Boy Scouts of America

Supernova Awards for Cub Scouts

Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Supernova Award
For Cub Scouts – Bear and Wolf

This Supernova award can be earned by Cub Scouts like you who want to soar in science.To earn the award you must be a Bear or Wolf Cub Scout who is active with a den. With your parent’s and unit leader’s help, you must select a council-approved mentor who is a registered Scouter. You may NOT choose your parent or your unit leader (unless the mentor is working with more than one youth).

A Note to the Counselor
The Cub Scout Supernova award recognizes superior achievement by a Cub Scout in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
All experiments or projects should be conducted using the highest level of safety protocol and always under the supervision of a qualified, responsible adult.
Tigers are not eligible to earn the Cub Scout Supernova award.
Although it is not a requirement, it is recommended that you earn at least two Nova awards for Cub Scouts before earning the Dr. Luis W. Alvarez Supernova Award.

Requirements

1. Complete the adventure appropriate for your rank AND complete either option A or option B.

Wolf Cub Scouts

Bear Cub Scouts

Code of the Wolf

Make It Move

Option A:  Do all of the following: (a) Keep track of the money you earn and spend for three weeks. (b) Geometry: Select a simple shape or figure. Observe the world around you for at least a week and keep a record of where you see this shape or figure and how it is used. (c) Visit a bank and have someone explain how interest works. Use the current interest rate and calculate how much interest different sums of money will earn.

Option B:  Do all of the following: (a) Measure how you use your time by keeping a diary or log of what you do for a week. Then make a chart or graph to display how you spend your time. (b) Measure, mix, and prepare at least two recipes. Share your snacks with family, friends, or your den. (c) Study geometry in architecture by exploring your neighborhood or community. Look at different types of buildings-houses, places of worship, businesses, etc.-and create a presentation (a set of photographs, a collage of pictures from newspapers and magazines, a model) that you can share with your den or pack to show what you have seen and learned about shapes in architecture.

2. Complete the adventure appropriate for your rank or complete option A or B.

Wolf Cub Scouts

Bear Cub Scouts

Call of the Wild

Forensics

Option A:  Do all of the following: (a) Go shopping with an adult and use a calculator to add up how much the items you buy will cost. See whether your total equals the total at check out. (b) Explain the meaning of these statistical words and tools: data, averaging, tally marks, bar graph, line graph, pie chart, and percentage. (c) Study a newspaper or online news source, with your parent’s or guardian’s permission, to find as many examples as you can of statistical information.

Option B:  Do both of the following: (a) Explain to your den or your Mentor how a meteorologist or insurance company (or someone else) might use the mathematics of probability to predict what might happen in the future (i.e., the chance that it might rain, or the chance that someone might be in a car accident).(b) Predict the probability of a plastic bottle landing on its bottom, top, and side. Then flip it 100 times and keep track of which way it lands. Identify any possible sources of experimental error. Discuss the differences if the bottle is empty or full.

3. Find interesting facts about Dr. Luis W. Alvarez using resources in your school or local library or on the Internet (with your parent’s or guardian’s permission and guidance). Then discuss what you learn with your mentor, including answers to the following questions: What very important award did Dr. Alvarez earn? What was his famous theory about dinosaurs?

4. Find out about three other famous scientists, technology innovators, engineers, or mathematicians approved by your mentor. Discuss what you learned with your mentor.

5. Speak with your teacher(s) at school (or your parents if you are home-schooled) OR one of your Cub Scout leaders about your interest in earning the Cub Scout Supernova award. Ask them why they think math and science are important in your education. Discuss what you learn with your mentor.

6. Participate in a science project or experiment in your classroom or school OR do a special science project approved by your teacher. Discuss this activity with your mentor.

7. Do ONE of the following:

  1. Visit with someone who works in a STEM-related career. Discuss what you learned with your mentor.
  2. Learn about a career that depends on knowledge about science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. Discuss what you learned with your mentor.

8. Learn about the scientific method (or scientific process). Discuss this with your mentor, and include a simple demonstration to show what you learned.

9. Participate in a Nova- or other STEM-related activity in your Cub Scout den or pack meeting that is conducted by a Boy Scout or Venturer who is working on his or her Supernova award. If this is not possible, participate in another Nova- or STEM-related activity in your den or pack meeting.

10. Submit an application for the Cub Scout Supernova  award to the district STEM or advancement committee for approval.

Webelos and Arrow of Light scouts can earn any of the Cub Scout Nova Awards.  They may also earn the Dr. Charles Townes Supernova Award, as described below.

Below are the current requirements for the Dr. Charles Townes Supernova Award, as of January 1, 2018.  

Please use the Advancement Report, No.34403 as documentation for the Nova Award. Submit the Supernova Award Application, below, as instructed in the requirements.

Submit any questions regarding the Nova or Supernova awards to myscouting@scouting.org


To earn the Webelos Scout Dr. Charles Townes Supernova award, you must be a Webelos or Arrow of Light Scout who is active with a den. With your parent’s and unit leader’s help, you must select a council-approved mentor who is a registered Scouter. You may NOT choose your parent or your unit leader (unless the mentor is working with more than one youth).  Webelos Scouts and Arrow of Light Scouts can earn the same Nova Awards as Cub Scouts.  

