1.      The Fair is intended to be not only a competition, but an educational and motivating experience for the students as well. The high point of the Fair experience for most students is their interviews with the judges.

2.      Judges represent professional authority to students. For this reason, Judges should use an encouraging tone when asking questions, offering suggestions, or giving constructive criticism. A judge should never criticize, treat lightly, or display boredom towards projects they personally consider unimportant. Always give credit to the student for having expended the effort to present a project.

3.      Examine the quality of the student’s work, and how well the student understands the project and the area of study. The physical display is secondary to the student’s knowledge of the research.

4.      Look for evidence of laboratory, field or theoretical work, not just library research or gadgeteering.

5.      Keep in mind that projects are middle or high school level, not Ph.D. or professional levels.

6.      Compare projects only with those in this competition and not with projects seen elsewhere under other circumstances.

7.      Please be discreet when discussing the projects (whether they be winners or not), or making critical comments in public areas about the judging procedure or results. There are many parents, teachers and students in these areas and they may overhear you.

JUDGING CRITERIA

The Team Captain of each judging team will guide the team in selecting or ranking the winners for this year’s competition. The materials included in your judge’s folder are provided for your use in determining the winners — especially those First Place winners who will be going to a higher level competition (State or International). You are not required to use points in determining the winners. However, please determine the winners based only on the weighted criteria discussed in the enclosed materials. These are the same criteria and weights used by all other fairs and, unless we also use them, our winners will not be able to compete on an even playing field when they compete in the State and International fairs.

STATE & INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FAIR CRITERIA

Criteria

Weight - Individual Project

Weight - Team Project

Creative Ability

30 points

25 points

Scientific Thought/Engineering Goals

30 points

25 points

Thoroughness

15 points

12 points

Skill

15 points

12 points

Clarity

10 points

10 points

Teamwork

N/A

16 points