General Science Olympiad Information

Science Olympiad is a national organization committed to STEM education.  This is accomplished through a series of academic competitions, sometimes held at a regional level, with winners advancing to a state level; winners from a state level competition travel to a national event to compete against students from all over the country.  These events run like academic track meets, where one team competes in a variety of different events, highlighting strengths from a variety of students.  While the specifics of these events are always changing, there is a focus in areas of biology, chemistry, physics, experimental design, and engineering.  

Code of Ethics & General Rules

GENERAL RULES, CODE OF ETHICS AND SPIRIT OF THE PROBLEM 

Revised by the Science Olympiad Rules Committee Chairs and Executive Board, July 2014 (note changes in bold)

The goal of competition is to give one's best effort while displaying honesty, integrity, and good sportsmanship. Everyone is expected to display courtesy and respect (see Science Olympiad Pledges below). Teams are expected to make an honest effort to follow the rules and the spirit of the problem (not interpret the rules so they have an unfair advantage). Failure by a participant, coach, or guest to abide by these codes, accepted safety procedures, or rules below, may result in an assessment of penalty points or, in rare cases, disqualification by the tournament director from the event, the tournament, or future tournaments.

1. Actions and items (e.g., tools, notes, resources, supplies, electronics, etc.) are permitted, unless they are explicitly excluded in the rules, are unsafe, or violate the spirit of the problem.

2. While competing in an event, students may not leave without the event supervisor's approval and must not receive any external assistance. All electronic devices capable of external communication (including cell phones) must be turned off, unless expressly permitted in the event rule and left in a designated spot if requested.

3. Students, coaches and other adults are responsible for ensuring that any applicable school or Science Olympiad policy, law or regulation is not broken. All Science Olympiad content (e.g., policies, requirements, clarifications, FAQs, etc. on soinc.org) must be treated as if it were included in the printed rules.

4. All pre-built devices presented for judging must be constructed, impounded, and operated by one or more of the 15 current team members unless stated otherwise in the rules. If a device has been removed from the event area, appeals related to that device will not be considered.

5. Officials are encouraged to apply the least restrictive penalty for rules infractions (see examples in the Scoring Guidelines). Event supervisors must provide prompt notification of any penalty, disqualification or tier ranking.

6. State and regional tournament directors must notify teams of any site-dependent rule or other rule modification with as much notice as possible, ideally at least 30 days prior to the tournament.