FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Tara Hicks, SOEST Outreach Specialist

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

Maui High School wins Hawaii Ocean Science Bowl

This past Saturday, February 22^nd, high school students from all over the state competed in the first Hawaii Regional competition for the National Ocean Science Bowl (NOSB). Five high school students from Maui High School won the competition, and will represent Hawaii in the National Ocean Science Bowl in La Jolla, CA in April. Members of the winning team include Daniel Jachowski, Matthew Jachowski, Nicholas Jachowski, Caine Jette, Rebecca Wunder and coach Edward Ginoza. Hilo High School took second place, with Kalani High School coming in third.

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 were asked three types of questions: toss-up, bonus and team-challenge. Toss-up and bonus questions are in a multiple-choice or short-answer format. 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.

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