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Contents: |
NEW: Online Judging Sign-Up Form |
Please
Volunteer
About 130 qualified judges are needed for the Mid-Columbia Science Fair.
If you have a scientific, engineering or technical degree or work experience
and think you might enjoy interacting with young scientists at the Fair, please
volunteer to help judge by contacting Larry Chick or completing the online Sign-Up form before March 9.
When
and Where
Judges need to arrive at 9:00AM, Thursday, March
13, 2008 at the Columbia Center Mall. Judges should report to
the front of Macy's, inside the Mall. Most judges will be finished by
mid-afternoon. Please don't just show up at the Mall; we need to know you
are coming so we can set up the judging assignments, so please volunteer by completing
the online Sign-Up form (link above).
How
Projects and judges are organized into six divisions:
- 6th Grade Physical Sciences
- 6th Grade Life Sciences
- 7th Grade Physical Sciences
- 7th Grade Life Sciences
- 8th Grade Physical Sciences
- 8th Grade Life Sciences
- Senior Division (all 9th through 12th grade projects)
In total, the MCSF usually hosts 350 to 400 projects and 120 to 130 judges.
Judges report at 9:00AM (6th, 7th, 8th grade) and 1:30PM (Senior Division).
Judging proceeds in three rounds within each Division. Most middle school
judges will be finished by 2:30 PM. Senior Division judging will be
conducted from 2:00PM until about 6:30PM.
All Senior Division and some middle school judges will be asked to stay
later for the final judging rounds.
Middle
School Judging Schedule
(Judging schedules are staggered to ease lunchtime congestion at the Food
Court: 8th grade judges look at times in red,
Senior High Division judges start at 2:00PM)
9:00-9:30 AM Judges check in with coordinator, sign in and receive first round judging assignments. Please read the Judging Guide. Use any spare time to do a quick walk-through of your entire division, to get a sense of the overall quality of the projects.
9:30 AM-NOON(9:30-11:30 for 8th grade) First round judging. You will interview and rank 12 projects. Students should have a 3-5 minute talk prepared. You might begin each interview by asking them to tell you about their project. Follow up with questions and reading their displays. You must judge 12 projects in this round. If you find that a project(s) is missing, go on to judge your pre-assigned alternate(s). Rank 1 through 12, with the best ranked "1".
NOON (11:30 for 8th grade) Judges turn in ranking sheets to coordinator. Please be prompt! The coordinators have a lot of number crunching to do while you eat lunch. One late judge will delay the second round.
NOON-12:50 PM(11:30-12:20 for 8th grade) Judges and students eat lunch while coordinators compile results and organize second-round judging assignments.
12:50-1:00 PM(12:20-12:30 for 8th grade) Judges receive assignments and instructions for second round.
1:00 PM-2:30 PM(12:30-2:00 for 8th grade) Second round: Some judges complete rankings for finalists. Others choose Awards of Distinction and provide written comments. Students will be present again, so please actively interview and question them.
2:30 PM After they turn in their comment sheets, Awards of Distinction judges and many second-round judges will be free to leave or to look over the other divisions. Some second round judges will be asked to stay for a final round of judging to select the prize winners.
2:30 PM-CompletionIn the larger
divisions, about one quarter of the judges will be asked to participate in the
final (third) round of judging. This will involve comparison and
discussion of rankings to arrive at a consensus on the top prize winners.
Middle school students will not be present after 2:30PM.
This guide is intended to help put you into an appropriate frame of mind to judge middle- and high-school level science fair projects and to give you some information about judging criteria.
Please keep in mind that the overall goals of all our judges should be
threefold:
- to provide every student with an educational, motivating experience,
- to provide constructive suggestions to help them improve their
scientific/engineering skills, and
- to choose the best projects for awards.
Our procedure involves two to three rounds of judging and is similar for both middle- and high school-divisions. In the first round, each project is comparatively ranked by at least three judges. The best projects in each division are then moved into the second round. For large divisions, the second round is used to further narrow the pool of projects. In the final round - be it second or third - the top awards are decided by head-to-head ranking of all projects by each judge. About half of the first round judges are used to decide the awards, while the other half provide written comments and "awards of distinction," activities that are discussed in a separate judging guide.
The system is set up so that "close calls" in the first rounds
usually don't matter. So, judges should not agonize over exact
rankings. They should not try to set up a rigid scoring system.
Rather, they should spend the time and effort interacting with the young
scientists. Most students say that they enjoy talking to the judges, and
that in many cases it is the
Keep in mind that we are judging the following: - The quality of the work
done on a project by a student, and how well that student understands the
project and the area in which he/she has been working. Only secondarily are we
evaluating the physical display and the student's verbal presentation.
- A project that involves laboratory, field, or theoretical work; not
just library research or gadgeteering.
- A middle- or high-school student's work; not that of a professional
scientist.
Criteria:
The criteria on the next page, adapted from the International Science Fair, are
to be used as general guidance; they offer some questions to keep in mind when
evaluating projects. Again, judges should not attempt to perform a rigid
scoring of projects; but should rank them based on their opinion of the quality
of work and how well the students understand their projects and areas of study.
Scientific Thought/Engineering Goals (about 30 percent)
Scientific Thought:
- Is the problem stated clearly and unambiguously?
- Was there a procedural plan for obtaining a solution?
- Are the variables clearly recognized and defined?
- If controls were necessary, were they correctly used?
- Are the limitations of the data recognized?
- Does the student have an idea of what further research is indicated?
Engineering Goals:
- Does the project have a clear objective?
- Does this objective have relevance to the needs of the potential user?
- Is the solution practical and workable?
- Has the solution been tested to see if it really works?
Creative Ability (about 30 percent)
Does the project show creative ability and originality in
- the question asked?
- the approach to solving the problem?
- the analysis and interpretation of the data?
- the construction or design or use of equipment?
A student should not be penalized for taking help from others; all
professionals receive help to some degree in some way. However, credit
for creative ability and originality should be in regard to what the student
has contributed.
Thoroughness (about 15 percent)
- Does the project carry out its purpose to completion?
- Are the conclusions based on a single experiment, or on replication?
- Is the student aware of other approaches or theories concerning the
project?
- Is the student familiar with some of the scientific literature in the
field?
Skill
(about 15 percent)
- Does the student have the skills required to do all the work necessary
to obtain the data which support the project? Laboratory skills? Computation
skills? Observational skills? Design skills?
- Where was the project done? At home, in school, or in a professional
laboratory? What assistance was received from parents, teachers or scientists?
- Where did the equipment come from? Was it built independently by the
student? Was it obtained on loan? Was it part of a laboratory in which the
student worked?
Clarity
(about 10 percent)
- How clearly is the student able to discuss the project? Is he/she able
to explain its purpose, procedure and conclusions in a clear and concise
manner?
- Has the written material been expressed well by the student?
- Are the important phases of the project presented in an orderly manner?
- How well does the project display explain itself?
For more information contact Larry Chick, Judging Coordinator