Although it is not a requirement, it is recommended that you earn at least two Nova awards for Cub Scouts before earning the Dr. Charles H. Townes Supernova Award.

Dr. Charles H. Townes Supernova Award

For Webelos/Arrow of Light Scouts

This Supernova award can be earned by Webelos and Arrow of Light Scouts like you.

Requirements

1. Complete three of the following: Adventures in Science, Engineer, option A, or option B.

Option A:  Do all of the following: (a) Construct one of the following from wood, and one from another material: Book rack, Shelf, Bulletin board, Tie rack, Letter holder, Notepad holder, Toolbox, Towel rack, Recipe holder, Lamp stand, Kitchen knife rack, Kitchen utensil rack, Napkin holder, Garden tool rack, Lid holder, Mailbox, Birdhouse, Desk nameplate, Letter, bill, and pencil holder, Bread box, Key rack, Measuring cup rack, Measuring spoon rack (b) Keep an “insect zoo” with insects that you have collected. You might have crickets, ants, or grasshoppers. Study them for a while then release them. Share your experience with your den or your Mentor. (c) With adult supervision, show how to check the oil level and tire pressure on a car.

Option B:  Do all of the following: (a) Take a field trip to a geological site, geological laboratory, or rock show. Discuss what you learned at an upcoming den meeting or with your mentor. (b) Construct a simple working electrical circuit using a flashlight battery, a switch, and a light. (c) Do five activities within your home or school that require the use of mathematics. Explain to your den or your Mentor how you use math every day.

2. Complete three of the following: Build It, First Responder, Into the Wild, Into the Woods, option A or option B.

Option A:  Do two of the following: (a) Go on a geocaching adventure with your den or family. Show how you used a GPS unit or a smartphone with a GPS application to locate a geocache. (b) Describe both the benefits and the harm wildfires can cause in a forest ecosystem. Tell how you can prevent wildfire. (c) Set up an aquarium or terrarium. Keep it for at least a month.

Option B:  Do both of the following: (a) With adult supervision, build and launch a model rocket. Describe how Newton’s third law of motion explains how the rocket is propelled into the sky. (b) While on a campout or night hike, identify five constellations or satellites in the night sky.

3. Find interesting facts about Dr. Charles H. Townes using resources in your school or local library or on the Internet (with your parent’s or guardian’s permission and guidance). Then discuss what you learned with your mentor, including answers to the following questions: What very important award did Dr. Townes earn? What was Dr. Townes’ most famous invention?

4. Find out about five other famous scientists, technology innovators, engineers, or mathematicians approved by your mentor. Discuss what you learned with your mentor.

5. Speak with your teacher(s) at school (or your parents if you are home-schooled) OR one of your Cub Scout leaders about your interest in earning the Webelos Scout Supernova award. Ask them why they think math and science are important in your education. Discuss what you learn with your mentor.

6. Participate in a science project or experiment in your classroom or school. Discuss this activity with your mentor.

7. Do ONE of the following:

  • a. Visit with someone who works in a STEM-related career. Discuss what you learned with your mentor.
  • b. Learn about a career that depends on knowledge about science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. Discuss what you learned with your mentor.

8. Under the direct supervision of your mentor, do an experiment that shows how the scientific method (or scientific process) is used. Prepare a short report on the results of your experiment for your mentor.

9. Participate in a Nova- or other STEM-related activity in your Webelos Scout den or pack meeting that is conducted by a Boy Scout or Venturer who is working on his or her Supernova award. If this is not possible, participate in another Nova- or STEM-related activity in your den or pack meeting.

10. Submit an application for the Webelos Scout Supernova award to the district STEM or advancement committee for approval.

Bray Barnes

Director, Global Security Innovative
Strategies

Bray Barnes is a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, Silver
Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Learning for Life Distinguished
Service Award. He received the Messengers of Peace Hero award from
the royal family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and he’s a life member of
the 101st Airborne Association and Vietnam Veterans Association. Barnes
serves as a senior fellow for the Global Federation of Competitiveness
Councils, a nonpartisan network of corporate CEOs, university presidents, and
national laboratory directors. He has also served as a senior executive for the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, leading the first-responder program
and has two U.S. presidential appointments

David Alexander

Managing Member Calje

David Alexander is a Baden-Powell Fellow, Summit Bechtel Reserve philanthropist, and recipient of the Silver Buffalo and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the founder of Caljet, one of the largest independent motor fuels terminals in the U.S. He has served the Arizona Petroleum Marketers Association, Teen Lifeline, and American Heart Association. A triathlete who has completed hundreds of races, Alexander has also mentored the women’s triathlon team at Arizona State University.

Glenn Adams

President, CEO & Managing Director
Stonetex Oil Corp.

Glenn Adams is a recipient of the Silver Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the former president of the National Eagle Scout Association and established the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award. He has more than 40 years of experience in the oil, gas, and energy fields, including serving as a president, owner, and CEO. Adams has also received multiple service awards from the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.