The West Geauga Kiwanis Club is now underway in preparing for the 2020 STEM Fair on January 18th.  STEM Fair is an acronym for
science/technology/engineering & math.  Students from
West Geauga High School, Middle School, Home Schooled in the WG School District, Key Club Members, and invited students, who will be conducting individual research projects of their own choice as well as problem solving competitions.

 

  Students will also be competing with individual technical research projects of their own interest.  In addition, students may choose to compete in math,  and the popular Junk Box War.  Kiwanis members will be visiting the schools to answer questions of students who wish to participate.  As you may recall, West Geauga was one of only three high schools in the country to receive Intel's prestigious Technology Award.

 

If you are interested in the success of our high school in technology, be sure to attend  the STEM Fair on Saturday, January 18th, 2020 at 8:00 AM to find out more.

I. Introduction to Student Participants

Participation in a Science Day should be a rewarding experience. It offers an opportunity:
    1) to learn and practice the principles of scientific research,
    2) to meet others interested in scientific study, and
    3) to earn recognition for academic excellence.

Thus, those involved should not be limited to the gifted, although all should be aware of the long tedious work involved in scientific investigation. Accurate prediction of a student’s potential is impossible until he or she has attempted a project a number of times. Most will not achieve perfection on the first attempt, but proficiency will come to those who are persistent.
When issues arise that are not covered in these standards, the student or teacher should seek guidance from the latest edition of the Rules for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. (See http://student.societyforscience.org/international-rules-pre-college-science-research). For specific rules or questions, please email: SRC@societyforscience.org
Teachers, other professionals, scientific organizations, industries, and parents can and will give much valuable aid if the request is made in the proper way. Reasonable response time, courtesy, and consideration coupled with sincere expressions of appreciation will eliminate many of the rough spots for a young scientist. Remember, others may advise and give aid, but they must not do any work for the participant.


II. Scientific Inquiry vs. Technological or Engineering Design Projects

Just as scientific inquiry projects require:

1) the identification of a problem or question and
 2) a proposed hypothesis that might offer a solution to the problem or answer the question, so too, engineering and technological design projects require:
     1) a problem or needs statement and
    2) a design statement that identifies such limiting factors and criteria for success or meeting the design as cost or affordability, reliability (mean time between failure MTBF), material limits (strength, weight, resistance to corrosion, color, surface texture, ease of manufacture or reproducibility), operating environment or conditions (temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, caustic condition), ergonomics (human factors), health and safety and general ease of use or operation.
In a manner similar to the development of methods used to test a hypothesis, engineering and technological design projects must test the “design statement” to see how close the prototype, for example, comes to meeting the design criteria. A prototype developed for an engineering or technological design project must achieve stated design objectives and satisfy specified constraints. Generally, the results of an
engineering or technological design project will describe the extent to which the prototype met the design criteria. An inquiry project shall state the extent to which the results derived from experimentation validate or invalidate a hypothesis. Thus a hypothesis is to inquiry as design is to engineering and technology. In all cases, the students must present the results of repeated trials. Use the figure below to determine whether your project is testing a hypothesis or a design/engineering.

III. General Information

a) Grade Levels

Participants in local science days may be in any grade level. Each Junior Academy Council District Science Day has the option of accepting participants in grades 5-12 or 7-12. Participants must earn a superior rating (36-40 points for individuals; 45-50 points for teams) to submit their projects to the next-in-line science day. District and State Science Days operate on a quota system that may further limit participation even if some students at a preceding science day received superior ratings.

b) Adherence to the Standards by Teachers

Teachers promoting local student research projects and conducting local science days leading to District and State Science Days, are expected to have their students follow the official Science Day Standards outlined here. Included in these Standards are the Judging Criteria for both Individual and team projects that teachers should use locally and that must be used at all District Science Days. The Ohio Academy of Science discourages the assignment or use of special points or a scoring rubric unique to local science days, and does not permit their use by District or State Science Days.

