Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
The Envirothon is North America’s premier educational competition for high school students on the environment.
The Envirothon offers both in-class curriculum and hands-on field experiences focused around ecology, natural resource management, and current environmental issues.
This unique combination of learning experiences and breadth of study is part of what has made the Envirothon a hugs success with students and educators across the United States and Canada.
Tagged: soil, wildlife, forestry, water, competition, high school
How does the competition work?
Testing at the region and state competition involves visiting five stations, one for each study unit, located within easy walking distance from other stations at the competition site. Teams move between the competition sites in groups, usually four to five teams per group. At each station site team examinations are administered by the station coordinator. Tests contain many question formats including narrative responses, true/false, fill in the blank, multiple choice, and matching. Teams may also be given a brief presentation by the station coordinator on ecosystem issues important to that station. Teams have 45 minutes per station except at the state, where the presentation station is generally 20 minutes.
Questions come from the study materials posted on the Georgia Envirothon web site. Many of the questions involve investigating the site not just recall of study material to correctly answer the questions. During the state competition, the current environmental topic will involve a team oral presentation that asks the team to solve a specific problem.
Tagged: competition, high school, ecosystem
The unique combination of curriculum-based, hands-on education and experience has proved to be an ideal way to engage students in the complex issues of managing natural resources to create a better environment. In addition, the top 5 teams at the Canon Envirothon share in more than $75,000 in scholarships and prizes.
How Much Does It Cost To Compete?
Registration per team is $150 before December 1. This includes both the regional and state competition. After December 1, registration is $200. Registration ends January 15.
Your registration money goes toward paying for use of the competition site and facility, awards, and general administrative expenses.
Teams that advance to the state competition provide a $200 deposit. The deposit is due one week after the regional competiton and is fully refundable upon the team’s arrival at the state competition or cancellation one week prior ot the state competition.
This deposit is necessary to cover costs incurred for teams who register and then fail to participate.
Is Financial Help Available to Help Pay My Team's Registration?
Sponsorship is available to cover your team’s registration from the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission. For a list of region contacts, go to: http://gaswcc.georgia.gov and click on Contact Information or contact your regional Envirothon coordinator.
What Grades are Eligible to Compete?
Students enrolled in grades 9-12 are eligible to compete.
How Do You Put Together A Team for the Georgia Envirothon?
Teams can be comprised of students from a school, club, or organization (FFA, Girl or Boy Scouts, etc.). Also, home schooled students may organize to form a team.
How Many Teams Can Compete from Each School?
Each school may register up to 2 teams.
How Many Students are Required for Each Team Competing at the Georgia Envirothon?
Each team may consist of a maximum of 6 students from the same school or organization.
If your team advances to the state competition, at least 4 members of the regional competition team must participate at the state competition.
If your team is unable to advance to the state competition with 4 original members, your team will lose its right to advance and the next highest scoring team will represent Georgia.
How Many Students Must Be On The Team For the Canon Envirothon?
Only 5 students can comprise the state team at the Canon Envirothon. As in the regional and state competition, at least 4 of the original members of the team winning the state competition must participate in the Canon Envirothon. If your team is unable to advance to the Canon Envirothon with 4 original members, your team will lose its right to advance and the second place team will receive the right to advance.
How Do I Prepare My Team For The Competition?
When your registration is received, you will be notified where you can download the study materials. The entities that prepare the packet will be the entities that will test your students during the competition.
The packets are extensive but, the Learning Objectives for each study unit can be founds at http://georgiaenvirothon.org/the-competition. Study materials are the source of all questions used for the station examinations.
If you, as a teacher, are new to the Envirothon, it is suggested that you call an expert for help. See the contact list for state station coordinators at http://georgiaenvirothon.org/the-competition, a good place to start to find local experts.
You can also find experts among your fellow teachers, in the community, or in your classroom (the kid who could be less interested in chemistry but who knows everything there is to know about fishing). Another good contact is your local Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) office. Historically, the teams that have done better in th competition contact local entities for help.
How Does The Competition Work?
There are two levels of competition, the regional competition, a one day format, and the state competition, a two-day format.
Testing at both competitions involves visiting five stations, one for each study unit, located within easy walking distance from other stations at the competition site.
Teams move between competition sites in groups, usually four to five teams per group.
At each station site, team examinations are administered by the station coordinator. Tests contain many question formats including narrative responses, true/false, fill in the blanks, multiple choice, and matching.
Teams may also be given a brief presentation by the station coordinator on ecosystem issues important to that station.
Teams have 45 minutes per station except at the state presentation station which is generally 20 minutes.
Questions come from the study materials sent to each team once they register for the competition. Because the focus is on ecosystems, test questions at any station will include questions from other study materials. Many of the questions involve investigating the site not just recall of textbook or study material to correctly answer the questions.
During the state competition, the current environmental topic will involve a team oral presentation that asks the team to solve a specific problem. Teams are given 3 hours to prepare their presentation. There are two rooms where the oral presentation takes place. Each room has 3 experts that will judge the teams presentation. Teams will have 15 minutes to present and 5 minutes of follow-up questions from the judges. Presentations are video taped so that they can be viewed by the judges that did not judge the live presentation thereby allowing all the teams to scored by all the judges. The average of the six scores will be the final team score. Go to “Judges Scoring” at http://georgiaenvirothon.org/the-competition to download a copy of the Judges’ Scoring Sheet.
There are four regional competitions in Georgia. See the “Competition Regions Map” at http://georgiaenvirothon.org/the-competition.
A maximum of four teams from the competing regional teams having the highest overall score will qualify to participate in the State competition.
An alternate team is named from each region to compete at the state competition should one of the top four teams be unable to compete.
The winning team from the State will go on to represent Georgia at the Canon Envirothon held during the summer.
Costs to the Canon Envirothon are paid by the Georgia Envirothon.
Envirothon Competition
