After spending the better part of the week battling a persistent, and painful case of gout I was back in action Saturday attending an event I have waited years for. At the University of Central Florida I helped to judge the first annual Regional Elementary Science Olympiad. Science Olympiad incorporates problem solving, science, engineering, team work and creativity as student teams create solutions to specific challenges. Orange County fourth and fifth grade teams responded to "egg drop" challenges, created paper helicopters being judged by the longest flight, aluminum barges which were judged by how much weight they could hold, and a number of other challenging events.
For a first time event this was incredible: 37 teams from across our district with well over 500 students and parents in attendance. Kudos to Mike McKee and his team of UCF and OCPS volunteers that made that an event to remembered. Those of us in elementary science have looked for an alternative to the traditional science fair (and it's problems) for years and have tried at various times to make this work. It took Mike and his team, with the strong support of our OCPS District Science Staff (Bev Cox, Molly Malloy, Yvonne Fonnett, and Joan Walker) to finally make this a reality.