c) Project Duration

A student research project shall be used for only one year. It must not be repeated nor given to another person to represent his or her work. Each student may enter only one project which covers research done over a maximum of 12 continuous months between January of the year before the Science Day and May of the year of the State science Day. A project may continue only if it involves new or revised objectives, hypotheses or methods, and presents substantially new or different results each succeeding year.

d) Sampling and the Use of Statistical Analysis

Projects must provide adequate sampling and analyze results using statistics. This may require a great deal of time and many trials. Due to the nature of projects, it is not possible to state minimum sample sizes. Science or mathematics teachers, mentors, or advisors should be consulted to determine an adequate number.
Almost all scientific research involves statistics. A scientist should not draw a conclusion based on a single measurement or observation. Scientists usually repeat the same measurement three or more times, and use statistics to express its reproducibility or significance. If the term “significant” is used, then the actual statistical test of significance must be stated. Other scientists may repeat the research to see if they can replicate the stated results. Sampling of subjects is of utmost importance. Students doing behavioral studies using vertebrates should learn what is the minimum number of subjects needed for adequate sampling. In project abstracts and reports always state the number of trials or the population samples as (N=number).

e) Policy Statements: Preventing, Detecting and Penalizing Plagiarism in Science Projects:
*Any claim of plagiarism in a project made prior to, during or within one week after State Science Day shall be judged as usual, but all scores, ratings, and awards shall be retained until a review of the project is completed by the Academy office and/or its delegated inspectors. If the project is found to be plagiarized, the registration fees for State Science Day as well as awards and ratings will be forfeited. The district and school from which the project originated will be contacted. The student(s) future project(s) will be required to pass a review prior to presentation in any Academy Science Days.
*
Scientific fraud and misconduct are not condoned at any level of research or competition. Such practices include plagiarism, forgery, use or presentation of
other researcher’s work as one’s own, and fabrication of data. Fraudulent projects will fail to qualify for competition in affiliated fairs or the Intel ISEF.

f) Team Project Policies

* Team projects shall be accepted at all District Science Days. A revised 50-point rating scale will be used to evaluate team projects.
* Individual and team projects shall be considered equally when District science day directors select projects to fill quotas to attend State Science Day.
* All currently active team members must be present to be judged at District and State Science Days or the project will be disqualified.
*Each team shall appoint a team leader to coordinate the work and act as the primary spokesperson. However, each member of the team should be able to serve as spokesperson, be fully involved with the project, and be familiar with all aspects of the project.
* The final work should reflect the coordinated efforts of all team members. A supplemental sheet of the contribution each member made toward the team project shall be signed by each member and shall be displayed with the project and included in the research notebook, project report and with the applications to attend District and State Science Days.
* Full names of all team members must appear on the abstract and registration forms. The Judges will be instructed to ask each team member for a one or two sentence description of what they consider to be their most important contribution.

g) Expectations of Display: Present Results

Displays at District and State Science Days are strictly poster format only. Table-top display dimensions shall not exceed 36 inches (91 cm) wide by 30 inches (76 cm) deep. The top of the display shall not be more than 85 inches (216 cm) above floor level or 55 inches (140 cm) above a 30inch high table. Extensions of a project beyond the state limits will result in dismantling or severe modification of the display, and may disqualify the student’s participation.
Students are expected to present the results of research. They are not expected to perform, demonstrate or repeat an experiment for judges or visitors. Students should have already completed an experiment or conducted many research trials, and thus have adequate results in the form of charts, graphs, data tables, and a required research notebook—all recorded with dates—which should be with project display. Equipment used in research is not needed for a presentation and must be left in the laboratory or at home. Use photographs or drawings of equipment on the poster boards, in the technical report and in the research notebook to document and explain the equipment used. Items on the display backdrop, or poster boards, should be used as visual cues to keep the students’ oral presentation to the judges on track or to refer to when responding to questions. The whole project, in simple form, should be visible on the poster boards. Abstracts, a research notebook, technical reports, and additional data should be in folders for immediate reference. “The score of the student’s project may be impacted by the violation(s) if either the physical dimensions or physical items rules are not followed.”

