About NOSB
(Photo taken by Eric Wampler)
CIRES hosts the only regional NOSB competition in a land-locked state, and receives teams from a large geographic area - Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Kansas. This quiz-show style competition is more diverse than most competitions, engaging schools which do not usually compete and engaging more girls than most science competitions. This is due to the extent to which we recruit. The National Ocean Sciences Bowl is supported by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership and Education, and is hosted by CIRES.
Participating teams of five students plus a coach travel to the University of Colorado at Boulder
for the regional competition in February or early March. The
winning team goes on to the national competition in April.
Participation in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl supports the following CU and CIRES goals:
To serve diverse populations in an equitable environment.
The Colorado Regional Ocean Sciences Bowl draws participants from diverse communities
across Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Kansas by leveling the playing field.
CIRES offers the competition free of charge and provides resource money to schools
for books, software, and other preparation materials. Small rural schools feel that their students
are usually at a disadvantage in statewide academic competitions, and welcome
the opportunity to compete on an equal footing. Interestingly, many small
rural schools in these states teach oceanography or marine science courses.
The rural schools appreciate the opportunity for their students to have a
forum in which their interests are recognized. The urban schools see the
competition as a chance to expose their students to an interdisciplinary
science not otherwise taught in their schools.
To enhance K-12 science education and enable school districts to meet state science standards.
The Colorado Regional Ocean Sciences Bowl exposes students to the interdisciplinary
field of oceanography. Teachers who coach our teams expand their knowledge
of oceanography, and end up teaching more ocean science in their science
classrooms as a result. This directly addresses the water-related portions
of the Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, and Utah state science contact standards.
The books and other teaching materials they receive through our program will
be used for many years in their classrooms.
Address a direct request made to CU-Boulder by a community.
In 1998, CIRES was asked by the federal agency the National Atmospheric and Oceanic
Administration (NOAA) to organize an NOSB regional competition in Colorado,
since there were no regional competitions at all in the central U.S. states
- only coastal and Great Lakes states were represented at that point. CIRES
agreed to host the competition because it aligned with the program goals
of the CIRES Education Outreach Program and with the CU-Boulder Strategic
Plan.
Interdisciplinary effort among outreach programs.
The event brings together CIRES, different CU departments, NOAA labs, the University of Northern Colorado, Ocean
Journey, and other community corporations and organizations. It creates partnerships
and collaborations among many different programs which rarely partner in
such a context. The multi-year effort also addresses another goal:
To enable K-12 students to meet and interact with CU faculty and staff in a variety of settings.
The format of the Bowl encourages informal discussions between scientists, faculty,
graduate and undergraduate students, staff, and high school students during
the competition. Many of the scientists list these informal discussions as
one of the highlights of the competition.
To engage CU faculty and staff in meaningful K-12 outreach related to their professional expertise, and to make the works of CU's distinguished faculty meaningful to the general public.
Scientists, including full professors from science departments, contribute many hours in preparation for the competition, beginning in November of each year. Scientists contribute questions, review the final questions for accuracy, participate in training sessions, and act as judges, moderators, scorekeepers, timers, and other roles on the day of the event.
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To raise awareness and increase the perceived value of University research among taxpayers and Colorado businesses.
Many parents attend the competition with their high school students and get the
chance to talk with faculty members and to explore CU. Articles concerning
the Bowl appear in several newspapers. Colorado businesses provide prizes
and other in-kind donations. In addition, the Bowl raises awareness of CU's
outstanding ocean-related science research, a discipline that most people
would not associate with a land-locked area.
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To acquaint high schools with the University and University life.
The format of the competition encourages students to explore their surroundings during the day of the competition, and information on University activities is given to teams' coaches.
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