Burgeoning researchers take on annual Science Olympiad

A host of different guesstimation methods surfaced last week, as elementary students put their minds together to calculate potential outcomes.

A mix between guessing and estimating, the Guesstimation Sensation station at this year’s Science Olympiad gave students the opportunity to put their deductive reasoning skills to work. In one of the tests, students had to guesstimate how many Legos made up a constructed spaceship.

Some vouched for counting the Legos along the ship’s sides before multiplying that number by the potential number of rows inside.

Others opted for a more rudimentary approach.

“You just gotta go for it,” a Sunflower student advised his teammate with a shake of his head.

Run jointly by Campbell County and Thunder Basin high schools’ science clubs, the Science Olympiad tested a myriad of areas in any budding scientists’ minds. Stations ranged from chemistry to identifying metals, building miniature helicopters and correctly naming a variety of fossils and bugs.

One Conestoga team used prior experience to easily identify the creepy-crawly critters that filled a small glass box at the Bug Busters station.

“That’s a hissing cockroach, or Madagascar cockroach,” a student said, explaining that the insect was so easily identifiable because “we had them as pets at the beginning of the year.”

Across the way, Cameron Clifford, a Thunder Basin High School student, led the material science section where students determined a metal using the tools provided for them.

Clifford said the students received different topics to review, like learning what density is and how to calculate it. If students worked through the review material before the Olympiad, the knowledge served them well in deducing the metals placed in front of them last week.

“You can definitely tell the kids who read up on the materials,” Clifford said.

Altogether, the science club members and volunteers helped 172 elementary students hone their scientific intellect in a fun-filled and research-packed morning.

Thank you to all of the teachers, students and volunteers who orchestrated this year's Science Olympiad! 🔬