h) Safe Project Displays

Project displays shall not involve materials or elements that might be dangerous to exhibitors, judges or onlookers. Explosives, toxic elements, injurious chemicals or gases, open flames, or any unprotected moving parts, etc. may be necessary in the research project. The experimenter should always exercise the greatest care, and conduct these phases of the work under qualified supervision and follow all protocols required by the Rules of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. However, these materials or elements cannot be on the display poster, on the display table, or under the table at a Science Day.

i) Items ALLOWED at Project with the Restrictions Indicated

Posters should display an abstract and data tables, diagrams, charts, photographs and graphs that summarize results. Research notebooks, research reports, research plans and documentation of research protocols are expected, and may be in notebooks or folders on the table for use by science day officials and judges. Information such as postal, web and e-mail addresses, telephone and fax numbers is allowed only for the exhibitor. The only photographs or visual depictions of identifiable or recognizable people allowed are photographs of the exhibitor, photographs taken by the exhibitor (with permission of individuals received), or photographs for which credit is displayed (such as from magazines, newspapers, journals, etc.). Battery powered computers may be used only for simulation, modeling, animation or data display integral and essential to the project results and not for general PowerPoint presentation

j) Items NOT ALLOWED at Project Display

If an item is not listed in the above standards it is not permitted at District or State Science Day. Scientific equipment and supplies other apparatus or research paraphernalia are not permitted at a display at District or State Science Days. (See http://ohiosci.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/What-is-NOT-allowed.pdf)
Items Not Permitted
*Living organisms, including plants
*Petri dishes or culture tubes with living or dead cultures
* Taxidermy specimens or parts
* Preserved vertebrate or invertebrate animals
* Human or animal food
*Human/animal parts or body fluids (for example blood, urine) NO exceptions for teeth, hair, nails, dried animal bones, histological dry mount sections, and completely sealed wet mount tissue slides)
*Free standing floor exhibits
*Plant materials raw, unprocessed, living, dead, or preserved (exception: commercial wood used in building the display or paper in reports)
* Laboratory/household chemicals including water (exception: sealed bottled water for human consumption)
* Poisons, drugs, controlled substances, hazardous substances or devices (for example, firearms, weapons, ammunition, reloading devices, pyrotechnics and explosives)
*Dry ice or other sublimating solids
*Glass, plastic or metal containers (no exception for plastic lab ware)
*Sharp items (for example, syringes, needles, pipettes, knives)
*Flames or highly flammable materials
*Batteries and batteries with open-top cells
*Empty tanks that previously contained combustible liquids or gases
* Any apparatus with belts, pulleys, chains or moving parts
*Lasers of any type
* Large vacuum tubes or dangerous ray-generation devices (exceptions: computer monitors on battery-operated notebook computers when permitted for computer modeling projects and NOT for PowerPoint display
*Pressurized tanks that contain combustibles or non-combustibles
*Any apparatus producing heat above room temperature (e.g. heat lamp, hotplates, Bunsen burner)
* Soil, waste, or plant samples or other research materials even if permanently encased in a slab of acrylic
* Awards, medals. Flags, etc. (Exceptions: Academy membership or State Science Day lapel pins)
* Organizational/school/mentor/grant provider/etc. logos or reference statements

k) Eligibility for District Science Day

Students shall be admitted to only one District Science Day per year. District Science Days shall not accept duplicate projects from the same school. To be eligible for a District Science Day, a student shall earn a superior rating from participation in a local science day. A student at a school that does not have a local science day or a home schooled or virtually schooled student shall earn a superior rating from participation in a local science day at any public or non-public school within their school district that is based on where the student lives. If no science day exists within their school district, the student may participate in an adjacent local science day within the same or adjacent OAS District with continuation, if eligible, at the student’s local OAS District Science Day. A virtual school may hold a real local science day for all of its students who reside within a county or all counties of a District Science Day.
A local science day is expected to use the same forms, follow the same rules and criteria on safety and judging as the District and State Science Days.
Each District is expected to accept only students who live in the boundaries of the District, with the exception of existing agreements between districts.
Under unusual circumstances, the director of the home district may request the director of the temporary district for permission for one or more students of the home district to participate in the temporary district for one year only. The director of the home district must contact the director of the temporary district directly in order to request to be made and permission be granted. Specifically, the director of the temporary district will NOT accept requests for transfer by any representative other than the director of the home district.
If permission is granted, the home district will send to the temporary district one (1) accommodating judge for every three (3) accommodated students sent, with a minimum of one (1) accommodating judge. If permission is granted, the
accommodated student will: 1) pay their fees to the temporary district, 2) be eligible for prizes from the temporary district, at the discretion of the temporary district director, and 3) be counted in the State Science Day quota for the temporary district, at the discretion of both district directors, if they are eligible to go to State Science Day. The only exception is they will not be eligible to participate in the Regional Science and Engineering Fair (RSEF) at the home district if not permitted by the affiliation agreement of the RSEF with ISEF.

