1s and 0s like that, while the placement scores seem to range all the way up to 11 (which I assume is to make up for the 1 = P offset). The Div C scores-only sheet doesn't though, it just has empty spaces and only goes up to 10, except for Chemistry Lab which has a 17 and 21 for St. Marks and Civcero-N. Syracuse High School respectively? oddly specific adding those two on top of the 1-10 range, did Chemistry Lab have bonuses back then or something?

[EastStroudsburg13]

Back in the day (like 2000 and prior), team scores were tabulated so that the highest score would win. Event scores are also awarded to teams such that the highest score is the winner of said event, while scores of 0 and 1 are (presumably??? idk it seems like only teams who make the "finals" of an event score points based on the scanned sheet) NS and P, respectively, and those scores were summed up to get the final team score.

Yeah the Div B placings seem to use the 1s and 0s like that, while the placement scores seem to range all the way up to 11 (which I assume is to make up for the 1 = P offset). The Div C scores-only sheet doesn't though, it just has empty spaces and only goes up to 10, except for Chemistry Lab which has a 17 and 21 for St. Marks and Civcero-N. Syracuse High School respectively? oddly specific adding those two on top of the 1-10 range, did Chemistry Lab have bonuses back then or something?

OK, so this sort of speaks to the 1990 nationals rabbit hole I was going down that let me to this video in the first place. Essentially the PDF on soinc for B Division is point, and the PDF for C Division is placements. I am not sure why they don't have the PDF for C Division points, which would presumably have numbers from 0 to 11 for every event. So, we don't actually know the exact points that the Division C teams finished with. The Chem Lab 17th and 21st is also very odd, I think maybe they had something to do with tiebreakers? Just strange all around.

Regardless, I believe the scores on Duosmium were input erroneously using the assumption that the sheet uploaded by soinc showed the points... a fair assumption, considering that's what showed for B Division. My best guess of the actual placements is in this spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing, which is also reflected on the scioly wiki: Clarion University 1990 Wiki