Question 1

Do we need to have at least 4 team members present to participate?

Accepted Answer

You need to have a minimum of 4 team members registered for your team.  If during a scrimmage or competition a team member is sick, the team may still compete.  However, if a team with 3 members in the regional competition wins, they will not qualify to go to nationals and the second place team, assuming they have 4 team members, will represent Missouri instead.

Question 2

Do teams with 5 students have all 5 students on the call and competing, or only 4?"

Accepted Answer

All five students can be on the call and participate.

Question 3

Are there 2 teams playing at the same time or is it just one team trying to score the best they can on the set of questions?

Accepted Answer

Each team is in their own Zoom room.  Zoom rooms are running concurrently. Each individual team should do their best to score as high as they can on the set of questions in their separate Zoom rooms.   Preliminary Rounds (Friday night):  Grand total score from all preliminary rounds will determine which teams will advance to elimination rounds.  (e.g. Round 1 score 56 + Round 2 score 90 + Round 3 score 72 = 218 – A TBD number of teams with the top scores will advance.)   Elimination Rounds (Saturday):  Teams with highest scores from each elimination round will advance to the next round.

Question 4

Can the students have scratch paper?

Accepted Answer

Students may have up to five pieces of blank 8.5x11 paper.

Question 5

Are you going to have the students raise their physical hand or raise their “Zoom” hand?

Accepted Answer

Students will raise their physical hand.

Question 6

How will the students be addressed when they are answering questions?

Accepted Answer

At the beginning of the match, the recognizer will tell the students how the recognizer will call on them – they will be called on by name.

Question 7

What about lag time?  How does timing work during the match?

Accepted Answer

To accommodate lag time, we have changed our time limit from 5 seconds to 7 seconds.  Remember that “7 seconds” to answer a toss-up isn’t “7 seconds” in “real life” – it is probably 5.5 seconds due to lag time. The same with the 22 seconds for bonus questions, please encourage your students to answer as soon as they hear the moderator say, “5 seconds.”

Question 8

Can students use the Zoom Chat to confer?

Accepted Answer

They can do that or just talk out loud – either is fine. Talking is probably quicker.   Students may use the Zoom chat in the session to communicate, which includes taking notes on the question as it is read.  Students may only communicate with their teammates verbally or through the Zoom chat window.  No other communication devices allowed.

Question 9

If the students have a question for the moderator, what is the best way of communicating that to the moderator?"

Accepted Answer

The students should raise their hands or say, “excuse me” if it is at an appropriate time.  Students should not interrupt a question being read.

Question 10

Will there be a half-time break?

Accepted Answer

We will not take any breaks during the game, unless something crazy happens.

Question 11

What if a student loses internet connection during the match?

Accepted Answer

They may join back in as soon as possible.  We will not stop the competition mid-question.  After the question is completed, we will wait for up to 2 minutes for the student to rejoin.

Question 12

Can coaches keep score during the competition?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we will provide coaches scoring spreadsheets in the team packet similar to the past.  This must be written and not digital.

Question 13

When will the scores from the matches be released?

Accepted Answer

No Preliminary Round scores will be released until after all competitions are complete. Please ask your students not to share their scores or any of the questions.  There will be a group Zoom Friday evening to announce which teams continue to the elimination rounds on Saturday.   Saturday coaches will have access to a link showing only the scores for the teams progressing to the next round.

Question 14

Can students use a tablet instead of a computer?

Accepted Answer

Yes! They will need the Zoom app.

Question 15

Should siblings on the team participate through the same computer or on separate computers?

Accepted Answer

If they are in the same room together:  Ideally they should each have their own screen (first device) to answer questions.  They can share a second device to monitor their workspaces as long as both workspaces can be fully observed.  One person needs to not join the audio.    If they are in separate rooms: They should each be using two devices.

Question 16

Hints to maximize the internet signal?

Accepted Answer

Students competing in their homes should ask their family members to turn off all internet-based items (games, movies, tv) during the competition to give the students and the watchers the greatest amount of bandwidth.

Question 17

Can we test out our connection?

Accepted Answer

We encourage teams and volunteers to attend a scrimmage in January to test connections.  Any team or volunteer not attending a scrimmage will be required to attend a technology and setup Zoom call the week of the competition.

Missouri Regional

Middle School

Science Bowl

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