The Cybersearch Competition RULES

Cybersearch Purpose:
To provide an opportunity for participants to improve their problem solving,
deductive reasoning, analytical thinking, context clues, collaboration and research skills
-- all elements of the Common Core benchmark standards.

Process:

• The competition will run for 10 days (April 15 through April 26). The winners will receive a special certificate and the esteemed honor of knowing they were the best in Mr. Dawursk's freshman and sophomore English classes. A prize may also be presented to the winning team. In the past the prizes have included Brewer’s or Admiral’s game tickets, Summerfest or State Fair entrance tickets, or a pizza party.

• Successful participation in the CC will also earn the students a 10% extra credit increase in their final research paper/project in the fourth quarter. Any team which earns at least a 250 points out of 400 possible will receive the 10% extra credit.

Teams:

• In an effort to learn collaboration and cooperation, students will be grouped as a team of up to 3 students. Usually the teams are chosen by the teacher; however, in some instances students may choose their teams in advance. Regardless, no changes may be made to the team after competition begins. Only the registered team members will receive points during the competition.

• Teams will pick an appropriate name for their team and a pass code. Only the team name will be displayed on the website.
• In order to receive “daily” graded credit, the team must submit answers on-time everyday and weekly answers by the due date and time.
• An individual end-of-competition reaction paper/blog will be assigned for a test grade. While the daily/weekly research questions are graded as a group; the reaction paper/blog is graded as an individual.
• Teams must coordinate and demonstrate collaboration throughout the project. The end-of-competition reaction paper will require team members to give evidence of how they did research, how they collaborated in their team and how they would rate each other’s work.

Rules & Procedures:

• Every school day at 8:35 AM, Mr. Dawursk will display on the CC (Cybersearch Competition) internet-website the 3 trivia questions for the day. A point value will be given for each question. Included with every day’s questions will be the answers from the previous day.

• Points will be given ONLY for complete and exact answers. The answers must be submitted to Mr. Dawursk by NO LATER THAN 8:00 AM the next day to receive credit. Questions given on Friday will be due on the following Monday no later than 8:00 AM. Answers not submitted due to absence are considered invalid. As this is an online game, questions will not be given and answers will not be accepted in person. This is an "on-line" game.

• If there is a dispute over an answer, a panel of three teachers will consider the dispute based upon the CC answer. The panel’s decisions are final. Remember this is an educational research game not a professional sport.

• All answers must be submitted on the official CC online form; emails and written or verbal answers are not accepted.

• Questions will require a specific answer and the answer considered correct by the CC’s reliable and credible source will be considered the only correct answer. While research may show more than one answer possible, the answer considered most reliable by multiple credible sources should be used and will probably be the correct answer.

• Remember: Not everything on the internet is accurate. Be careful.

• Questions will be given 5, 10 and 15 points according to their difficulty. 5 points will be given to a question needing a minimal amount of research, 10 points for a question needing a greater amount of research and 15 points for a question needing the greatest amount of research. A bonus question will be given each week (two total) worth 50 points each. The 1^st bonus question answer is due on the Friday of the week (April 19) and the second on the following Friday (April 26^th).

• Points will be tallied at the end of the 10 days and the score posted on the CC website the following Monday (April 29).

• A perfect score for the CC event would be 30 points per school day (10 times 30=300) plus the two 50 weekly bonus points for a total of 400 points possible.
• In the event of a tie, an additional question will be given and the first team to respond on the official CC online form with the correct answer will win the competition.

• Rules are subject to change for any reason without notice.