Marshalltown High School placed third at the State Science Olympiad contest Saturday, March 24, at Coe College in Cedar Rapids.
MHS was just one point behind second place Cedar Rapids Washington. Ames took the top spot and Burlington placed fourth. Science Olympiad is a “nonprofit organization designed to encourage middle and high school students in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics”.
MHS placed first in Microbe Mission, where teams answer questions, solve problems and analyze data relating to microbes. Marshalltown placed second or third (and therefore earned medals) in 12 other categories:
Results
1st Place in Microbe Mission – Annalisa Iole and Chandler Schmidt
2nd Place in Forestry – Ilene Finn and Adam Willman
- Testing knowledge of North American trees on the Official National Tree List.
2nd Place in Dynamic Planet – Ilene Finn and Adam Willman
- Teams work at stations displaying various materials related to Earth’s fresh waters and corresponding questions.
2nd Place in Protein Modeling – Therese Kuhlman and Chandler Schmidt
- Students use computer visualization and online resources to guide them in constructing physical models of proteins and in understanding how the structure of the protein determines the function. For 2012, students modeled proteins involved in the regulation of apoptosis as they explore the discovery and treatment of a rate (one in a billion) genetic trait discovered through genome sequencing.
2nd Place in Technical Problem Solving – Mollie Finn and Kyle Dalluge
- Teams gather and process data to solve problems.
2nd Place in Disease Detectives – Mollie Finn and Lainey Crawford
- Students apply principals of epidemiology to a published report of real-life health situation or problem (food-born illness).
2nd Place in Astronomy – Mollie Finn and Alex DeGrado
- Teams demonstrate understanding of basic math and physics concepts relative to stellar evolution and type 1a supernovas.
2nd Place in Fermi Questions – David Montealegre and TJ Miller
- A Fermi Question is a science related question that seeks a fast, rough estimate of a quantity which is difficult or impossible to measure directly. Answers are estimated within an order of magnitude recorded in powers of 10.
2nd Place in Gravity Vehicle – Dalton Ernst and Daniel Talbert
- Teams design, build and test one vehicle and ramp that uses gravitational potential energy as the vehicle’s sole means of propulsion.
3rd Place in Robot Arm – Daniel Talbert and James Talbert
- Teams design, build, document and test one robotic device to move scored items (developed prior to competition).
3rd Place in Towers – Blake Gethmann and Matt Vandegrift
- Teams design and build the most efficient tower.
3rd Place in Anatomy – Annalisa Iole and Alex DeGrado
- Teams are tested on knowledge of anatomy and health concepts including respiratory and digestive systems.
3rd Place in Forensics – Therese Kuhlman and TJ Miller
- Students identify polymers, solids, fibers and other materials in a crime scene scenario.
4th Place in Sound of Music – Therese Kuhlman and Andrew Walker
- Students build two different instruments of any type based on a 12-tone tempered scale, prepare to describe the principles behind their operation and perform a major scale, a required melody and a chosen melody with each.
Event descriptions from the Iowa Science Olympiad website http://www.coe.edu/iowa-science-olympiad
