Judges will use one of the following criteria to evaluate and rank projects. 

ISEF Judging Guidelines for High School

Middle School Criteria for Judging Science Projects for NWSES

ISEF Judging Guidelines for High School

All criteria, with the exception of the interview, can be evaluated by judges before the interview.  The judges’ evaluation of the project may change as a result of the interview and may result in making some adjustment in their prior allocation of points.  Judges should examine the student notebook and, if present, any special forms such as Form 1C (Regulated Research Institution/Industrial Setting) and Form 7 (Continuation). 

• Creativity:   A creative project demonstrates imagination and inventiveness.  Such projects often offer different perspectives that open up new possibilities or new alternatives.   Judges should place emphasis on project outcomes in evaluating creativity. 
• Presentation/Interview:  The interview provides the opportunity to interact with the finalists and evaluate their understanding of the project’s basic science, interpretation and limitations of the results and conclusions.   If the project was done at a research or industrial facility, the judge should determine the degree of independence of the finalist in conducting the project, which is documented on Form 1C and Form 2.  If the project was completed at home or in a school laboratory, the judge should determine if the finalist received any mentoring or professional guidance.  If the project is a multi-year effort, the interview should focus ONLY on the current year’s work.  Judges should review the project’s abstract and Form 7 (ISEF Continuation Projects) to clarify what progress was completed this year.  Please note that both team and individual projects are judged together, and projects should be judged only on the basis of their quality. However, to qualify as a team project, all members should demonstrate significant contributions to and an understanding of the project.

Judging
Criteria for Science Projects

I.  Research Question (10 pts)
­­­­___ clear and focused purpose
___ identifies contribution to field of study
___ testable using scientific methods

II.  Design and Methodology (15 pts)
___ well designed plan and data collection methods
___ variables and controls defined, appropriate and complete  

III.  Execution:  Data Collection, Analysis and Interpretation  (20 pts)
­­­___ systematic data collection and analysis
___ reproducibility of results
___ appropriate application of mathematical and statistical methods
___ sufficient data collected to support interpretation and  conclusions

IV.  Creativity (20 pts)
___ project demonstrates significant creativity in one or more of the above criteria

V.    Presentation  (35 pts)

   a. Poster 10 pts)
___ logical organization of material
___ clarity of graphics and legends
___ supporting documentation displayed

   b. Interview (25 pts)
___ clear, concise, thoughtful responses to questions
___ understanding of basic science relevant to project
___ understanding interpretation and limitations of results and conclusions
___ degree of independence in conducting project
___ recognition of potential impact in science, society and/or economics
___ quality of ideas for further research
___ for team projects, contributions to and understanding of project by all members

Judging Criteria for Engineering Projects

I. Research Problem  (10 pts)
___ description of a practical need or problem to be solved
___ definition of criteria for proposed solution
___ explanation of problem constraints

II.  Design and Methodology (15 pts)
___ exploration of alternatives to answer need and or problem
___ identification of a solution
___ development of a prototype/model

III.  Execution: Construction and Testing (20 pts)
___ prototype demonstrates intended design
___ prototype has been tested in multiple conditions/trials
___ prototype demonstrates engineering skill and completeness

IV.  Creativity (20 pts)
___ project demonstrates significant creativity in one or more of the above criteria

V.    Presentation (35 pts)

   a. Poster (10 pts)
___ logical organization of material
___ clarity of graphics and legends
___ supporting documentation displayed

   b. Interview (25 pts)
___ clear, concise, thoughtful responses to questions
___ understanding of basic engineering relevant to project
___ understanding interpretation and limitations of results and conclusions
___ degree of independence in conducting project
___ recognition of potential impact in science, society and/or economics
___ quality of ideas for further research
___ for team projects, contributions to and understanding of project by all members

Middle School Criteria for Judging Science Projects for NWSES

1) Selection of research question by formulation and statement of hypothesis or problem.

• Shows originality and creativity-whose idea was this?
• Clear statement and appropriate scope of question to be investigated
• Is this a continuation project? If so, has there been an expansion of the concept?

2) Experimental design and appropriate use of materials and methods

• Clear definition of variables and use of controls
• Sufficient description and understanding of methods used

3) Collection and analysis of data

• Appropriate and sufficient data collected to provide conclusions
• Appropriate number of replicates done
• Appropriate statistical tests used to analyze data

4) Interpretation of findings and relationship to previous work in the field

• Understanding of the meaning of the data
• Limitations of the design, data collection, and interpretation
• Relationship of the results to prior knowledge

5) Communication of findings in writing, graphically, and orally

• Design and appearance of poster
• Clarity of graphics and legends, ease of following the story
• Appropriate ratio of text to graphics for the particular project
• Clarity and depth of oral presentation and discussion
• Facility and knowledge shown during questioning
• Clarity and thoroughness of notebook and written paper

6) Understanding of research question and findings, and appropriate contributions to the project

• How did this project extend our knowledge of the field?
• What are some potential next steps in further exploring the question?
• If the project was carried out in a major research facility, what were the original contributions of the student to the thinking and the experimental work?
• If a team project, did team members contribute equally?

Middle School Criteria for Judging Engineering Projects for NWSES

1) Selection of engineering project by formulation of problem and criteria for solution.

• Shows originality and creativity-whose idea was this?
• Clear statement and appropriate scope of problem to be investigated
• Is this a continuation project? If so, has there been an expansion of the concept?

2) Experimental design and appropriate use of materials and methods

• Clear definition of variables and use of controls
• Sufficient description and understanding of methods used
• Generation of several possible solutions to the problem

3) Collection and analysis of data

• Appropriate and sufficient data collected to provide conclusions
• Appropriate number of replicates done
• Appropriate statistical tests used to analyze data
• Incorporation of appropriate modifications for repeated testing

4) Interpretation of findings and relationship to previous work in the field

• Understanding of the meaning of the data
• Limitations of the design, data collection, interpretation
• Have the solutions been tested in the real world?
• Is this solution an improvement over previous work?

5) Communication of findings in writing, graphically, and orally

• Design and appearance of poster
• Clarity of graphics and legends, ease of following the story
• Appropriate ratio of text to graphics for the particular project
• Clarity and depth of oral presentation and discussion
• Facility and knowledge shown during questioning
• Clarity and thoroughness of notebook and written paper

6) Understanding of design problem and findings, and appropriate contributions to the project

• How did this project potentially solve the problem?
• What are some alternative steps that might be tried?
• If the project was carried out in a major research facility, what were the original contributions of the student to the thinking and the experimental work?
• If a team project, did team members contribute equally?

Scoring

In the middle school division each project should be ranked in these six categories with a range of 1-5 for each, where:

1 = lacking
2 = adequate
3 = good
4 = very good
5 = outstanding

NWSE Digital Judging Guidelines

Because we are asking each judge to view all of the projects in their category, we have simplified the scoring system, as follows:

1) lacking
2) adequate
3) good
4) very good
5) exceptional

These numbers are then weighted to match the ISEF criteria.

With the digital format, you will be seeing a slide deck, the research plan and a video presentation.  Students will also have copies of their required forms. Some may also have a digital logbook.  Do not penalize students for what they do not provide; judge how well they did with what they provided.