ST. PETERSBURG — What is the Brain Bowl Competition?
Each year since 1985, the Florida Education Fund has hosted an Annual State Brain Bowl Competition designed to motivate students to improve skills in mathematics, writing and reading. Students prepare for the Brain Bowl over a period of several months by solving challenging mathematical problems; reading college level written works; learning and using advanced vocabulary in writing and speech; and exercising their writing, speaking and critical thinking skills to compose and present essays on character-related principles.
After training and preparation, students compete to test their knowledge and win college scholarships and other prizes. More than 16,000 students have participated as team members, and more than 700 students have won scholarships donated by Florida’s public and private colleges and universities.
Competition categories:
- Mathematics. Students in grades 6 through 12 compete in teams to solve challenging problem questions derived from the FCAT and the SAT.
- History & Culture. Teams of students in grades 6 through 12 compete by answering FCAT- and SAT-based vocabulary and comprehension questions drawn from college-level literary and historical works.
- Word Wizard Students in grades 3 through 8 compete to spell and answer sentence completion and analogy questions on words taken from the FCAT vocabulary lists for their grade levels.
- Laws of Life Essay Contest. Students in grades 3 through 12 compete in this contest that requires them to exercise writing and critical thinking skills to meet or exceed grade level expectations defined by the Sunshine State Standards.
- NAS Voices Speech and Oratory Contest. Students in grades 9 through 12 compete in this contest that requires them to exercise public speaking, writing and critical thinking skills as they form opinions on thought-provoking national and international issues.
