FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tara Hicks, SOEST Outreach Specialist

(808) 956-3151, cell: (808) 429-7007, hickst@hawaii.edu

Ocean Science Bowl to be held this Saturday at UH

This Saturday, February 22^nd, high school students from all over the state will compete in the first Hawaii Regional competition for the National Ocean Science Bowl (NOSB). Six high school teams will compete in this bowl, with the winner representing Hawaii in the National Ocean Science Bowl in La Jolla, CA in April. The round robin will take place from 8:30 - 11:30 in rooms POST 723, 126, and 127 on the UH Campus. The afternoon sessions are the double-elimination playoff games, with the final match being held at approximately 2:30 pm in POST 126. All matches are open to the press and public.

This educational program was developed to stimulate interest in the ocean sciences among high school students and demonstrate to the public the importance of the oceans in our daily lives. One of the long-term goals of the program is to foster the next generation of marine scientists, educators and policy makers for the ocean sciences.

During the competition, students will be asked three types of questions: toss-up, bonus and team-challenge. Questions may be in a multiple-choice or short-answer format. Unlike the oral questions, the team-challenge question is written out and handed to both teams in the first half of each round. These questions require higher cognitive skills, often use visual aids such as charts, maps, and graphs and the students work together to earn as many points as possible, which may make the difference between winning or losing the round of competition. Question difficulty increases as the competition progresses.

All of the teams will play each other in the morning round-robin rounds, with the top four teams advancing to the double-elimination round. The winner of the last double-elimination round is crowned tournament champion.

For more information contact:

Tara Hicks, SOEST Outreach Specialist, 956-3151, 429-7007 (cell) hickst@hawaii.edu

Patricia Cooper, Assoc. Dean, Academic Affairs, SOEST, 956-9513, cooper@soest.hawaii.edu

Or see:

http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/SOEST_News/News/NOSB/NOSBHome.htm