For more information about Orlando Science Center’s science competitions, please call our Reservations Office at 407.514.2112 or email competitions@osc.org.

Science Competition

March 16, 2013 - Middle and High School Students

Presented by Bright House Networks, the Science Challenge encourages excellence in science education and provides an intermediate event between the County Science Fairs and the State Science Fair. It operates under the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) rules. Participants are the first place winners in the physical science competitions in county Science Fairs in the six surrounding counties (Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Volusia).

In January, Fair Directors will be sent invitation packets that they can present to the category winners at their respective award ceremonies. The packets will include the necessary paperwork for the students to enter the Orlando Science Center Science Challenge.

Science Challenge 2013 Information

Registration Deadline: February 28, 2013
Set-up: March 15, 2013
Judging and Awards Ceremony: March 16, 2013

Please download and return the necessary completed form:
Science Challenge Application 2013

Important: Once you have received a confirmation email, your project is registered. If you have not received a confirmation email by Thursday, March 7, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 407.514.2112.

Best in Fair – Physical Science Award

The Science Center Sponsors an award of "Best in Fair - Physical Sciences” in the Science and Engineering Fairs for the eight surrounding counties (Brevard, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole and Volusia). The categories included are: Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth & Planetary Science, Engineering, Mathematical Sciences, and Physics and Astronomy.

This award for both juniors and seniors (two awards) is an annual family membership to the Science Center. It is the best Junior and Senior project in the Orlando Science Center Science Challenge categories, to be judged by each Fair's judges under standard ISEF rules and criteria. The award is to be given out at the awards ceremony by each Fair Director.

We will send you a packet to hand out, which the winner’s can then redeem at the Orlando Science Center for the annual Family Membership. The Membership will run one year from the time of redeeming it. Each Fair Director is responsible for judging and presentation of awards. The Science Center is not available to send judges or participate in the the award ceremony – only acknowledgement of Orlando Science Center during the ceremony is desired.

Science Challenge 2013 Photos

19 March 2013
Posted in Science Challenge

They brought the science; we brought the challenge!

On Saturday, March 16, Orlando Science Center held the 2013 Science Challenge! Presented by Bright House Networks, Science Challenge encourages excellence in science education and provides an intermediate event between the county science fairs and the state science fair. Participants are the first place winners in the physical science competitions in county Science Fairs in the nine surrounding counties (Brevard, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia). These middle and high school students bring their A-game as they strive to win top honors.

Check out the photos from the competition!

Science Challenge Overview

19 March 2012
Posted in Science Challenge

Presented by Bright House Networks, the Science Challenge is intended to encourage excellence in science education, and provides an intermediate event between the County Science Fairs and the State Science Fair. It operates under the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) rules. The participants are the first place winners in the physical science competitions in county Science Fairs in the six surrounding counties (Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Volusia).

Science Challenge 2012 Winners

14 March 2012
Posted in Science Challenge

Congratulations to all the winners of the Science Challenge, which was held at the Orlando Science Center on March 10. Presented by Bright House Networks, the Science Challenge is intended to encourage excellence in science education plus provide an intermediate event between the County Science Fairs and the State Science Fair.

More than 100 students showcased over 90 projects. The participants are the first place winners in the physical science competitions for middle and high schools in County Science Fairs for the eight surrounding counties (Brevard, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole and Volusia).

Alex Keeler, Best in Fair winner, was awarded $4,000 for his project. His teacher, Emily Keeler of South Sumter High School, earned the Teacher Award and $1,000 for their school. Category winners also received a cash prize.

