Science Olympiad, sometimes abbreviated as SciOly or SO, is an American team competition in which students compete in 23 events pertaining to various fields of science. The subjects include earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering. Over 7,800 middle school and high school teams from 50 U.S. states compete with each year. The U.S. territories do not compete. However, several international teams do compete in Science Olympiad tournaments in the U.S.
There are multiple levels of the competition: invitational, regional, state, and national. Invitational tournaments, usually run by high schools and universities, are unofficial tournaments and serve as practice for regional and state competitions. Teams that excel at regional competitions advance to the state level; the top one or two teams from each state (depending on the state) then advance the national level. Winners later receive several kinds of awards, including medals, trophies and plaques, as well as scholarships. The program for elementary-age students is less common and less consistent. Schools have flexibility to implement the program to meet their needs. Some communities host competitive elementary tournaments.
Science Olympiad is organized at the national level by Science Olympiad Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit based in Oak Brook, Illinois.
History The first recorded Science Olympiad was held on Saturday, November 23, 1974, at St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Dr. Barnes and Dr. David Wetmore were the originators of this event. Fifteen schools from North and South Carolina participated in this event. It was a day-long affair, with competitions and demonstrations for high school students in the areas of biology, chemistry, and physics. There were four event periods during this day and each event period had one fun event (like beaker race or paper airplane), one demonstration (like glassblowing and holography), and one serious event (like periodic table quiz or Science Bowl). An article by David Wetmore was published in the Journal of Chemical Education in January 1978 documenting the success of recruiting students through Science Olympiad. St. Andrews Presbyterian College continues to host a Science Olympiad tournament to this day. Mr. John C. "Jack" Cairns was a teacher at Dover High School in Delaware when he learned about the Science Olympiad tournament in North Carolina. He shared this information with Dr. Douglas R. Macbeth, the Delaware State Science Supervisor. Mr. Cairns was appointed to a steering committee to organize the first Science Olympiad in Delaware which took place at Delaware State University in the Spring of 1977. A write-up in The Science Teacher of December 1977 caught the attention of Gerard Putz, who proposed that the program be expanded throughout the United States. After competition tests in Michigan at the Lawrence Institute of Technology and Oakland University in 1983 and 1984, Putz and Delaware director John Cairns took their plan for a national competition to the National Science Teachers Conference in Boston. The first National Tournament was attended by representatives of 17 states, held at Michigan State University in 1985. Since then, the program has expanded greatly, with 60 teams present in each division at the National Tournament. Gerard Putz passed away in December 2019 and was succeeded as CEO and President of Science Olympiad Inc. by his daughter, Jennifer Kopach. Kopach also serves as CEO and President of Science Olympiad USA Foundation, a 509(a)(3) supporting organization that awards college scholarships to high school seniors and research grants to program alumni.
International Teams Since 2012, a Global Ambassador Team from Japan has been invited to attend the national tournament as part of a partnership between Science Olympiad, MEXT and JST. Each year, the Grand Prize for winning the Japan High School Science Championships (JHSSC), a competition styled after the U.S.-based Science Olympiad is a trip to the U.S. to participate in the Science Olympiad National Tournament. The Japanese Global Ambassador Team does however only compete on a limited basis as unranked guests. Japan continues to send a team, as of the 2025 National Tournament. The Japanese Global Ambassador Teams are the best known international teams that participate in Science Olympiad however other countries do occasionally participate in tournaments.
Canada has multiple active Science Olympiad teams and participated in the nationals tournaments in the U.S. between 1995 and 1998 but has not sent a team since although Canadian teams do still occasionally participate in tournaments in the U.S.
Divisions There are three divisions in the hierarchy of Science Olympiad: Division A for elementary school (grades K–6) Division B for middle school (grades 5–9) Division C for high school (grades 9–12)
The national tournament and generally state and regional tournaments are only for divisions B and C. Division A teams usually have separate interscholastic tournaments, apart from the more common intra-school competitions. Note that 6th and 9th graders have the option of competing in either of the two divisions in which they meet the grade requirements and are part of the competing school. (6th graders can compete in divisions A and B while 9th graders can compete in divisions B and C.) A middle school may, however, only use up to 2 members who have graduated to the next school if they are in 9th grade or lower. Students in grades lower than the division in which the school competes in may also be on the team. Teams are restricted to five 9th graders for division B and seven 12th graders for division C. Students may not participate on multiple teams, e.g. a 9th grader on both a high school and middle school team would not be allowed.
