4-H Forest Ecology Quiz Bowl Rules
All of the study materials you will need may be accessed on this page in the Study Materials section. Those materials come from the National 4-H Forestry Invitational website. Some questions are taken from the “Practice Questions” provided on the national site. Others are taken from the “Forestry Manuals” including Program A - Trees, Program B - Forests, and Program C - Recreation. The Florida contest does not take questions from the “Forests and Forestry” textbook listed at the national site because this is not available online.
How the Competition Works
In the Florida Quiz Bowl, one team will compete at a time. We will bring teams into the classroom in alphabetical order by county. No recording devices are allowed. No notes or study materials are allowed.
The Florida Quiz Bowl is very similar to the National Forestry Invitational Forestry Bowl, but in that contest a large number of Senior teams compete in paired team competition, with single elimination playoffs. Because we have a smaller (and sometimes uneven) number of Senior teams, the "one team at a time" approach works best and more fairly.
Like the Nationals, each team will compete in two events (Directed Questions and Toss-Up Questions) which will be scored independently. Each team will be asked the same questions. A judge is present to serve as a referee, and may overrule the moderator’s decision regarding whether an answer is correct or not. In the event the judge and moderator have to deliberate over an answer given during the timed Toss-Up round, the timer shall stop to give the team two full minutes to answer questions. A timekeeper is also present. The Quiz Bowl follows the rules found in the 4-H Invitational Handbook, with exception to the procedural differences outlined above.
The Directed Questions event involves 10 questions from the moderator to each team. After the question is read, the team has 30 seconds to discuss and agree upon the answer; the team may collaborate and discuss, but the team captain must answer the question. The captain may ask to have the question repeated with no penalty, within five seconds of hearing the question. Ten points are awarded for correct answers. No credit is given to partial or incorrect answers. There is no penalty for incorrect answers.
The Toss-Up Questions event is perhaps best described as the "speed bowl." The moderator will ask as many questions as time permits, within a 2-minute period. Unlike the Directed Questions, any member of the team may answer, and the answer may begin even before the moderator stops reading the question. The moderator will stop reading the question when the answer begins. No team discussion is allowed once a team member begins their answer. If this occurs, the answer will be counted as incorrect. A correct answer is awarded 10 points. If the answer is incorrect, five points are taken from that team’s score. If no answer is given, 0 points are rewarded. If no one on the team knows the answer, it may be an advantage for the captain to say "pass" or otherwise indicate "don’t know."
The quiz bowl score will be multiplied by 0.6 before being added to the team score so each contest station contributes the same emphasis to the final team score.
Study Materials
The following materials should be used to study for the Florida Forest Ecology Quiz Bowl and Senior Quiz.
- Forest Understandings and Facts
- Forestry Bowl Practice Questions for the National 4-H Forestry Invitational
- Forestry Manuals: Trees, Forests, and Forest Recreation
- Glossary