![]() Once teams are picked, students should be encouraged to divide up the disciplines of science and specialize. Ask your regional coordinator about the number of teams that they will allow you to register: some regionals allow 3 teams from the same school! This is an excellent way to have more students gain experience for future years, even if they are not on the “A Team”. We suggest that coaches narrow down their competing team(s) by Thanksgiving break so that the students have ample time to focus on practicing and studying in preparation for the regional competition. This may seem like a lot of time, but it can quickly disappear due to other student obligations. ![]() It is important to start organizing the team(s) as early as possible – the start of the school year typically precedes the regional NSB competitions by only four to seven months. Pick competing team(s) early to afford time for focused practice and specialization Students should be well-trained to not blurt before they compete. *One important exception: make sure to enforce the blurt rule. ![]() If there are more students interested than available buzzers, make sure to rotate frequently so everyone has an opportunity to play. This way, every bonus question gets read, regardless of if the toss-up was answered correctly. All players should be encouraged to solve bonus questions, and an alternative way to practice before teams are picked is to simply treat bonus questions as 20-second toss-ups open to everyone. For instance, if the buzzer system you are using supports more than 8 players, it is better to allow more students to participate. This may be a good way to get students interested in coming back to practice week after week, after which they can start practicing on more difficult questions.įor these open practices early on, it is fine to alter the competition format to maximize the amount of practice that the students receive*. A good strategy for open practice sessions may be to only read questions from the first eight rounds of the practice sets posted on the Official National Science Bowl® website – these questions come from the early rounds at Regional competitions and are typically less difficult than the questions in later rounds. Many of the most successful schools hold weekly open practice sessions in the Fall to give anyone who is interested a chance to play – while many 9th and 10th grade (6th grade for middle school NSB) students may not yet be well-equipped to be on a competing team, engendering a passion for NSB early on ensures that your Science Bowl team will have talented players for years to come. Hold weekly practice sessions to attract enthusiastic students Schools use a variety of strategies to get students excited about NSB – we have heard from many NSB alumni that what initially got them excited about joining their school’s Science Bowl team was dropping in on a practice session and getting a chance to answer some questions. While some schools have in excess of 50 students trying-out for their schools’ NSB teams, any school can have a successful team as long as they can find four students who are enthusiastic about science and, importantly, Science Bowl. The most successful teams at National Science Bowl events (and academic competitions in general) typically have an after-school club dedicated to the activity. Forming a National Science Bowl® (NSB) Team Practice with official sample questions.This webpage provides some guidelines that will assist you in putting together and preparing a team for the competition. The strongest schools typically begin their yearly practice sessions in the Fall and have demonstrated that thoughtful preparation is key to achieving excellence at the National Science Bowl®. Thank you for your interest in coaching a team for the National Science Bowl® (NSB)! The NSB, just like the other academic competitions your students compete in, is most rewarding for the students when they spend some time preparing for the competition and the NSB demands a lot of focus to compete at the highest level.
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