Division B – Middle School Events at the Arkansas Science Olympiad State Tournament (2025-2026)

*NOTE: List of Arkansas events will be posted in December

Event names that are in bold font are new this year.

  1. Anatomy and Physiology: Participants will be assessed on their understanding of the anatomy and physiology for the Nervous, Special Senses, and Endocrine Systems of the human body.
  2. Boomilever: Teams will design and build a cantilevered beam or truss structure that extends from a vertical Testing Wall and supports a load at a specified distance from the Testing Wall. The structure must meet the requirements specified in these rules to achieve the highest score, which is a combination of structural efficiency and Load Scored Bonus.
  3. Circuit Lab: Participants must complete tasks and answer questions about electricity and magnetism.
  4. Codebusters: Teams will cryptanalyze and decode encrypted messages using cryptanalysis techniques for historical and modern advanced ciphers.
  5. Disease Detectives: Participants will use investigative skills in the scientific study of disease, injury, health and disability in populations or groups of people.
  6. Dynamic Planet: Teams will complete tasks related to physical and geological oceanography.
  7. Entomology: Students will be asked to identify insects and selected immature insects by indicated taxonomy order and family, answer questions about insects, and use or construct a dichotomous key. All insects will be representatives of insects found in North America, north of Mexico.
  8. Experimental Design: This event will determine a participant’s ability to design, conduct and report the findings of an experiment entirely on-site.
  9. Helicopter: Prior to the tournament, teams will construct, collect data on test flights, analyze and optimize a free flight rubber-powered helicopter to achieve maximum time aloft.
  10. Heredity: Teams will answer questions, solve problems, and analyze data pertaining to classic and molecular genetics.
  11. Hovercraft: Prior to the competition, participants will design, construct, and calibrate a self-propelled air-levitated vehicle that moves down a track.
  12. Machines: Teams will complete a written test on simple and compound machine concepts and construct a lever-based measuring device prior to the tournament to determine the mass ratios between three test masses.
  13. Meteorology: Participants will use scientific process skills involving qualitative and quantitative analyses to demonstrate an understanding of the factors that influence Everyday Weather through the interpretation of meteorological data, graphs, charts, and images.
  14. Metric Mastery: Teams will estimate and then measure properties of identical objects including mass, area, volume, density, force, distance, time, and temperature. Teams will also perform metric unit conversions.
  15. Poisons and Potions: This event is about chemical properties and effects of specified toxic and therapeutic chemical substances, with a focus on household and environmental toxins or poisons.
  16. Remote Sensing: Participants will demonstrate an understanding of the basic principles of remote sensing and use imagery, data, and maps to complete tasks related to Earth systems processes. An understanding of mapping principles is a component of this event.
  17. Rocks and Minerals: Teams will identify and classify rocks and minerals and demonstrate knowledge of how rocks and minerals help to understand geologic processes, interpretation of Earth’s history, the development of natural resources, and use by society.
  18. Scrambler: Teams design, build, and test a mechanical device, which uses the energy from a falling mass to transport an egg along a track as quickly as possible and stop as close to the center of a Terminal Barrier without breaking the egg.
  19. Solar System: Participants will demonstrate their knowledge of planet formation and structure within and beyond the Solar System.
  20. Water Quality: Participants will be assessed on their understanding and evaluation of freshwater aquatic environments.
  21. Write It Do It: One student will write a description of an object and how to build it, and then the other student will attempt to construct the object from this description.