Naperville North Team Seeks Victory at Science Bowl

Think "Jeopardy!" for the science crowd; a quiz bowl where the questions are related to any of the sciences from physics to chemistry and biology to astronomy. Oh, and there is math too.

A team comprised of some of the brightest students from Naperville will be competing this weekend in the 21st annual U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl final competition in Washington D.C.

Kevin Farrell, a physics teacher at , is the sponsor for the school’s Science Bowl team. He has been the sponsor for eight years and has been to national competition four times. This year he is taking five students: Eric Spieglan, Chetan Kumar, Avi Prakash, Vincent Chang and Edward Hu.

All of the students have been working very hard since they were freshmen to get to this point, Farrell said. This will be the first time that the four juniors and one senior are attending the competition in Washington, D.C.

“It’s a life-changing experience,” Farrell said. “It alters their way of seeing things. It really encourages them in math and science, and opens their eyes. They are meeting so many intelligent people from across the United States and networking.

"It really does change them and give them an interesting perspective on the fields and careers  [available to them] and the need there is for math and science and how much the government realizes that too.”

The Department of Energy launched the National Science Bowl competition in 1991 to encourage high school students to excel in science and math and to pursue careers in those fields, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The National Science Bowl high school competition currently involves more than 9,000 students.

The competition takes place Sunday and Monday. The bowl is a round robin and will start with 69 regional championship teams competing Sunday.

Farrell said he has a lot of confidence the team will do well and is hopeful the kids will make it to the top 16 and compete Monday. The teams that make it into the top 16 win the big awards, which include trips, money, prizes and scholarships.

In practice sessions, Farrell has the students focus on their strong subjects. He tries to have an expert in each of the question categories.

He also may have a ringer in student Eric Spieglan, who Farrell said has an incredible memory and an ability to recall a variety of material and topics.

Last summer , 17 and a junior, won a silver medal at the 41st International Physics Olympiadin Zagreb, Croatia. Spieglan said he hopes to attend the International Olympiad again this year in Thailand.

“My specialty is—I know physics and then I also seem to have a pretty high retention of random stuff,” Spieglan said. “If there is something from Chemistry I remember, about half the time I will be able to quote verbatim from the book.”

While Spieglan is looking forward to the competition, he said one of the teams he is hopes to compete against are the students from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. He plans to study up for the event but takes a philosophical view of the Science Bowl.

“To be honest, I mean it’s Science Bowl,” Spieglan said. “It’s a pretty diverse but also a pretty fragmented representation of science. If you have some spare time and feel like showing off—OK—Science Bowl.”

Science Bowl does not make a scientist, he said. In real life it is rare that anyone would extrapolate on a random science topic like in a Science Bowl.

For teens with knowledge of science like Spieglan, he said it’s more a cool factor, like seeing who can top the other students. He also said it is interesting to watch reactions from students. Some get frustrated and in the process hurt their chances during the competition.

The Science Bowl competition will be the exciting part and although the trip is nice, Spieglan said what really keeps him motivated to learn more, is that he already knows “some.” He is studying graduate level physics and as he learns more he realizes there is more to learn.

Farrell said he feels blessed to be a part of the competition and he is excited for the opportunities the kids’ opportunity to visit Washington and get to meet “amazing people, scientists and political officials.”

“For me, it really makes me feel good to spend all this effort throughout the years and see the fruits of their labors pay off,” Farrell said. “There are some kids that go through four years and never get to do this ... Sometimes it takes until the final year. For me it feels good that they get to experience it. I’ve gotten to experience this for the last three years and I want them to experience it.”

 Science Bowl competition

Teams will be asked a question for which they can buzz in. If the team answers correctly, it gets an opportunity to answer a bonus question. Farrell said student gets five seconds to answer once they buzz in.

If the team answers correctly it gets four points. Then it has an opportunity to answer a more difficult question for 10 points.

 Test your knowledge. Here are a few of the first-round sample questions:

TOSS-UP

1) BIOLOGY short answer: What is the most common term used in genetics to describe the observable physical characteristics of an organism caused by the expression of a gene or set of genes?

ANSWER: PHENOTYPE

BONUS

1) BIOLOGY short answer: What is the biological term most often used for the act of a cell engulfing a particle by extending its pseudopodia (read as: SU-doe-POH-dee-ah) around the particle?

ANSWER: PHAGOCYTOSIS

TOSS-UP

2) CHEMISTRY multiple choice: An aqueous solution in which the concentration of OH– ions is greater than that of H+ ions is:

W) Basic

X) Acidic

Y) Neutral

Z) In equilibrium

ANSWER: W) BASIC

BONUS

2) CHEMISTRY short answer: Find the mass of one mole of cuprous oxide, or Cu2O. Assume the atomic mass of copper is 64 and oxygen is 16.

ANSWER: 144

 Source: U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl