2024 IESO Fieldwork & Other Competitions
Mandatory Competition. Counts 1/4 towards the overall IESO Championship calculation.
Please review this file for important information on how to prepare for the Fieldwork Exercise.
One of the showcase events of the 2024 International Environmental Science Olympiad is the Beach Ecology Fieldwork competition. This is a mandatory event for all students, and it will count 1/4 towards the overall IESO Championship title. This competition will take place on Day 2 (December 29) and consist of a morning trip to a nearby beach, where students will be tasked with various fieldwork exercises, and then an afternoon portion at Robinson School where they will report on and analyze their findings.
This competition will be loosely modeled on the fieldwork exercises at the International Geography Olympiad, however, students should not assume that the primary focus will be a mapping exercise as is the case at that competition. Rather, the Beach Fieldwork Exercise will be designed in consultation with teachers and scientists and reflect an environmental science focus.
Please see the IESO Syllabus and Exam Specifications for further information on how the Fieldwork Exercise will work and how to prepare for it.
Note that Family and Friends Program Extended Option Participants can opt to participate in the Beach Ecology Walk at the same time (on a separate section of the beach), but otherwise, parents will not be able to directly assist or accompany their children in the interest of fairness. Students will be supervised by all IESO staff during the exercise; entering the water itself will not be needed beyond potentially wading in up to ankle-depth more than a few meters from the shore.
The International Environmental Science Olympiad will feature a variant of the Great Trading Game, which has been played at each International History Olympiad and International Geography Championships as well. The IESO variant will be called the Great Carbon Trading Game, and will showcase and simulate the trading of carbon credits. Participants are encouraged to do a bit of research on how carbon credits and carbon trading can help minimize carbon emissions in an economically viable way. Note that the game rules will be somewhat simplified for the Elementary School Division. Below is an introduction from the game’s designer, Jay Wickliff, IAC’s Director of Strategic Planning:
The Great Carbon Trading Game is a fun and interactive experience that emerges players into the fascinating world of carbon credits trading, one of the twenty-first century’s most innovative environmental and economic approaches. Companies and individuals use carbon markets to offset their greenhouse gas emissions by buying carbon credits from organizations that avoid, reduce, or remove greenhouse gas emissions. Purchasers can be motivated by government regulation or by public relations. Some countries’ trading systems set a limit on the total carbon emissions produced, and then supply and demand sets the price of carbon credits, much as commodity prices are set on trading floors. Other countries have voluntary systems which operate on government set offset credits.
The game oversimplifies carbon trading in many ways, including predetermined values, however, the game will give you an idea of the concept and some insight into how companies play a role in carbon credit markets. There will be four Selling Companies, which earn carbon credits in diverse ways, and four Buying Companies, who need to buy credits to offset their emissions. These are represented only as models of their complex roles in the economy and the environment. Nevertheless, the game demonstrates the interdependence of environmentally conscience and economically critical organizations. It will give players a sense of the challenges facing these organizations. Players will deal with the twists and turns of the international economy and global environment, while exercising and expanding their diplomatic, tactical, and negotiating skills. Knowledge of global economic, environmental, and political issues, along with strategy, and negotiating skills will decide the winner of The Great Carbon Trading Game.
It should come as no surprise that an organization that relies heavily on participant and staff travel such as International Academic Competitions generates significant carbon emissions in the course of its operations. This is certainly true as well for the International Environmental Science Olympiad where nearly all participants will be flying in from outside Puerto Rico. So, what is a well-meaning organization to do?
In this unique task force, competing students will have a chance to debate how IAC can move towards being a carbon neutral, and ultimately, a carbon negative organization. And not just debate, but rather take some concrete steps. Namely, IAC will give each age division $1000 to spend as they see fit to offset the emissions generated by IAC’s tournaments. Should this go to existing carbon offset programs? To non-profits that work on climate change-related issues, such as preventing deforestation and developing renewable energy technologies? Or to some new program altogether, either under the auspices of an independent board or under IAC’s direct supervision? Aside from budgeting the $1000 at their disposal, participating students will be tasked with making longer-term recommendations as well.
Note that this is not a role-playing task force: students will not be given any other person, organization, or country to represent, but rather will bring their own ideas to the table. With that in mind, students are encouraged to research the current state of carbon offsets, think about the most cost-effective ways of countering climate change, consider the full inputs of IAC’s global carbon footprint, and be realistic with the possibility of implementation of their recommendations. Students will be assessed not only on their preparation, however, but also on their ability to build consensus and convince other students, as well as IAC representatives who will join in the discussion, that their ideas make sense.
Knockout is a competition unique to the International Environmental Science Olympiad, International History Olympiad, and International Geography Championships.* Up to 15 players sit or stand in a circle. One player begins, and then selects another player – that player then has to answer a question correctly. If they don’t, they get a strike. If they answer correctly, then they get the chance to pick the next player. If you get a certain number of strikes, then you’re out! The top players move on to additional rounds. At the end of the rounds, the last players to get knocked out receive bronze and silver medals, and the sole survivor is the gold medalist. See the official rules and scoresheet for further details.
Knockout – Official Rules
Knockout – Official Scoresheet
* IESO trivia note – The idea for this event comes from Jeder Gegen Jeden (translation: Each Against Everyone) – a German language TV quiz show. If you’re interested in seeing an episode of Jeder Gegen Jeden, click here. Even if you don’t speak German, you can probably get the gist of the show – and if you listen carefully, you may even be able to figure out a few of the questions and answers.
Breaking News! President-Elect Trump Selects Nominees to New Renewable Energy Task Force!
Task Force Members
Three weeks after IESO concludes, the USA will inaugurate a new president. Developing a renewable energy strategy for the USA will be a critically important task for the incoming administration. In this Task Force competition, students will be assigned a role that will give them credibility to serve the president with a particular perspective. This could be as an elected politician, a representative from a major company, a start-up CEO, a research scientist, a cabinet official, or any other similar role.
Students will nevertheless primarily be judged not on how much they defend the particular perspective of their role (unlike a Model UN competition, where this is critical), but rather in their ability to help draft a 3-5 page memo outlining the most important aspects of the USA’s renewable energy strategy. Note that some consideration should be given to who the new president will be (this will presumably be known by late December…) and therefore, which sort of recommendations are likely to be realistic and implementable. That said, what is in the best interest of the USA in relation to renewable energy is a question that is independent of any particular politician’s views, so students should primarily conduct themselves as acting in the public interest, not in the political interest of the president.
IAC Founder and Executive Director David Madden is an Ambassador for the Rainforest Alliance, one of the world’s primary non-profit organizations looking to help protect and preserve rainforests and their indigenous communities. On a Rainforest Alliance trip to Indonesia earlier this year, David discussed the possibility of launching a Youth Ambassador Program with other top officials at the Rainforest Alliance, as a way of helping to spread awareness of the organization’s mission and a way of giving students a chance to make a difference. This task force is a step in that direction, and a way for students to give their input.
David will lead this task force for all age divisions, and like the IAC Carbon Emissions Task Force, participating students will represent themselves; it is not a role-playing exercise. During the task force, we’ll discuss the current activities of the Rainforest Alliance, a few ideas that David has had for what a Youth Ambassador Program can achieve, and your own ideas as well. Note that while participation or success in this task force does not imply that students will be given the opportunity to be Youth Ambassadors with the Rainforest Alliance, David and the Rainforest Alliance will strongly consider the findings and recommendations of the Task Force in their future planning.
This task force, however, will also be a competition, and students will be judged on their ideas, persuasion skills, and ability to help produce a set of recommendations which David will then share with other Rainforest Alliance staff and board members. Successful students will have familiarized themselves with the Rainforest Alliance in advance of IESO, and taken some time to consider the possibilities (and limitations) for how a Youth Ambassador Program can operate. They will also need to carefully consider the ideas of others, and help steer the task force to a coherent and thoughtful final document of recommendations.
IAC debuted its Model United Nations program at the 2024 IAC Middle and Elementary School National Championships. This competition will build on that successful launch as participating students represent a country while serving as delegates to the UN Environmental Programme.
The topic of discussion will be Desertification: Causes and Consequences
Students will be assigned countries that have some relevance to the topic; either because they are suffering directly from desertification, their citizens’ actions have contributed heavily to it, and/or because they are significant actors on the global stage who can significantly act in a way that helps address the issue. Students will need to do some preliminary research on current efforts to address desertification and related issues, such as habitat loss and access to clean water, as well as their country’s positions on these. As is the case in all Model UN competitions, students will be judged on their persuasion and negotiation skills, as well as on their ideas, and their ability to help draft successful resolutions.
Students will receive their country assignments after the Event Selection Period ends; by that point, a background guide will be available as well to help guide students in their preparation.