Science Olympiad

So my group for the Science Olympiad project consists of Jessica, Carrie, Natalie, and me. Our project focuses on the density of two objects; one regularly shaped object and one irregularly shaped object. The set-up of the experiment was going extremely well. Everyone was doing their part and we felt that we had a solid idea. Then we had to figure out how to grade the project. What a pain! We brainstormed grading criteria. We knew that we wanted to grade the students based off of the methods they used, their knowledge of the density equation, the ability to perform the experiment, and the accuracy of their calculations. However, putting that into a rubric with instructions for someone else to grade proved to be extremely tedious. Plus, we had to calculate acceptable ranges of answers. For example, to receive full credit, a student's answer would have to fall between 1.1 and 1.2, but to receive partial credit it could fall between 1.0 and 1.4. Several of these calculations had to be done so that the proctor would know how we wanted the experiment scored. It turned out to be a huge headache and thankfully Carrie volunteered to figure out the ranges so that our group could be finished for the day. It frustrated me because I think the tedious process could have been easily averted if a member of our group could be present at the Science Olympiad. Instead, we had to make a precise list of instructions on how to perform and grade the experiment. Simplicity is definitely a top priority for me in setting up labs. I think that students can gain tons of knowledge from a lab whether it's intensely difficult or just somewhat thought-provoking. I also realized that I do not want anyone else to grade my students' assignments. The process of putting together a scoring rubric was more difficult than coming up with the experiment itself! Things like significant figures were completely thrown out of the process because of the difficulty we had in explaining the scoring process. I am grateful to Carrie for taking one for the team. I think that our team definitely accomplished a lot on Thursday even though three of us were very frustrated. Our group benefitted from Carrie's patience. We've definitely been able to identify and utilize the individual strengths of our group members.