DOE sponsors middle school science bowl Saturday

The third annual U.S. Department of Energy’s East Tennessee Middle School Science Bowl will be hosted Saturday at the Oak Ridge campus of the Roane State Community College.

Starting at 9 a.m., students from 12 local middle schools will participate in a fast-paced academic competition offering students the opportunity to match their wits in math and science, a press release said.

Here is more information from the press release:

Started in 2002, the Middle School Science Bowl includes competitions in academic math and science. This year, 16 teams are registered for the competition and are quizzed in a fast-paced question and answer format similar to Jeopardy. Each team is comprised of student competitors, an alternate, and a coach who also serves as an adviser.

The American Museum of Science and Energy and its staff spearheaded the effort to expand the local Science Bowl competition from including high school students alone to allowing middle school students to cut their teeth in this competition. “During the past two bowl events, the students’ competition skills have matured,” said Oak Ridge National Laboratory Site Office Manager Johnny Moore. “It is vital to the nation and world to develop youth that will be versed in science and math. They will be the scientists and engineers of the future, the very people that will be able to face and solve challenging technical issues facing the world. DOE is privileged to host this event.”

Schools participating in this year’s competition include Blount Home Education Association, Robertsville Middle School, Jefferson Middle School, Christ the King School Science Club, Cedar Springs Homeschool (two teams), Cherokee Middle School (two teams), Norris Middle School, Halls Middle School (two teams), Farragut Middle School (two teams), Cedar Bluff Middle School, Maryville Jr. High School, and Oliver Springs Middle School.

Sponsoring an event of this size requires countless volunteers and numerous hours of their time as well as financial support. This year’s sponsors include DOE, AMSE, the AMSE Foundation, Roane State Community College, and Z11 Communications.

For additional information about the DOE’s East Tennessee Middle School Science Bowl, visit http://www.amse.org/.