• The BASIC WonderCup Challenge affords teams
of high school students the opportunity to test their knowledge
of basic science. WonderCup Challenge questions concern the subjects
of biology, chemistry, and physics at the high school level,
although some questions may touch on related fields of inquiry.
Questions range in difficulty from those on the subject-specific
SAT II exams to those on Advanced Placement multiple choice
exams. Again, in 2007, a final-round, hands-on, "innovation challenge" will identify the top high school science team in the Bay Area.
• WonderCup competitors are teams of four
students--two girls and two boys--all registered at the same high
school. (However, single-sex teams may register from single-sex schools.) Teams need not uniquely "represent" their
respective schools; many teams may hail from the same school.
Each team must consist of at least one sophomore (10th grader)
and one junior (11th grader). No student may be a member of
more than one team during a given year of competition.
• The WonderCup Challenge is held in three rounds.
Round 1 is an open qualifying round that is conducted online
at www.wonderfest.org. Round 1 takes 30 minutes to complete.
Each team may begin Round 1 according to its own schedule, as
long as the 30-minute self-administered quiz period occurs between
Monday, October 8, and Friday, October 12, 2007. Round 2 is an
invitational "play-off" competition open to teams
that have excelled in Round 1. Round 2 takes place live in UC Berkeley's Pauley Ballroom, 3:00-5:00pm on Tuesday, October 23 -- four
days before the start of the Wonderfest 2007 weekend. Round 3
is the championship match between the two top-scoring Round-2 teams. Round 3, the innovation challenge, takes place at Stanford's Hewlett Teaching Center on Saturday, October 27, at 5:00pm. This championship venue also serves as the site of Wonderfest 2007 events taking place at other times on Saturday. The winning Round-3 champion team must be present at Wonderfest's evening gala later that Saturday in order to receive their prizes and so that the champions may compete in the just-for-fun "Mind Duel" against a team of research scientists!
• Each team entering Round 1 competition must register
at www.wonderfest.org by Wednesday, October 3, 2007. Registration begins September 17. Registration
must be approved by a science teacher at the high school of
the registering team (this teacher is referred to as the team's
sponsor). A sponsor
may give her/his approval to as many teams as s/he likes. As part of the registration
process, each team must give the full name, grade, sex, and
age of that team's members. Once a team is registered, the
membership of that team may not change throughout all rounds
of competition. Any student team member unable to compete--for
whatever reason--may not be replaced by another student; that
team must simply compete short-handed. Teams invited to Round-2 competition will be notified via sponsor email no later than
Wednesday, October 17, 2007. Teams accepting the invitation to
Round 2 must register via return email by Friday, October
19, 2007. Each Round-2 team's transportation to and from Berkeley is the responsibility of that team. Please consult the Wonderfest website for directions and for parking information.
Prizes:
- All Round-2 competitors receive classy "Truth is a great flirt" Wonderfest t-shirts.
- All Round-2 competitors from schools new to the Challenge receive $20 iTunes gift cards.
- All Round-2 fifth-place finishers
receive $100 scholarships.
- All Round-2 fourth-place finishers
receive $150 scholarships.
- All Round-2 third-place finishers
receive $200 scholarships.
- All Round-3 (championship) runners-up
receive $500 scholarships.
- All Round-3 champions receive laptop
computers, and their school receives the WonderCup itself.
Many thanks to BASIC, the Bay Area Science and Innovation Consortium, for generously underwriting the WonderCup Challenge!
One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science,
measured against reality, is primitive and childlike, and
yet it is the most precious thing we have. - Albert Einstein