l) Eligibility for District Science Day Under Extraordinary Circumstances

The intent of this policy is to accommodate extraordinary instances where it is not possible for a student to participate in a local science day. Using the Judging Criteria in the Science Day Standards, District Science Day Directors shall determine the eligibility of the applicant to participate in the District Science Day in extraordinary instances: 1) Where admission to a local science day is prohibited by public or non-public schools within their own district or in an adjacent school district, 2) where there is no local science day at a public or a non-public school within his or her district or in an adjacent school district. Students in groups (1) and (2) must include a complete project report and all plans and protocol forms with their application to a District Science Day. Two judges approved by the district science day director shall evaluate that report independently and blindly. The District science day director shall admit a student whose project meets basic criteria and research protocols required by the Science Day Standards adopted by the Junior Academy Council.

m) Policy for District Procedures for Registering Students for State Science Day

Students selected to enter State Science Day are personally responsible and must be present for the announcement of their eligibility for State Science Day unless excused in advance of the event by the District Science Day Director. If a student anticipates that he or she will not be present for announcement and receipt of registration instructions and materials, then with permission of the District Science Day Director, he or she must designate in advance of the event and in writing an adult to be responsible for hearing the announcement, obtaining the registration materials, and promptly delivering the materials to the absent student. Absence from the announcement does not relieve the student of the responsibility to meet the postmarked registration deadline. The District Science Day Director shall have final authority for selection of State Science Day registrants who are certified as eligible to the executive office of the Ohio Academy of Science by noon on the first Monday after the district science day

n) Eligibility for State Science Day

The Junior Academy Council assigns State Science Day participation quotas for each District Science Day based equally on the percent of Superiors earned by projects of that district at the most recent State Science Day and on the number of District Science Day participants at the previous year’s District Science Day. Team scores shall be converted to the 40 point scale. Projects of students that have received a superior rating at the District level will fill the District quotas to attend State Science Day by the following policy:
o 40 points for grades 12 through 7
o 39 points for grades 12 through 7
o 38 points for grades 12 through 7
o 37 points for grades 12 through 7
o 36 points for grades 12 through 7
To meet the District’s quota, 5th and 6th graders will be granted eligibility to SSD as follows:
o 40 points for grades 6 through 5
o 39 points for grades 6 through 5
o 38 points for grades 6 through 5
o 37 points for grades 6 through 5
o 36 points for grades 6 through 5

o) Preparation for State Science Day

District Science Day Directors shall make special efforts to meet with all eligible students, parents and teachers or mentors well in advance of State Science Day to coach and prepare students for participation in State Science Day. Special emphasis shall be given to display rules, quality of abstracts, data analysis and display, and report writing.
Lottery: If there are more student projects than spaces available within the quota, a lottery shall be used to determine the projects selected. E.g. if there are twenty ( 20) 7th graders each with 37 points, but only ten (10) slots, a lottery would be held to determine the ten (10) projects to fill the quota. Alternates shall be selected according to the above policy too. The District quota shall be filled equally based on the above policy for both individuals and teams participating in the District Science Day. Duplicate projects from the same school will not be accepted.

