Knowledge Bowl
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Knowledge Bowl is an interdisciplinary academic competition involving teams of four students trying to answer questions in a written round and several oral rounds. No team is eliminated in this event, and every team participates in every round. Knowledge Bowl is a power competition in which team groupings are rearranged after each round on the basis of their total points accumulated. The written round is a multiple-choice exam taken by each team as a whole. Results of this round are used for seeding teams in the oral rounds. In the oral rounds, there are three teams per room. A reader presents the questions, and a team member may buzz in as soon as he or she chooses. Team members may discuss who will provide the answer for the team, but they may not discuss the question or answer. If they miss a question, nothing is deducted, but the other teams then may try to answer the question based on who buzzed in first. The winner is the team with the greatest number of points at the end of the meet.
Contents |
[edit] Knowledge Bowl History
Knowledge Bowl originated in 1976 as a project within a small educational service cooperative in Durango, Colorado (San Juan Board of Cooperative Services). It began in response to a group of area student body leaders who asked if the organization would develop and host some kind of competitive academic activity involving excellent students. The first meet held in Pagosa Springs involved just three high schools. Within two years, it evolved to include scores of invitational meets in addition to regional competitions and a Colorado state championship that has been held annually ever since. The event soon attracted educators from Minnesota, Washington, South Dakota who initiated the activity in their home states.
[edit] Knowledge Bowl in Minnesota
[edit] History
The first Minnesota Knowledge Bowl was started by the Lakes Country Service Cooperative of Fergus Falls, Minnesota, in 1979. The first season featured teams from only eight school districts in western Minnesota. Today, Knowledge Bowl has grown to include over 700 teams from across the state.
[edit] Meet Format
Although there is some variation from region to region, most Knowledge Bowl meets follow the same general format. First is the written round. The written round (WR) consists of usually 60 multiple-choice questions with five possible answers listed. In the written round, all five members of the team may confer throughout the duration of the round.
However, in the oral rounds (OR), only four team members are allowed to participate. Thus, if a team has five members, one must sit out during the oral round. Oral rounds consist of three sets of 15 questions, 45 in total. Some regions play four oral rounds in a meet, others five. Oral rounds feature three teams in one room competing against each other for points. Teams may buzz in at any point during the question. However, they must then answer with whatever information has been given them. If a team buzzes in before the question is read in its entirety, the reader will reread the question for the other team(s).
Some regions randomly assign teams to play each other over the course of a meet, while others use "power ranking". Power ranking is simply the process whereby the top three teams are placed together in one room, the next three in another, and so on. While not all regions use the power ranking method, it is used in the Minnesota Service Cooperatives' State Knowledge Bowl Meet. In 2006, several regions tested a "Strength of Schedule" (SOS) meet format at meets using Power Ranking, and in 2007, this was made the official format. Using SOS, a team will receive a 1.5 point bonus for every round it spends in room 1, a 1 point bonus for every round in room two, and a .5 point bonus for every round in room three. The SOS points are not added to a team's score until after all of the oral rounds. In 2007, SOS was made official Knowledge Bowl procedure, and will be used at the state tournament.
[edit] Postseason
All the regions throughout Minnesota utilize various postseason formats to select the teams that will represent their region at the state meet. Following the completion of the regular season, the region hosts a sub-regional tournament. In some regions, teams have to qualify by finishing high enough in the standings, while in others, all the teams in the region qualify for Sub-Regions. Following Sub-Regions, a certain number of teams advance to Regions. In some regions, the top teams receive a bye through Sub-Regions straight to Regions, while in others, every team has to qualify through Sub-Regions. At Regions, teams compete for that region's allotted number of State berths.
The 48 teams that qualify for State are ordered by enrollment and then evenly divided, with the larger 24 in Class AA, and the smaller 24 in Class A. All schools from the Metro Region (XI) are automatically placed in Class AA. If one private school qualifies, it is automatically placed in Class AA, regardless of size. If two private schools qualify, the larger is placed in Class AA, and the smaller in Class A. If three private schools qualify, the larger two are placed in Class AA, and the smallest is placed in Class A, and so on. The State meet is held in late April at Cragun's Resort in Brainerd.
[edit] Regions
These are the ten/eleven regions throughout the state of Minnesota, and the city in which they are headquartered:
Northwest (I/II)*, Thief River Falls; Northeast (III), Mountain Iron; Lakes Country (IV), Fergus Falls; North Central (V), Staples; West Central/Southwest (VI/VIII)**, Marshall; Central (VII), St. Cloud; South Central (IX), North Mankato; Southeast (X), Rochester; Metro (XI), St. Anthony.
*-While the Northwest Region is designated Regions I & II, it is essentially one region, with all the teams from Northwest Minnesota participating in it. **-While the West Central and Southwest Regions are both headquartered in Marshall and operated under the same auspices, they are essentially separate regions in which teams from their respective region participate apart from teams in the other region.
[edit] Knowledge Bowl in Washington
Knowledge Bowl competitions are held between November and late March. The regional tournaments that determine which teams go to State take place in late February or early March. Each meet, or Round Robin, consists of one written round and two oral rounds. There are also some format differences, such as the fact that teams have fifteen seconds to discuss an answer before presenting it to the judges. (http://www.camas.wednet.edu/chs/club/kbowl/wa/rules.htm) . Each team may have a maximum of six team members with only four competing at a time. In the oral rounds, subsitutions are allowed after every 15 questions during the regular season. At Regional and State competitions, substitutions are only allowed at 30 questions. The state championship tournaments take place in Camas and Spokane.
Past State Winners:
Div. 2A 2002 - Eatonville High School
Div. A 2006 - Charles Wright Academy
Div. B 2006 - Pe Ell High School
Div. 3A 2006- Bellevue High School
Div. 3A 2007- Hanford High School
Div. 1A 2007- Chelan High School
Div. 2B 2007- Federal Way Public Academy
Div. 1B 2007- Pe Ell High School
[edit] See also
- Face Off Minnesota, a similar quiz bowl competition in Minnesota.
- Minnesota State Knowledge Bowl Meet
