2021
- This article is about the events of the 2020-2021 school year. For national tournament, see Arizona State University 2021.
The events will line up with the events from the 2019-2020 season because of the cancellation of the 2020 National Tournament and the replay of the 2019-2020 events. While the events are the same, the rules will be different.
Along with the original 23 events that will be held, there will be 10 events that will be trial events. These events are events that the NSO need more information and feedback for.
Discussion over Event Replay
On the night when the 2020 National Tournament was cancelled, the Science Olympiad Alumni Network announced that Science Olympiad would "replay the 2020 Rules next year," suggesting to "keep your resources and devices." This prompted a significant debate (generally found in this forum thread), with some arguing that the event replay should occur and others arguing that it should not occur.
chalker, the National Physical Science Rules Committee Chair, first clarified in the thread that "while all the events will stay the same, there will likely be a few tweaks to some of the rules, particularly to address any rules clarification or FAQs that have come up this year," suggesting that slight rule changes were possible, although the rules changes were likely to be minimal so that this years' devices could be used to their greatest extent. Perspectives arguing for no replay generally said their reasons were that a replay may make the competition too boring, a replay would allow top teams to spend excessive amounts of time fine tuning their devices (causing score differences to become much smaller), and that replaying the events will cause some (specifically, those who will be in their last years of Division C or Division B in the 2021 season). Perspectives arguing for a replay commonly noted that no replay would not cause students to waste their devices and would allow tournament directors/event supervisors to remain in their positions and avoid wasting materials.
Science Olympiad later released an announcement clarifying that Detector Building, Ornithology, Ping Pong Parachute, and Protein Modeling would experience rules changes. Other events may experience tweaks, adjustments, and clarifications.
Tournament Formats
For the 2021 season, new formats for remote tournaments were drafted. There are two new virtual tournament formats, Satellite SO and Mini SO, and a supplementary learning program, MY SO. Satellite SO is closest to a standard in-person tournament, where students gather at their own schools and submit their results virtually. Mini SO is done without students meeting in-person, instead staying within their own homes. Builds are also limited or eliminated from this format. MY SO is a set of monthly learning programs to support students and keep them engaged with Science Olympiad. It can be done separately or in concurrence with standard Science Olympiad competition.
Alphabetical
Events by Category
Events by Type
| Biology | Earth Science | Physics | Chemistry | Technology | Inquiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anatomy & Physiology | Dynamic Planet | Circuit Lab | Crime Busters | Boomilever | Experimental Design |
| Disease Detectives | Fossils | Density Lab | Food Science | Elastic Launched Glider | Game On |
| Heredity | Meteorology | Machines | Mission Possible | Ping Pong Parachute | |
| Ornithology | Reach for the Stars | Mousetrap Vehicle | Write It Do It | ||
| Water Quality | Road Scholar |
| Biology | Earth Science | Physics | Chemistry | Technology | Inquiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anatomy & Physiology | Astronomy | Circuit Lab | Chemistry Lab | Boomilever | Codebusters |
| Designer Genes | Dynamic Planet | Machines | Forensics | Detector Building | Experimental Design |
| Disease Detectives | Fossils | Sounds of Music | Protein Modeling | Gravity Vehicle | Ping Pong Parachute |
| Ornithology | Geologic Mapping | Wright Stuff | Write It Do It | ||
| Water Quality |
Trial Events
Alternate Events
| Events · Test Exchange · National Tournament · The Best of 2021 |