IV. Required Material

a) Abstract: *REQUIRED for all Student Participants*

All students at Local, District, and State Science Days shall have an abstract and written research report, which documents that the student has researched relevant literature, stated a question and/or tested a hypothesis or technological design statement, collected and analyzed data, and drawn conclusions.
Abstracts of 250 or fewer words are required and must be submitted with applications for both District and State Science Days. The abstract must contain a heading that includes a project title and name(s) of the author(s). The heading does not contribute to the word count. The purpose of an abstract is to provide a summary of the project that will inform interested individuals of the contents. The wording must be written in a manner that any scientifically minded individual, who may not be familiar with the topic, can quickly understand the project’s important points. Keep the wording brief and concise and use complete sentences.
Summarize in a few sentences:
1. Background information necessary to understand the project and its importance
2. The problem that was investigated and the hypothesis or technological design statement
3. Outline the materials and methods used in the actual experimentation
4. Summary of the results obtained from experimentation
5. The conclusions drawn from results
6. The importance or potential applications that the research offers
b) Research Report: *REQUIRED for all Student Participants*
The following statement is REQUIRED to be signed by both student and parent:
*Scientific fraud and misconduct are not condoned at any level of research or competition. Such practices include plagiarism, forgery, use or presentation of other researcher’s work as one’s own, and fabrication of data. Fraudulent projects will fail to qualify for competition in affiliated fairs or the Intel ISEF.
* All written reports and log books must disclose and cite where appropriate the specific source(s) of the idea for the project. Citations must be fully documented with references such as author(s), date, publication and URL if web
*The Ohio Journal of Science follows the citation and reference plan of the 8th Edition of Scientific Style and Format: The CSE (Council of Science Editors) Manual for Authors, Editors and Publishers.
* Research Report must follow an accepted form of technical writing such as: MLA, APA, and others.
Required Research Report
Each project must include a research report covering in detail all of the work, references consulted, and acknowledgement of assistance received. The experimental data, statistics, notes, and computations should be recorded in a research notebook. The report should include a description of the work, the results, and the conclusions. This report should follow an accepted form of technical reporting and be checked for correct punctuation, spelling, and grammar preferably by an English teacher. If possible, the report should contain illustrations in the form of photographs, sketches, graphs, data tables or chart that contribute to the effectiveness of the material presented. The Ohio Academy of Science recommends the following format for sections of the research report:
o Title Page including the date and name of student
o Table of Contents (optional for reports fewer than 10 pages)
o Abstract
o Background Information
o Problem and hypothesis or problem and design statement
o Methods and Materials used to study the problem
o Results, including an analysis of collected data with graphs, tables, photographs, and diagrams to illustrate investigation
o Conclusions and Implications for further research
o References or Literature Cited

c) Research Plan: *REQUIRED for all Student Participants*

All students who participate in District and State Science Days shall complete a research plan prior to beginning their experimentation or research trials. Modifications in the plans are permitted during the process of research. The modifications must be prepared and dated as a research plan. If the modifications involve new protocols that must be approved before experimentation, it must be approved before the student resumes experimentation. The initial research plan must be kept if any data obtained before the modification will be used in the final project.
A student research plan shall include: 1) The name and address of each student involved in the research, 2) The teacher’s name or name of research supervisor, 3) Whether the project is a continuation of work or a new project, 4) Where the work will be done (home, school, research institution, industry, or in the field), 5) The project title, 6) The research question (s) or problem, 7) The hypothesis or technological design statement, 8) The experimental methods or procedures, and 9) At least five major references specifically applicable to the proposed research; e.g., science journal articles, books, or internet sites. For internet sites, research plans must cite the complete URL, a title of the report, the name of the author if known, and the date of the publication or update of the site.
If the proposed research involves vertebrate animals, then the research plan must also: 1) provide a detailed justification for their use, 2) briefly discuss non-vertebrate alternatives and 3) give an additional animal care reference for the species being used.

d) Additional Student Research Plan for Special Protocols or Adult Supervision *REQUIRED*

