Basic Premise of the Science Fair

• Student-led Science Projects, open to all grades (TK to 5th grade)
• Work in teams with friends and at least one Parent Coach
• Engage in the scientific process and explore through Experimentation and Modeling / Engineering
• Share findings with the school community
• Friendly competition with evaluation and feedback from a scientific panel
• Develop valuable skills: hands-on experimentation, team work, critical thinking, research and presentation skills

Rules & Guidelines

For the 2024 Science Fair, certain rules have been modified after incorporating feedback and lessons from last year.

• The optimal team size is 2 to 5 students. Science is a team effort and beyond 5 feels crowded, so singletons and 6-person teams (which were allowed in 2023) are not allowed this year.
• All students in a group must be from the same grade level (no exceptions) since grading will be by level.
• Simplified Evaluation Rubric, reiterating the importance of student-led work
• No distinction between types of projects. (Last year, Models and Experiments were two separate categories with different rubrics.)
• We plan to obtain and incorporate feedback from judges on the rubric in advance of the Fair.
• Journals are no longer required, since the content is duplicative to info that’s also presented on the poster board.
• We recognize that noise levels in the Multi-Use room and space setup need to be conducive to judging.
• The duration of the Science Fair will be limited to 90 min, to make it easier for our younger scientists.

Limitations on Projects

• No live animal experiments or displays using real blood, tissue, or bodily fluids from any animal.
• No caustic chemicals or hazardous materials may be brought to the school. Use of matches, burners or other sources of open flames, or small quantities of Dry Ice must be approved in advance by the principal and the science fair committee.
• No explosives or projectiles allowed.

The Science Fair Committee reserves the right to remove any project that violates the Science Fair rules, may endanger public safety, or is inappropriate.

Deliverables

Exhibit

A tri-fold exhibit board will be provided by the PTA. Please pick them up from the school office.

Teams are encouraged to show off their project materials next to the tri-fold poster board.

Oral Presentation

Each team is required to make a presentation to the panel of judges. Please limit to a maximum of 5 minutes per team. All students in a team are expected to present and be able to answer questions from the judges.

Parent Participation

• At least one parent coach must sign up to help the team organize & supervise meetings.
• As a parent coach, your role is to encourage your child’s participation and act as facilitators to allow the students to produce their own best work.

• There are many ways to do this without actually doing the project, e.g.

  • Help the group develop a list of possible projects, based on their interests and abilities.
  • Arrange for the group to work together.
  • Help your group gather materials and construct a time frame.
  • Make sure that the project is safe; provide supervision when necessary.
  • Write any text provided by younger students who are unable to do so themselves, without compromising the integrity of their work.

Scientific Panel Review

All projects will be evaluated by a scientific panel comprising of internal and external scientists from different disciplines.

Winners will be selected from each grade level in the spirit of friendly competition.

The review will occur in the first hour of the science fair, i.e. 4:30-5:30pm, and winners will be announced at the end of the fair (more details to be communicated in the future).

Projects will be evaluated on their individual merit in meeting our scoring rubric (see next slide), and not in comparison to others.

Teams will be provided with positive feedback on their work and suggestions for potential improvement where applicable.