Events and event history In Divisions A, B and C, teams may compete in up to twenty-three main events, which usually occur over a single day (some tournaments, such as the Texas State tournament, run competitive events over multiple days); done by a team of no more than 15 members. Events fall into five main categories: Life, Personal & Social Science; Earth & Space Science; Physical Science & Chemistry; Technology & Engineering; and Inquiry & Nature of Science. They are either knowledge-based (for example, written tests on earth science, physics, astronomy, or biology), hands-on (for example, chemistry lab practicals or events involving both device testing and an exam), or engineering-based (participants construct a device before the competition to do specified tasks on the day of the competition).
Knowledge-based events generally have two to three participants taking a test and/or mathematically analyzing data. Examples of such events are Anatomy and Physiology, Meteorology, Codebusters, and Solar System.
Hands-on events generally consist of two to three participants performing experiments or interacting with physical objects to achieve a certain goal. Some examples are Experimental Design (three people) and Write it Do it(two people).
Engineering-based events have a team of two participants. They are to construct a device following a specific event's parameters and test the device against others. Examples include Bridge, Flight, Wheeled Vehicle , and Roller Coaster.
The majority of events allow two team members, though a few allow more. If one member is unable to attend an event, the other is able to continue, depending on the event. If the team has one available, a backup team member may be placed with the member as opposed to their former partner.
The list of events and rules for each change and are updated every year to input dynamism and to limit the advantages of more experienced teams. Events of each type often rotate, with each event staying in competition rotation for at least two years. For example, the Division C vehicle event cycle is two years each of Electric Vehicle, Mousetrap Vehicle, Gravity Vehicle, and Scrambler respectively.
States have substantial leeway in how they run their organization; several states, notably North Carolinahttp://www.sciencenc.com/events.php#b North Carolina-specific events Division Bhttp://www.sciencenc.com/events.php#c North Carolina-specific events Division C and Texas, run altered slates of events; in the case of Texas, teams can choose to replace National events with state-exclusive events. 2023–2024 events Event name Division B events Division C events Air Trajectory Air Trajectory Anatomy and Physiology Anatomy and Physiology Can't Judge a Powder Astronomy Codebusters Chem Lab Crime Busters Codebusters Disease Detectives Detector Building Dynamic Planet Disease Detectives Ecology Dynamic Planet Experimental Design Ecology Fast Facts Fermi Questions Forestry Flight Fossils Forensics Meteorology Forestry Microbe Mission Fossils Optics Geologic Mapping Reach for the Stars Microbe Mission Road Scholar Optics Roller Coaster Robot Tour Tower Scrambler Wheeled Vehicle Tower Wind Power Wind Power Write it Do it Write it Do it
2017–2018 events Event name Division B events Division C events Anatomy and Physiology Anatomy and Physiology Battery Buggy Astronomy Crime Busters Chem Lab Disease Detectives Disease Detectives Ecology Ecology Experimental Design Experimental Design Fast Facts Game On Forensics Meteorology Hovercraft Microbe Mission Materials Science Mission Possible Microbe Mission Mousetrap Vehicle Optics Mystery Architecture Remote Sensing Optics Rocks and Minerals Potions and Poisons Thermodynamics Road Scholar Towers Rocks and Minerals Wright Stuff Roller Coaster Write It Do It Solar System Thermodynamics Towers Write It Do It
2015–2016 events Event name Division B events Division C events Air Trajectory Air Trajectory Anatomy and Physiology Anatomy and Physiology Bio-Process Lab Astronomy Bottle Rocket Bridge Building Can't Judge a Powder Cell Biology Crave the Wave Chem Lab Crime Busters Disease Detectives Disease Detectives Dynamic Planet Dynamic Planet Electric Vehicle Elastic Launched Gliders Experimental Design Experimental Design Forensics Food Science Fossils Fossils GeoLogic Mapping Game On Green Generation Green Generation Hydrogeology Invasive Species Invasive Species Meteorology It's About Time Mission Possible Protein Modeling Picture This Robot Arm Reach for the Stars Wind Power Road Scholar Write It Do It Scrambler Solar System Wind Power Write It Do It
Trial and pilot events Trial/Pilot events are, at Regional and State tournaments, events that are specific to that state that are being considered as events for the next year. At Regionals and States, these events may count towards the team's score. At Nationals, however, there is a completely different set of Trial/Pilot events, sometimes known as "alternate events" because the people entering them do not have to be on the official team. These do not count towards the team's score, but ribbons and medals are usually awarded.
Distinction between trial and pilot events The terms "trial event" and "pilot event" (also called "exploratory event") are sometimes interchangeable, both pertaining to an event that is not an official, national event for the year. However, at the National Tournament, there are often two differences. First, in 2010, it was announced that medals would only be awarded to the top 3 in the Trial events, but not at all in the Pilot events. Also, the Trial event are often much closer to becoming official events for following years than pilot events. Almost all of the Trial events from recent National tournaments have become official events within a few years of the tournament, while the same is not true for almost any of the pilot events.
Team structure