These projects include those associated with:
*Human subjects
*Nonhuman vertebrate animals including observation projects
* Potentially hazardous biological agents including microorganism, recombinant DNA technologies, or human or animal fresh tissues, blood or body fluids
* Controlled substances and alcohol and tobacco
*Hazardous substances or devices including certain chemicals, equipment, firearms, radioactive substances and radiation

e) ISEF and Consent Forms *REQUIRED for all Student Participants*

A Consent and Release Form http://ohiosci.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/consent.pdf must be completed by all students and signed by parents to register in District and State Science Days. This form must be sent to the District Science Day Director with the registration material and to The Ohio Academy of Science for State Science Day.
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair Forms
The documents for the Intel ISEF are available at http://www.societyforscience.org/isef/document and at http://ohiosci.org/state-science-day-forms/ procedures of a particular year must be used by all students who participate in District and State Science Days of the same year. These rules
require adherence to special student research protocols and supervision, including prior approval of student research projects by local scientific review committees (SRC) or, in the case of human subjects, institutional review boards (IRB). Local schools must appoint and manage these committees. Depending upon the project(s), committee members must have sufficient professional expertise by way of education and experience to review both human subjects and non- human vertebrate projects. When in doubt, review all projects and contact info@ohiosci.org.

Registration Form

Helpful project reminders

  ELEMENTS  OF  A  SUCCESSFUL  RESEARCH  PROJECT

 

1. PICK A PROJECT TO STUDY – Select a project that you are interested in and would like to learn more about.. A project that as far as you know has never been done. Originality tends to win over judges.
2. DO A BACKGROUND SEARCH – You need to learn as much as possible about the subject before you carry out any research. This will help you come up with a hypothesis, an appropriate method to test your hypothesis, and help you to draw conclusions about your results. Be sure to include this information on your display.
3. FORMULATE A HYPOTHESIS – Include a paragraph or two on what you feel will be the outcome of your test. Your hypothesis may prove to be wrong by your test. This does not necessarily mean that you have a flaw in your results. Remember, the Scientific Method requires that you must enter a test completely free of any pre-determined outcome.
4. DOCUMENT YOUR WORK – Always keep good records in a laboratory notebook. You need to be able to prove that your results are true and correct. Your notes should show all of the procedures used and the results of those procedures documented, both good and bad. Summaries and conclusions for each experiment should be recorded in your notebook.
5. DESIGN YOUR EXPERIMENTS TO TEST YOUR HYPOTHESIS – Design several experiments to test your hypothesis using more than one strategy. Use appropriate control groups to act as a comparison. Do not change more than one variable for each test that you run!
6. RESULTS – Results are the data generated by your experiments. Always repeat your tests to ensure reproducibility. It’s best to use SI units of grams, liters, meters, and etc. Be sure to use a sufficient number of  samples in your test based on commonly used statistics to avoid results based on chance.
7. EVALUATE YOUR RESULTS – Look closely at your results to determine any inconsistencies. Your results may lead you to additional questions to evaluate or approach by additional tests. Judges are frequently impressed by carrying your study a step further.
8. CONCLUSIONS – Try to decipher the information that you have collected from your data. Frequently there may be more than one answer. Do you need to do additional research based on your results?

Research Paper

   
        Research Paper:    A formal written presentation of Research Project.
         It should contain the following:

        Introduction- State your topic, your hypothesis, what you hope to achieve.

        Background- A general introduction to the subject and why you chose to study it.

        Hypothesis-  A brief statement about what you expect will be the outcome

       Methods- Describe the procedure followed to test your hypothesis. 
        A person should be able to repeat your test from your description.

       Results-  Describe the results that you obtained from your experiment with photos, tables,
         figures, and graphs as well as your written description.

       Discussion- Explain in detail how the data supports or refutes your hypothesis.

       Conclusion-  Why was your hypothesis supported or not supported.

       Acknowledgments and References-  List the people and literature sources utilized.

Project Display

       Prepare a Project Display-  Your display board should include the following:

       Prominent title of Research Project

       Include all of the information discussed previously

       Briefly summarize your entire project in a logical sequence

       Text should be large enough to be easily read

       Use a printer if possible

       Use photos, figures, tables, and graphs to describe your data

       Include items used in your tests, as well as your Lab Notebook
        and Research Paper