1. Purpose. The Farnell Middle School World of Wisdom (WOW) League is intended to increase the level of interest and excellence in social studies, identify and recognize academic achievement in social studies, and prepare students for the Geography Bee and County WOW competitions.
2. Format. The WOW League will be conducted monthly, in the Media Center.
a. Divisions. A total of 72 students will take part – 30 from the 8th grade, and 21 each from the 7th and 6th grade. The competitions will be divided into a Senior and a Junior Division. The Senior Division will be the thirty 8th grade students and the top six 7th grade students. The remaining 6th and 7th grade students will be in the Junior Division. The two Divisions will be contested at different times. The 72 students may change from month to month.
b. Teams. In each Division, students will be divided into 12 teams of 3 students each.
c. First round. In the first round each month, the 12 teams will be divided into 3 groups of 4 teams. The top two teams in each first round group will advance to the Semifinals, along with the two highest scoring 3rd place teams. The remaining 4 teams will finish in 9th-12th place based upon the number of points they scored in the first round. Any ties for a qualifying place will be broken by a sudden-death question.
d. Semifinals. The top two teams in each semifinal will advance to the Championship Round. The other teams will finish in 5th-8th places, based on their total points in the first two rounds.
e. Championships. The championship round will determine places 1 through 4, based solely on their performance in the final round
3. Competitions.
a. The competitions will use a buzzer system. Each team will have 4 hand-held buzzers connected to a light. When a question is asked, any student may press their buzzer to attempt to answer the question. The team whose light indicates they were the first to buzz must be recognized by the moderator before answering the question. If they answer the question before being recognized, they will lose points, and the question will be discarded. From the time they are recognized, that student's team will have 3 seconds to answer the question. If the answer is correct they will be awarded points. If the answer is incorrect, they will lose points. If the question was completely read, only the team that buzzes first will have an opportunity to answer the question. However, if a buzzer is pressed before the question is finished, the moderator will stop reading the question immediately, and ask for the answer. If the answer is incorrect, the moderator will re-read the question to give one other team the opportunity to answer the question.
b. All matches will consist of 20 or more questions. The questions will be divided into 1, 2, and 3 point questions depending on difficulty.
c. Questions will be 60% geography, 30% US history, and 10% other social studies topics (world history, current events, economics, government, etc).
4. WOW Standings.
a. Students will earn WOW points based upon their team's finish each month. Each member of the team will receive the number of points indicated in the following chart.
b. WOW points will accumulate throughout the year.
c. Students will retain the points even if they are not able or not selected to compete every month.
d. The students in each grade with the most points will receive awards at the end of the year.
Place Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May
1 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70
2 20 25 30 35 40 44 48 52 56 60
3 16 21 25 30 35 38 42 45 49 53
4 13 17 21 25 30 33 37 39 43 47
5 10 14 17 21 25 28 32 34 38 42
6 8 11 14 17 21 24 28 30 33 38
7 6 9 11 14 17 20 24 26 28 32
8 5 7 9 11 14 16 20 22 23 27
9 4 5 7 9 11 13 16 18 19 22
10 3 4 5 7 9 10 13 14 15 17
11 2 3 4 5 7 8 10 11 12 13
12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5. Teams/Students.
a. The August tournament will be a special event with each grade level competing on different days.
b. After the first month’s competition, the eight 8th grade, six 7th grade and six 6th grade students with the highest cumulative score for the year will automatically qualify to compete in the next month.
c. Social studies teachers will select the remaining competitors. For 8th grade, Hazel will select 9, Austin 7, and White 6. Each 6th and 7th grade teacher will select 5 additional students.
d. Teams will be put together based upon the student's accumulated points, with the 12 most total points for the year on the 12 different teams.
e. Teams will change each month because the standings will change.
6. Officials. Mr. Hazel will act as moderator, with student assistants as scorekeepers. Other social studies teachers are encouraged to bring their students to observe the competitions and participate as officials. Teachers are also requested to provide questions to add to our question database.