Two teams of students from the Ann Arbor Public Schools were selected to compete in the state Science Olympiad tournament Saturday in East Lansing.
Students launched rockets during the 2011 Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympiad competition at Pioneer. Science Olympiad teams from Huron High School and Slauson Middle School will compete in the 2013 state tournament Saturday at Michigan State University.
Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com file photo
More than 400 teams competed in regionals throughout the state and 96 teams were chosen to participate in Saturday's tournament at Michigan State University, during which the students will use teamwork and problem solving skills to take on 46 events in a range of scientific topics, including experimental design thermodynamics, remote sensing, chemistry, astronomy, technical problem solving and forensics.
There will be a new engineering event for both middle school and high school teams at Saturday's tournament. Middle-schoolers will be required to construct an unpowered, autorotation helicopter device using one or more helicopter rotors to safely transport a raw chicken egg from a specified drop height to the floor. The high school competitors will construct a self-propelled magnetically-levitated vehicle with battery-powered rotors that is capable of moving the vehicle down a magnetic track.
Science Olympiad is popular in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. The Washtenaw Elementary Science Olympiad is the largest elementary Science Olympiad organization in the country.
The 11th annual WESO tournament took place on April 20 at Pioneer High School and for the first time since launching the organization, all 20 of AAPS' elementary schools had teams participate. Mitchell Elementary was the last school to join in.
Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.