The complete list of winners is included below:

Category	Name	School	Title of Project
Jr Chem	Karcher Kendall	Delaura Middle	Plankton: How Ironic?
Sr Chem	Albert Halbing	Cocoa Beach Jr/Sr High	A kinetic study of electrolysis: Half-cell reacton rates for discrete electrode materials and electrolytes Year 4
Jr Comp Sci	Nikhil Patel	Sanford Middle	Shrinc-it software heuristic to remove irrelevant and unnecessary content in text
Sr Comp Sci	Daniel Hammack	Jacksons Heights Middle	Focus on Wi-Fi Part 2
Jr Earth&Space	Jonathan Sepulveda	Sanford Middle	Trends in rainfall and temperature moving averages in central Florida may support the theory of global warming
Sr Earth&Space	Cleo Koenig	Heritage High	Geobot 3D: Improving the Functionality through Three-Dimensional Imaging for an Automated Geological Sample Identification
Jr Engineering	Alexandra Daley	Grace School	Dung Deal: horsepower revisited
Sr Engineering	Priya Sathyanarayan	Spruce Creek High	Active damping of propellant slosh
Jr Environmental Sci	Srimayi Tenali	West Shore Jr/Sr High	The effects of plants on water purification
Sr Environmental Sci	Zachary Loeb	Eau Gallie High	Preventing the reproductive failure of aquatic life from the global threat of nonylphenol contamination through catalytic waste water
Jr Math	Hunter Dalton	Stone Middle	The design, construction and testing of a lego gearbox capable of predicting moon phases and tides
Sr Math	Rashad Abdulla	West Shore Jr/Sr High	On the fine classification of periodic orbits of continuous endomorphisms the real line with application in chaos theory
Jr Physics & Astro	David DeVore	St Thomas Aquinas Catholic	Does a magnetic field affect how quickly a plant grows?
Sr Physics & Astro	Sarah Van Sickle	Satellite High	Design and Analysis of a Fractal Antenna for Free OTA TV
Jr Team	Bobby Burwell	Rock Lake Middle	Data Transmission over a Laser Beam
Jr Team	Sean Clarke	Rock Lake Middle	Data Transmission over a Laser Beam
Sr Team	Luke Evans	Viera High	The effects of extracted phycocyanin from spirulina platensis on irradiated raphanus sativus
Sr Team	John Evans	Viera High	The effects of extracted phycocyanin from spirulina platensis on irradiated raphanus sativus

Best In Fair	Alex Keeler	South Sumter High	The Effect of Triflitoxin on the Elimination of Citrus Greening
Teacher Award	Emily Keeler

Science Challenge 2012 Photos

12 March 2012
Posted in Science Challenge

On Saturday, March 10, the Orlando Science Center hosted the 14th annual Science Challenge. Presented by Bright House Networks, the Science Challenge is intended to encourage excellence in science education plus provide an intermediate event between the County Science Fairs and the State Science Fair. The participants are the first place winners in the physical science competitions for middle and high schools in County Science Fairs for the eight surrounding counties (Brevard, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole and Volusia).

More than 100 competitors showcased over 90 projects and sharpened their presentation skills before a panel of judges that included current and retired engineers, educators and scientists. Competition categories included Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth and Space Science, Engineering, Environmental Science, Mathematical Sciences and Physics.

The Science Center organizes this event every year to provide bright young minds with an opportunity to better prepare themselves for the State Science Fair. This event also offers the public a chance to view this area’s most innovative science projects from our community’s budding scientists.

Science Challenge

05 March 2010
Posted in Science Challenge

The Science Challenge, which is being held on March 13, 2010, is a large Science Competition held between Middle and High School students from Brevard, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties. The fair is an intermediate event held between the County Science Fairs and the State Science Fair. Participants previously won 1st place in the physical science competition held in their respective county’s Science Fair. There will be 121 students competing, presenting 105 total projects (56 from the Junior Division, 49 from the Senior Division). Brevard county leads with 50 students participating, the most out of any other county. Below is the breakdown of participants from each county:

·   Brevard County – 50 participants
·   Seminole County – 21 participants
·   Volusia County – 12 participants
·   Orange County – 9 participants
·   Lake County – 9 participants
·   Marion County – 8 participants
·   Osceola County – 6 participants
·   Sumter County – 6 participants

We here at the Science Center would like to praise and congratulate all participants and soon-to-be winners of the 2010 Science Challenge! All your hard work that is represented here will pave the way for the future of science and technology. Be proud of your great accomplishment!

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